Ochoco Mountains and Lake Billy Chinook

Last weekend I traveled to the Ochoco mountains in Central Oregon to visit my very good friends Gary, Susie and Bob. They are living my dream out there in the mountains with a private lake, very few neighbors, and surrounded by 375,000 acres of BLM land to roam.

Gary has done an amazing job of carefully carving out a beautiful park like setting in the wilderness. He has crafted winding trails among the shrubs and grasses, placing benches here and there inviting you to sit and admire the scenery. Little solar lights blink on in the evening for moonlit walks.

Bald Eagles, Osprey, Great Blue Herons, King fishers and many other birds soar over the lovely lake and the wetlands seeking out a meal. The frogs are starting to come out. A month from now they will be so thick on the ground that you cannot walk without stepping upon them. Later in the year the Western Garter snakes will make their appearance. I have never before witnessed snakes behaving as they do at Mark's Lake. They gather in large numbers on the rocks of the spillway jostling for the best position to capture the small fish that congregate there. The water here is freezing cold snow melt. It amazes me that these snakes can survive in such temperatures. When they are not fishing, you can observe them basking on the little bridge and the surrounding rocks.

I caught a gorgeous rainbow trout on Saturday morning. About 17 inches long, with the brightest colors I think I have ever seen on a trout.

Susie loves horses. She is lucky to have neighbors with horses which she can care for and ride. She has been working closely with a horse named Sonny. I didn't get to meet Sonny this weekend as we were busy taking care of a different group of horses for neighbors who were out of town. They have a precious 1 month old foal named Schmore who needs some extra attention to ensure she gets enough to eat. Susie's face just lights up when she is with the horses. You can tell she is in her element and having the best time. There is another horse ready to give birth any day now. Poor thing was so large and heavy. Tim and I helped to feed, water and muck out stalls.

Here is baby Schmore

Susie feeds momma while Schmore nurses

It is always such a joy to visit these wonderful folks. Can't hardly wait until next time. (o:

On the way to the Ochocos we made a detour to Cove Palisades State Park at Lake Billy Chinook. I had never been there before and wanted to see the lake, the waterfall and I also wanted to find a couple of geocaches that are placed there.

The lake is gorgeous! Set down in a steep canyon. It is fed by three rivers: The Deschutes, The Metollius and The Crooked River. A narrow, winding road leads you around the lake with day use areas along the way. We stopped at the first day use area to seek a cache. There was a lovely little picnic area and trails weaving among the trees and boulders. Unfortunately I do not yet possess a GPS unit so my geocaching efforts are truly an effort. I find about half of those that I seek. Using only the hints and clues left by other seekers we wound our way around the area seeking "twin trees." It appeared that park rangers had been thinning the vegetation in the area, as there were many trees and shrubs cut down and laying on the ground. We were unable to find any twin trees so made our way back to the car. Not disappointed though, as I was very glad to have spent some time there with the lake view and Nobody else around.

Evidently the water is high. That is a picnic table out there in the water

The trail winds among the boulders

Waterfall ahead! Billy Chinook Falls was running with water. I hear that is not always the case, so I was happy to see that we arrived at a good time for waterfall viewing. The water spills over the lip of the canyon rim in a horsetail, falling a long way to the rocks below. It disappears briefly among the vegetation before bounding down to the roadway and continuing on to the lake below.

Continuing on around the lake I searched for clues to the next geocache. A huge knobby rock juts up into the sky at a bend in the road. This is called "The Ship" and it marks the tip of the plateau called "The Peninsula." This was the clue to my next cache but I did not know it at the time. We went on winding around the park until I knew we had come too far. Turning around we made our way back and from this side of The Ship I had an Aha moment. Stopping at the little pullout we found a paved trail with interpretive signs telling of the Indian history of the place and explaining the rock petroglyph that is there. I easily found the geocache placed here and signed the log.

The Ship

You can just barely see the small geocache in the center of this pic

Petroglyph

Afterwards we made our winding way out of the canyon and back to the highway to continue on to the Ochocos.

You can see all the trip pics (not many this time) here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sprout33/LakeBillyChinookOchocoMountainsApril2009?feat=directlink

Beach Trip

The weekend forecast sent this girl racing to the Oregon Coast! Pacific City is a great central location for coastal exploration. Friday night I drove North through fog and mist quick as I could for some sunset pics from Cape Lookout State Park. It is a very nice park on the beach with picnic tables and camping.

