PLEASE CLICK ON THE PICTURES - SOME OF THEM GET CROPPED IN THE NORMAL VIEW WITH MOZILLA 4.X
It is amazing out west how many linear miles of barbed wire fence there is. I could barely take a picture without having to climb over it or just accept the fact that I would have a fence in the shot somewhere. In addition to making picture taking a little more challenging, the amount of fenced off land speaks volumes about the land-grabbing by "ranchers" in the western states. Some of the fenced of land we passed was probably never used for anything more than a buffer zone between someone with lots of cash and John Q Public.
Anyway, we started off the trip with a view of farm land and green energy. Those units are pretty loud. Crazy low-pitch rumble that sounds pretty foreboding.
We were trying to get access to the John Day River valley. We really wanted to camp on its shore for a couple of days. It is BLM managed land and as a US Citizen and a legal resident alien, Akiko and I have the right to spend up to 15 nights there. Except for the fact that between the river and us was hundreds of thousands of acres of private land that was surrounded by -you guessed it- barbed wire. The river is over there...in the bottom of that canyon out at the horizon.
Old international truck on the side of the road. What a shame. Even now it has less rust than my scout had.
Not the greatest picture, but it was pretty wild to see this field full of collapsed pylons. I guess it gets windy up here...thus the wind generators...aha!
Well we finally gave up on camping by the river. In fact, we could not find a legal place to camp at all. Barbed wire and posted signs are going to be an integral part of my next business venture. Who wants in? So we camped here. Completely and 100% illegally on land that belongs to tax payers.
Kaibu, the newest member of the pack, resting on Akiko's sleeping bag.
The ladies on our way to the river, finally. We had to walk about 5 miles to get to the river and back, which was not a big deal - really, it was pretty flat. It still would have been nicer to camp on the river legally. Yeah, we could have packed our stuff down to the river and camped illegally there too. Unfortunately, this was intended to be a car-camping trip and we weren't really prepared (no packs) to haul our gear that far.
Here is a view back up the river valley that we camped illegally in, the Hay River Canyon. The colors were great, but the lighting sucked. I tried to use the color adjustment on my new camera and I think the results are a little funky. Without the color adjust colors are too flat, but with it they are to burnt / hot. I need to find a middle grown. The rye (I think it is rye) really was that red / violet color, though. Oh yeah, there is some more fence...
After our walk down Hay River Canyon to the John Day River Canyon, we loaded up the Trooper and headed to our next stop. Along the way we passed Six Springs Canyon. That road also leads to public land, but it was gated and surrounded by a half dozen "Posted" signs as well. Nice view though.
We arrived in Larno for some Wild Flower viewing. We were hoping to see catus flowers, but we were too early! Spring is so far behind here. This is BLM land too. There is a public access road that borders the BLM land, crosses private property for 10 miles and then enters BLM land. Where the road enters BLM land the gate was open, but a 10 foot by 10 foot signed informed us that we would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law if we continued driving onto BLM land. Another smaller sign indicated that vehicles parked at or near the gate on the private property side would be towed. We eventually parked and camped on the BLM land before the private property.
Finally, some wild flowers. Akiko taking them in.
Fran enjoying the flowers too.
Two versions of the same view. This one without the special color enhance feature. The overcast but very bright sky just blanches out the colors.
Same shot,but with the auto-color adjust. Seems too fake to me.
A couple of faces that only a mother could love - really, they don't always look thaaat stoopid. Franny and Kaibu playing on the rocks.
Kaibu is worn out from two long hikes and a couple of hours driving.
Camping spot for night two in the "desert."
Akiko doing the prep work in the kitchen.
The Trooper loaded up with our gear the morning of Day three. To me that seems like a ridiculous amount of junk for a couple of days. Akiko and I have spent 3 times as long underway in the mtns with just our packs, but we have 400 lbs of gear for labor day weekend. Seriously? I guess it comes down to: if it fits in the car and makes life easier, why not bring it. That is, however, a slippery slope. Next it'll be a DVD player and before I know it there'll be damned land-yacht parked next to the house. Moderation never was strongest point.
So, we saw badgers doing something on our way out of the BLM land. Not sure if they were fighting, playing, mating or what, but there were three of them. I never saw a badger this close before...I mean, I think that's a badger.
Fossil National Monument was where we stopped on Day Three. Kaibu got some leash time, which did not please her at first, but she got it figured out.
Here are the ladies hanging out in the bottom of what is probably a waterfall when it rains.
We headed back toward home via the Deschutes River Valley. Pretty incredible and my pictures do it no justice.
More Deschutes scenery.
Still more Deschutes views. I knew that eastern Oregon was dry, but I was really surprised by how much it reminded me of Colorado and Utah. The big difference to me seemed to be that the sand stone out here is a lot older based on how broken down and roundedit is. Maybe it is just softer. If you could blind fold someone and just drop them off out here and then ask them to look around and guess where they were, I do not think that many people's first guess would be Oregon!
More pics here if you want:
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