Woo, woo!! We've been workin' it on the house. We've redone the rock border around the flower beds and then we took the flower beds and made them into beach grass beds. Hahaha, we're totally out of control!! Then, to top it off, we sanded down the front door and repainted it.
Eh!?! Looking good, right!?! Oh, and our windsock that looks like a lighthouse. Hahaha, totally wild!!
No, really, it does make a difference in the house. When we first saw the house, I was very unimpressed.
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| Before |
Fortunately, we still had plenty of paint left over from when we painted the front porch of the house in Seattle. An outdoor paint, it definitely fit the bill here.
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| After |
Ah, feeling the warm glow of a job well done. We nailed it!! (And by we, I mean Carol. Hahaha, I hate painting...and work for that matter.)
Now, let's segue from that great accomplishment to another ... accomplishment. We accepted the challenge just a few days ago to go out and see ALL of Oregon's Seven Natural Wonders.
And we're working on it. I figure we've already got the first one, the one for The Coast. Heck, we've been up and down the coast so much we're getting to have favorite places. So that was the first one done.
And now we've gotten the second one under out belt. On a whim, we decided to head on out and knock off another one from our list. And we decided to go to Smith Rock State Park.
Fun Facts: The park is located in central Oregon's high desert. Its sheer cliffs of tuff and basalt are ideal for rock climbing. In fact, Smith Rock is generally considered the birthplace of modern American sport climbing, and is host to cutting-edge climbing routes.
The park contains the first U.S. climb rated 5.14 (whatever that is) in the U.S. The park is well known for its challenging climbing routes so eventually all top climbers visit.
In 1983, Alan Watts began to use sport climbing ethics which pushed American climbing to new levels. Shortly after, between 1992 and 2009, about 500 new climbing routes were added. This brought climbers from all over the world as Smith Rock became the world capital for sport climbing. To this day the park still attracts climbers from all over the world.
In addition to the rock-climbing, the park is host to many miles of hiking trails, the meandering Crooked River and views of the volcanic peaks of Oregon's Cascade Range.
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| Two down and five to go!! Woo, woo!! |
We got off to an early start which is quite an accomplishment for us!! Hahaha, we're just full of accomplishments, aren't we. Well, we're full of something, that's for sure.
But we were on the road and hitting Double Nickels down the highway. Once we cleared Salem, we were in uncharted territory. We were on SR 22 heading east and our second stop was at the Detroit Dam and Lake. Hahaha, our first stop was in the small town of Gates where I got myself a cold and tasty DC. Gotta prioritize, Bub!!
As always, it wasn't a difficult drive because the scenery is so doggone beautiful. Never dull.
Fun Facts: Detroit Dam is a gravity dam on the North Santiam River. It's in the Cascades Range and was constructed between 1949 and 1953. Oh, Man!! I'm older than the damn Dam. Dedicated in June of 1953, it was built for flood control, power generation and irrigation.
The Dam created...TA DA!! Detroit Lake.
Fun Facts: The Lake is actually a reservoir that stores water for use by the city of Salem ... and other communities.
Detroit Lake is situated over a historical road bed of the former Oregon Pacific Railroad. This route was built by Colonel T. Egerton Hogg as a proposed transcontinental railroad. Because of a lack of funding, the line terminated in Idanha, southeast of the lake. Idaho had rail service until the 1950s, when the track was removed for installation of the Detroit and Big Cliff reservoirs. Detroit Lake was created in '53 after the dam was built. Part of the Willamette Valley Projects, the lake was intended primarily for flood control and power generation but has become one of the major recreation resources in western Oregon.
Located in the North Santiam Canyon, the 9-mile long lake has shoreline of 32 miles when full. Detroit Lake is 400 feet deep at its deepest point.
It's quite a drop ... even though this is a small dam compared to others. Looking down you can see where the Lake gets its depth from ... the canyon.
Detroit Lake. It's down right now and we could see where they just went through and cut down the trees and left the stumps. Thousands of stumps.
This canyon must have been semi-impressive back in the day.
There was even a helicopter working to lay some new power lines across the mountains for the dam.
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| CB |
The landscape changed the farther we drove. We transitioned from the wet coastland through the Cascades and then began to see the beginnings of the high desert.
Until we got near to the park where the land changed to a high desert plateau.
And the road into the park.
Ha, we made it. It's not a flashy entrance but then, it doesn't need to be.
Right away we could see the canyon at the base of Smith Rock.
Fun Facts: The major rock faces are composed of welded tuff (compressed volcanic ash) reaching a height of up to 550 feet. The picnic and campground areas sit on top of the rimrock, which is made up of columnar basalt.
And we could easily see groups of climbers getting ready to make the ascent.
And we saw this group going up so, I guess, they could rappel down. We saw several people rappelling.
It's a pretty steep climb with a lot of switchbacks. Hahaha, I think I'll wait until they put the escalator in to go up to the summit.
But we wanted to see something so we headed out on the Homestead Trail.
We didn't quite know what to expect. At the beginning, it was a very pleasant stroll through some scenic country.
And we could still see our friends as the first one began climbing.
I swear, I almost fell on my keister about six times. Hahaha, I was looking all around and not watching where I was walking. You can see the obvious fallacy in doing this.
The trail was getting a bit rougher but still manageable.
And we had some great views. That's Red Wall across from us and down below is the Crooked River.
Fun Facts: The Crooked River is a tributary (a tributary is a stream or river that flows into a main stem ((or parent)) river or lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean), 125 miles long, of the Deschutes River. The river begins at the confluence of the South Fork Crooked River and Beaver Creek. The Crooked River is part of the Columbia River basin, being a tributary of the Deschutes River, which is a tributary to the Columbia River.
