Volcanic Central Oregon

It's always interesting to visit central Oregon...it's a diverse land of cities, rivers, mountains, and desert, with unlimited recreational opportunities. You can live it up in a brewpub, or find peace in the wilderness. The climate is sunny with warm days and crisp nights...quite invigorating. Here's a picture of the central Cascades. From left to right (S to N) the peaks are South Sister, Broken Top, Middle Sister, and North Sister. They are rising above a 6000 year old lava flow that was generated from the volcanic cone known as Lava Butte. This flow changed the course of the Deschutes River, creating some scenic waterfalls that I visited last year.

I drove up to the top of Lava Butte and visited the fire lookout station. The bloke manning the lookout was not busy...no fires today...and was happy to brief visitors on his operation. He showed us his fire spotting scope. It's mounted on an old reliable Osborn Fire Finder with a topo map of the observing area on top of the fire finder; after he determines the azimuth and scope angle of a smoke, he plugs the data into a computer that generates the exact position of the fire on another topo map on the computer screen. The fire trucks in the area are now all equipped with GPS, so by looking at the position of the fire on the computer's topo map the spotter can direct the fire trucks on the most efficient route to the fire.

Sometimes he has problems due to the increasing population in the area...it seems that on busy weekends he observes a lot of smoke from the area of Sunriver to the south...virtually all of it from backyard barbecues!

A Bygone Thunderbeast

When I was young, there was a tacky tourist attraction in the small central Oregon town of Chemult called Thunderbeast Park. Never went there...it was quite distant. As I recollect, there was a sign advertising the place along the highway leading from Portland to Mt Hood...and the park was 231 miles from the sign. I never got there and it's long gone, but here is a legacy product of Thunderbeast Park...one of the original prehistoric statues from the grounds, now fronting an automotive place 30-40 miles south of Chemult. I believe this is a Baluchitherium (need to check Wiki) which was an immense prehistoric mammal that lived 20-30 million years ago...much larger than a modern elephant or rhino. Just a little trivia from the era of 1940s/50s tourist traps.

Dorris

Dorris is one of the northernmost towns in Cali, just three miles from the Oregon border. It's an old place but rather tidy. There are some relics of the past here. For example, there's an old post WW II type motel with carports next to each room. And, a couple wigwam burners..one is pictured here. When I was a kid back in the '60s, every lumber town in the northwest (including Northern California) had its wigwam burner in which scrap wood was burned, sending a pall of smoke over the countryside. As far as I know, they;re not used anymore, but a few are still around.

A more modern attraction in Dorris is this 200 foot tall flagpole, erected in 1996. It's claimed that this is the tallest flagpole in the United States. You can see it for miles out of town. It's really spectacular on the frequent windy days when the stars and stripes are out stiff, parallel to the ground.

Crashing in the Caboose

I'm on walkabout again, Canada bound! On my first night out, I stayed at the Railroad Park Inn in Dunsmuir, as I often do when heading north. It's always cool to stay in a caboose! In addition, the resort is right on a creek which is a nice place to relax, write, read, and enjoy happy hour. And, Castle Crags in the background provide a little alpine flavor.

Fort Ord Regiment

Yesterday I went hiking on the old Fort Ord lands. Much of the former army base has become a recreation area for hikers and mountain bikers and...sheep! When trekking on the trails you will encounter all three groups. It's pleasant, rolling land with nice views, but quite windswept during strong seabreeze conditions; this was the case yesterday. The sheep didn't seem to mind.

Bixby Bridge

This is the famous Bixby Bridge on the coast highway between Monterey and Big Sur...from a little different perspective than the usual. To get this view you drive on the Old Coast Road a half mile or so inland from the bridge, on a bumpy, unpaved track. The road goes on for miles but a slightly more rugged vehicle than a Mustang convertible is recommended.

Island Time

One more Kauai pic...this kind of sums up the ambience of the north shore.

Kauai colors

When I look at a small version of this picture, my first impression is that it's a sunset pic that is aligned horizontally instead of vertically. But no! This is the bark of a eucalyptus tree, or I should say, various layers of bark, each of a different hue.

Here's a nice color and shading shot in Waimea Canyon.

Kalalau Valley

Here's Kalalau Valley from 4000 feet up, at the end of the road that runs past Waimea Canyon. Obviously a spectacular place. As mentioned earlier, I hiked to the head of this valley, at the ocean, three times in the 1980s, 11 miles from the end of the road. That's the only land route in; you can't get there from up where the picture is taken. The valley itself is idyllic, with a rushing stream, lush jungle, and cool swimming holes. On one of my hikes I went skinnydipping in the valley with a nice Danish girl...long ago...