Sunset from Cape Lookout

I made an attempt to see the ghost forest in Neskowin beach on Saturday. Unfortunately the tide was up and I could not cross the creek without getting very wet so I will have to go back another day.

Neskowin Beach

I finally drove myself up to the Munson Creek Falls trail, South of Tillamook. I've been wanting to do that for years. They say this is the tallest waterfall in the Coast Range.It was a very short and easy walk from the parking area. One guide book told me that the 2nd largest sitka spruce would be there too. I couldn't find it. I think maybe it was cut down when they raped the rest of the surrounding forest here.

Base of Munson Falls

Munson Falls

Saturday was spent at a Lincoln City beach near Spanish Head. There was an awful lot of driftwood in this area. Humongous logs were on the beach. I wondered if maybe they had been lost off of a ship. I have been looking for the perfect piece of wood to make a sign out of. I found it here and carried it up the steep steps to my car.

Driftwood

I will router out the words "Sandi's Landing" in this piece of wood for installment at Mark's Lake in the Ochoco Mountains of Central Oregon.

I stayed at this beach for one more gorgeous sunset.

I keep trying to get one of those pics where I am holding the sun. I'll get it right one of these days.

It was a good, relaxing trip.

Southern Oregon

On Thursday, April 2nd my friend Edie, her Chihuahua Ella May and I left work early and headed South. We were looking forward to arriving at Cottage Grove to drive the Covered Bridge tour there. Cottage Grove is the Covered Bridge Capitol of Oregon I am told. We had a crappy map from the chamber of commerce which was of no use. Signage is terrible when you pull off the freeway. We burned a few gallons of gas going around in circles before giving up and gratefully zooming back onto I-5 Southbound. I was really bummed out to miss the tour. Maybe I'll try again later this year, if I can find a better map.

We arrived in Roseburg about 3:00 and checked in at the Holiday Inn Express. I would highly recommend this hotel if you ever find yourself needing a room in the vicinity. Dogs are welcome in the first floor rooms. Our back door opened onto a nice green lawn with the beautiful Umpqua river just beyond. The indoor pool, jacuzzi, and fitness room were excellent. The free breakfast was a lot more than coffee and donuts, with cheese omelets, bacon, toast, yogurt and fresh fruit. A good value and nice clean rooms.

Hotel behind, partial view to left.

Jacuzzi under gazebo with view of the river.

Edie's son Tony lives in Roseburg and her best girlfriend just up the road in Glide. We met up with Tony and went out to Abbey's Pizza for dinner. Mmmmm - I love Abbey's. I don't think we have them up here anymore.

On Friday we got any early start on the day. We planned to head to Winston to the Wildlife Safari Park. We toured parts of Roseburg along the way. It had been raining on and off during the morning and the sun was coming out just as we arrived at the park. There are some caged animals to see in the little Safari Village. A cheetah, some monkeys, snakes, flamingos (did you know that flamingos have purple knees?) and Snowball the Deer. Remember Snowball the deer who was removed from a family in Molalla? She is at the Wildlife Safari. She was injured and unhappy when we were there. Limping around her little enclosure and visibly miserable. I wish they had left her with the only family she's ever known in Molalla. Very sad. The gift shop had the usual stuff. We had to duck in there while a quick hail storm passed over.

miniature donkey

owl monkey

Flamingo

Snowball

So we got back in the car to begin our Safari Adventure. The first section was AFRICA and the first animals we saw were a couple of Ostrich laying in the grass near the Lion cage of all places.

Most animals are free to wander. The lions, tigers, cheetahs and bears are in caged enclosures. the bear enclosure is a drive through but was closed on this day due to cranky bears they said. Personally I think it has to do with the recent attack on a park worker.

Passing the Ostrich we next saw some kind of long horned African cattle. Really long horns on these guys, I don't know how they hold their heads up. Then we saw the Rhino's. My gosh they are HUGE. I mean, you know that of course, but when they are just a stone's throw away from your car you really get a new measure of respect for the size of them. Very interesting and prehistoric looking creatures. There were Zebras and other grazers, Gazelle's or something on the hill above the Rhinos. We drove through the Lion enclosure and the male got himself up from his nap to stroll majestically before us as if on cue. Big Black mane on that guy. Then more Zebras, gazelle type grazers and various types of waterfowl. Soon we rounded the bend to see Giraffe's lumbering along the roadway. How weird to look our your window at a Giraffe's knee. I just love their gait, no hurry, just strolling along. They are very majestic creatures.

