After my night of mice and stars high in the Ochoco, I continued westward, crossing from the "dry side" of the Cascade range; airy, open stands of Lodgepole Pine in the mountains, sage and juniper scrub in the lower desert, to the "wet" side; dense, mossy slopes of spruce, fir, hemlock and cedar, cut by clear, cold streams and rivers, via the McKenzie pass...
As you can see, even from these tiny images, this is some pretty dramatic scenery. The dark rock is basalt; not-all-that-ancient cooled lava. (That's North and Middle Sister Mountains in the background) This is what underlies most of the high desert in this the part of the world; vast basalt fields like these, covered over time with a thin layer of soil, created by plant colonization and erosion, and cut by fantastic river gorges.
Hunter S. Otter, posing at the McKenzie Pass, Mount Washington in the background. Look closely, and to Hunter's left you'll see... Chicken. A Yamhill county treasurer, on the "Chicken" team, was evidently toting Chicken around, posing (him? her? Impossible to tell without some rather invasive exploration of the nether regions, and since we had just met, that just didn't seem the gentlemanly thing) at various Oregon sites of interest, in an effort to amass more images than the other Yamhill county office teams doing the same, presumably with different critters. Spotting Hunter and I working the scenery, she rather forcefully approached, telling us that "she needed my animal." Hunter was a bit put off by her forwardness and tone, but was typically gracious, agreeing to pose with this strange bird.
Heading westward down towards the ocean, the landscape drops dramatically into the Willamette National Forrest, a very different environment from the high desert...
The images below are of the same spectacular tree I shared the campsite with, shot from different perspectives, once with my net and boots in the frame for size reference.
And that, dear readers, is referred to as "old growth". I reckon this Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) is at least 250-300 years old, well worth listening closely too. And right behind -actually a bit under as well- you can see a bit of Lost Creek; a beautiful, clear-blue cutbank pool, perfect habitat for...
...trout. This one is a Rainbow (Oncorhynchus mykiss). I also caught a mess of Coastal Cuthroat (Onchorhynchus clarki). This was a pret'near perfect campsite for me, and I am deeply grateful for the good fortune of having stumbled upon it. Now that I know it's there, I intend to visit again sometime.
So one goal achieved; actually catch a wild trout on fly fishing gear. (I know, I know, he doesn't look happy. I don't blame him. But he seemed fine and lively when I let him go after his photo-shoot.)
Love the tree--boots do help to appreciate its magnitude.
ReplyDeleteThanks; it's a pretty great tree.
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