But then the trail got a bit tricky. I know it's tough to see in this photo, but the trail gets pretty steep here. That wasn't the worst part, though. No, it got steep and the trail was covered with loose rock and dirt so it was slippery. It's here where I took my best fall of the day when my foot went out from under me.
We decided maybe it wasn't a good idea to go on down any further.
And so we headed back. But we still saw some great sights.
And these guys were making some headway, finally. Two were up and a third on his way.
There were plenty of these wildflowers, these ragworts, along the trail.
Look down the center along the bottom of the river. These two were enjoying the rushing waters of the Crooked River and taking a break.
Plenty to see at the park.
This shot is of Picnic Lunch Wall.
Carol spotted this. At first we thought they'd put a golf course down in the canyon by the river but, fortunately, we were wrong. It's a helicopter landing pad. Ahhhh, the idle rich.
Some of the natural formations in the park. I look at these pictures and I think these aren't all that big but the pictures are misleading. These are some pretty large formations and you have to find some tree or other marker to get an idea of just how large they are.
I think this is still part of the Picnic Lunch Wall. Look at the trees at the base of the formation. The 40 and 50-foot tall trees give you an idea of how big these rock formations are.
Me getting all Artsy-Fartsy with some B&W.
And these guys are still plugging away. Three up and a fourth is half-way up.
On the other side of the park is a trail down that is called the Chute. It's a much better trail with a cleared pathway down to the helicopter pad. And there, next to the pad, is the only way across the river where you're able to keep your feet dry.
The Crooked River.
Near the Loop, where cars can turn around, they have this open air altar. Carol thinks that they might hold weddings here. Makes sense to me. I was thinking, when I saw it, of the worship areas we'd sometimes encounter at Scout Camps.
It's Oregon and I don't think of deserts when I think of Oregon but...this looks very deserty.
And yet another dose of my B&W. Hahaha, it'll happen again, too.
Some of the young kids that hiked up to the summit. I don't know if they allow camping up at the summit or not.
Looking over to The Red Wall from The Loop. See that streak rising up from the center going to the right? That's part of the footpath up to the summit. Hahahaha, can you say, "steep"?
It was a pleasant day and a great place for a picture.
We got excited when we spotted this guy because we thought, at first, that it was a Golden Eagle.
Nope. Not even.
It's one of those nasty ol' Turkey Vultures. Out looking for some food.
But he did soar and waggle around above us. I took about 20 or so pictures just of him.
Remember, there are over 1,800 climbs in this 650+ acre park. They are all over the place.
As are these ... I don't know? What are they, Carol?
Part of the trail system alongside the Crooked River.
A Painted Lady butterfly.
A couple seasoned citizens enjoying a lunch with a view.
That's the Phoenix Buttress on the left with Asterisk Pass next to it on the right as you're looking at the picture.
Hahaha, I'm sorry, but I can think of soooooo many different ways I could be having fun other than this nonsense!! Hahaha, I'm the guy who was getting vertigo standing on that dam looking down into the valley below it.
Can you say, acrophobia?
Why yes, I can. Usually in a very high-pitched squeak somewhat resembling a scream.
There's Asterisk Pass with North Sister, South Sister and Broken Top mountains in the background.
Ahhhh, now I understand where the little town of Sisters got its name.
In case you didn't see it in the pictures before this, here's the asterisk in Asterisk Park. Some balancing act, eh?
Doesn't look too bad, does it. You can see the line they're rappelling down on.
Now it looks a bit worse. See the little guy in the center? Yeah, that's what I said, too.
We'd seen this guy before but then one of them flew right over us and I was lucky enough to get a quick picture of this magpie.
Fun Facts: Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family, including the black and white Eurasian magpie, which is one of the few animal species known to be able to recognize itself in a mirror test. I don't know what the big deal is. I can recognize myself in a mirror. Most of the time.
Hahaha, sorta gives you a graphic example of exactly what a 'switchback' trail is.
Just because. It's a nice look at the river.
I think these guys are up on the Morning Glory wall.
Craziness.
A look-out along the pathway known as The Chute.
And the site of where I took my second embarrassing and semi-painful tumble of the day.
Watch where you're stepping, Knucklehead!!
And, there they go...
We'd driven down to the other end of the park and so now we're looking up the Crooked River. That's Staender Ridge in the distance to the north.
Good grief. I mean, I could do this, if someone had a gun on me. Other than that...no way.
No way at all.
Uh, craziness.
Looking south toward Asterisk Pass.
Seems everywhere you looked you could see some Honyock climbing.
Now this is a sport I can deal with. Down in the canyon valley these two were taking a nice stroll.
Part of The Chute Trail. Much, much better than The Homestead Trail.
Then we spotted this guy along with several of his closest friends.
Looks nice doesn't it? The trick is not in getting down there. No, the real trick is getting back up without having a major myocardial infarction.
Yup!! That's the real trick.
And Ol' Rockin' Robin was there, too.
Tweet, tweet.
We finally identified these, they're Wild Blue Flax. Woo, woo!!
Western Yaro.
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People are climbing up and rappelling down these things.
Unbelievable.
One final shot of some crazy guy's idea of fun.
It was time to go. We'd just planned to make this a day trip and we had a long drive home. But we did drive on over to Bend, Oregon, just to see what it was like. A lot bigger than I had thought it was.
But then it was back on the road. And the transition from high desert plateau to the coastal forests.
The very last B&W picture!!!
For this edition of the blog.
And smilin' as we made our way back.
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| CB |
Some pictures so you can enjoy the drive along with us.
And it was getting late. Oh, and I lied. I didn't realize there was this one, very last B&W picture. This is it. Done.
For now.
And we headed into the setting sun as we neared LCO.
We had a good time and we got to see the second of the Seven Natural Wonders of Oregon. Only five more to go!! Woo, woo!!
Life is very good.
Hooah!!
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