All the way along through the park are geese, ducks and emu's just wandering. Geese are honking at you, Emu's are bum rushing your car and making a gutteral yuck yuck yuck sound down low in their throats. I very quickly rolled up my window a few times to avoid them sticking their heads in the car. They look at you in a very menacing way.

Approaching the Elephant area a sign invites us to pull through to the Elephant Car Wash. and in small print $20.00. Well that is just too much. We tell them we cannot afford that and the park attendant responds "would you like an Elephant car wash for free?" Free? we say. For real? Yes she says, for real. Well of course! We aren't idiots after all. We are instructed to pull forward to where an elephant is waiting with buckets of water. What Fun! Edie and I were just beside ourselves. Tiki was the name of the elephant and she had a lot more hair on her than I would have expected. She waited, trunk curled up on her forehead for us to be in the right spot and then on cue from her trainer she sucked water up out of the bucket and let it go over the top of the car. We were truly surprised by the volume of water she could hold in her trunk. When she felt that there was a sufficient amount of water on the car she grabbed hold of the sponge and began to wipe the windows, taking great care and being very gentle. She then rinsed with great volumes of water and placed her trunk back upon her forehead to signal she was finished. What a wonderful experience. We were compelled to turn over a $5 tip. I asked if I could pet her trunk but they would not allow it. Darn! I took video of the Elephant car wash - view it here.....

The monkeys are housed on islands in little lakes. They have fun looking habitats with many things to swing and climb on. Swinging and climbing is exactly what they are doing, making it tough to get a decent picture. We got a small glimpse of the hippo. mostly of his butt and cute little tail which he was wagging. Of course he was in a pond and most of him was under water.

ASIA was the next part of the tour. There were interesting types of small deer, herds of them mingling together. Water buffalo share the roadway with you and sometimes you have to stop and wait for them to decide to move out of the way so that you can continue. Camels were seen at various locations throughout the park. All were tethered to their feed bins, munching on hay.

One of the creatures I found most interesting were what appeared to me as white reindeer. Laying, almost as if posing in a straight line on the hill. The Cheetah's and Tigers were something to see. They have a lot of cheetah's and a successful breeding program there.

The next track was THE AMERICAS. This area began with Bison. Such lovely creatures. Their heads look so soft. I would love to have petted one. Which I could have done while driving by, but decided I probably should not. The Bear enclosure came next. While the drive through was closed, we were allowed to pull up and stop where we could clearly see them. There were two brown bears seemingly juveniles playing together right at the entrance. Wrestling and tumbling around on the grass. They were very loud as well. Above them on the hill could be seen two much larger bears looking on. They seemed older and content in being spectators to the wrestling match below. There was a large herd of Elk beyond that. Many females resting in the trees and a few males in soft velvet sleeping peacefully while we passed.

There is much to see at the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who loves animals. View all the trip pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/sprout33/SouthernOregonWildlifeSafari?feat=directlink

The remainder of the day was spent on a long driving tour of the Roseburg area. Edie drove me to all her old haunts while I pictured everything along the way. We had a mix of cloud, rain, hail, and slushy rain, with the occasional sunbreak. We bypassed Callahan mountain as it was snowing up there. With such a lovely river running through it is no surprise that there are many, many parks in Roseburg.

My favorite thing about this region are the lovely green rolling hills, the Madrone trees and the many Oaks that dot the landscape. It is the epitome of picturesque!

I cannot possibly remember the names of all the locations we visted. I will report those that I can remember:

Lookingglass Valley. Gorgeous!

OC Brown County Park. Fun!

Colliding Rivers. A very powerful place!

Cavitt Creek Covered Bridge. Quaint and lovely!

Cavitt Creek Falls. Positive Ions refresh the soul!

The Narrows on the North Umpqua. Serene!

Susan Creek Falls. Very Spiritual!

On Saturday Edie, Tony and I drove up the North Umpqua to Jo and Ronnie's place on Susan Creek. What a gorgeous piece of property they live on. All by themselves in a sunny clearing with forest all around. Chipmunks and Juncos, and Jays and Chickadees shared of the seeds and peanuts offered up by Ron and Jo. They have a gorgeous dog named Paul, whom I enjoyed petting. Peaceful serenity there. I very much enjoyed their company and am blessed to have met them. Jo served us the most delicious seafood enchilada with rice and beans. She is a wonder in the kitchen. There is good energy out there. I can't wait to visit again.