Big canyon on a small island

Here's Waimea Canyon, on the west side of the island. This is a remarkably large chasm considering the size of Kauai; the gorge is about half a mile deep on an island of only about 555 square miles. The shifting clouds create constantly changing light patterns on the canyon walls. Though you don't see one here, on a previous visit showers created a rainbow that lasted continuously for over an hour in this area. It's a cool hike down to the bottom of the canyon, but quite steep; I've done it a couple times years ago but them days are probably over the hill for the old sloat.

Hawaiian nastie

One of the many nice things about Hawaii is that, compared to most places, there are few dangerous creatures, especially terrestrially speaking. No snakes, highly venomous spiders, or scorpions; no grizzly bears, mountain lions, or crocodiles. Sharks attack a few people every year, but by far the most common injury in Hawaii is...sunburn! However, there is one critter you do have to watch out for in Hawaii, and here it is...the centipede! This is a red centipede; one of my friends found it behind the toilet in the bathroom at the Princeville condo one morning. Though not deadly, a bite from this creature is very painful, and in a worst case scenario could require a hospital visit. Here we've swept it into a wastebasket preparatory to jettisoning it off the lanai. While not extremely rare, it should be pointed out that this is the first one I've ever seen in Hawaii, and when you add up all my visits I've spent the better part of a year in the state.

Return to the Kalalau Trail

During my trip to Kauai I did the usual trip down the first two miles of the Kalalau trail, which runs from the end of the road beyond Haena 11 miles along one of the world's most spectacular coastlines, pictured here. Doing the whole trail is an epic hike...11 miles one way with about 2500 feet elevation gain and loss...and then you have to hike back! In the early '80s, I backpacked this trail three times, for three days each time. Back then, 25 years and 50 pounds ago, with a full pack, the 11 mile hike was a major workout but I made it OK. But now, just the four mile round trip with a daypack to Hanakapiai, with about 1000 feet elevation gain and loss, is an ordeal. The old sloat's flippers were draggin' big time when I got back to my car.

I've always liked this view on the trail of the deep blue sea hundreds of feet below, with the lush green vegetation on the hillside.

Princeville condo

The second week on Kauai I stayed in a condo at Princeville, high on a bluff overlooking the ocean, just east of Hanalei on the north shore. It's a developed community, not quite as natural and rustic as Haena, but still very nice and beautiful. This is the view from the lanai of my condo...it seems you can see halfway to Alaska!

This is the view from the other side of the condo. This is actually a rare scene...no clouds over the interior mountains! You're looking toward Mount Waialeale, which gets 450 inches of rain a year...the world's wettest spot. It's almost always cloudy over these mountains, but on this particular day the trade winds stopped, allowing skies to clear.

Here's one of the residents of the neighborhood...a Laysan albatross! These birds just hang out on people's lawns...the females sit on their nests in front yards and it's cool. The albatrosses soar along the cliffsides. They're large birds, with about a six foot wingspan...graceful in the air, they tend to lumber on land.

in the hood at Haena

The first week I was with four friends, and we stayed at a fine rental house in Haena. This is the view from the back deck. There were many birds about, especially chickens, who were endlessly entertaining except that they started crowing an hour or two BEFORE dawn. Also doves, cardinals, and many others...as well as the occasional rainbow.

Here's the house. There was a hot tub on the back deck on the opposite side of the house, along with a peek of the ocean. Most of the homes in Haena are built in this style, with the living area elevated about 20 feet above the ground as a precaution against tsunamis. Haena was hit with them in 1946 and 1957.

Massive surf at the bath

This picture was taken at Queens Bath, a natural pool in the lava next to the sea at Princeville. When the sea is calm, this is a wonderful swimming hole, deep and clear. But...when the surf's up, uh, not! On this particular day swimming was definitely out! One time I swam in the bath on an intermediate wave day...much ofthe time the bath was calm but occasionally a wave would come over the lava into the pool...unseen by the swimmers until the last moment. Then it felt like swimming in a blender!

North Shore Sunset

Sunset on the north shore of Kauai is magical. These shots are from my favorite spot on the beach at Haena. It's nice to bring an Esky with adult beverages, plunk down on the beach, and watch the sun drop into the Pacific. There are always clouds around to add color. The peace and beauty are magnificent.

Hangin' at the beach on Kauai

I've been in Hawaii the past two weeks, on the island of Kauai to be specific, and was too lazy to take my computer along...A friend who was there with me had his so I was able to keep up with the world, but not to post pictures on my blog. At any rate, Kauai is one of my favorite places on earth...I've been going there since 1980 and have made at least a dozen visits. I always tell people that if I could live anywhere, but couldn't ever leave once I was settled in, I would choose the north shore of Kauai. This is the neighborhood beach in Haena, two miles from the end of the road. It's a typical day as far as crowds are concerned.

Here's a nice shot of Bruno the beach dog. On Haena's beaches you always see beach dogs hanging out, socializing with the people who wander by and with each other. Bruno and I hung out for a while on the sand under a tree, just watchin' the scene. Later my friend Sandy came by with some food which Bruno happily scarfed instantaneously.