Being a visual person, I have always wanted to visit Bryce Canyon National Park. I was not disappointed when I visited the park in May. Here are some of the many multi-layered delicate castles of stone in the park. They are a visual treat to all that are lucky enough to see them.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Satisfaction
Silent Sunday
Do you need a little help with your garden? These three mule deer bucks showed up to help in our backyard. We often see deer here but it was unusual to see three bucks together. They just did a little pruning here and there and then left. Thanks guys!
Weekly Photography Challenge – Unusual
Silent Sunday
Here are photos of signs in the town of Coalmont, British Columbia, Canada from my archives. The signs are right next to each other but I split the photo in two to make it easier to read. They do have a unique sense of humor there. 🙂
Lots of colorful fruits and veggies to buy at the Farmer’s Market yesterday in Bend, Oregon.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Collage
Silent Sunday
Just couldn’t resist posting one more picture of a bridge. The color of the flags on the bridge are changed with the various seasons, holidays, and events. This bridge is not far from the one I posted on Wednesday. The bridge is in Bend, Oregon and it goes over the Deschutes River. There are some nice trails to walk on near the river. It’s also fun to inner tube, kayak, and stand up paddle board here. Colorful flowers around the area are in full bloom.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Bridge
Last summer I was out for an early morning walk and happened to see an artist at work painting a mural on a bridge. Sandy Klein was painting spring flowers and birds on this bridge of art in the Old Mill district of Bend, Oregon. The beautiful artwork sprinkled throughout Bend accentuates its natural beauty.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Bridge
Do you enjoy watching the HBO series Westworld? When I first watched the show, I wondered where some of the stunning outdoor shots had been filmed. Interesting land features and sunny skies serve as a backdrop in this series. I found out that several filming locations were in Utah so we visited them on a recent trip.
This series is based on the 1973 Westworld movie, written and directed by Michael Crichton. In this sci-fi classic, wealthy tourists visit an Old West-themed amusement park where they can indulge in any of their fantasies with no consequences. The “hosts” in the park appear to be human but they are actually androids. Though the skies appear to always be sunny, there are dark plot twists involving the hosts in both the movie and the series.
Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy worked on the screenplay for the new series. It debuted on HBO in October of 2016. You may have heard of Jonathan’s brother, Christopher Nolan. The two of them co-wrote the screenplays for The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and several other successful films. Jonathan worked as a writer, director, and executive producer on the Westworld series, roles he also held for the Person of Interest series.
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Silent Sunday
We just got back from the Rock, Gem, and Mineral Show in Madras. I overheard someone say there were 135 vendors this year so it took a while to see everything. This is the 68th year of this event. It is sponsored by the The All Rockhounds Pow-wow Club of America, Inc. Prices for the rocks, gems, and minerals range from one dollar to hundreds of dollars. Parking, admission, and entertainment is free. The show takes place June 22-25.
Here are a few pictures I took today at the Rock Show in Madras. Do I know what the name is of everything I show in these pictures? No! I have always liked pretty rocks even if I don’t know what they are. If you go to a big rock show like this, someone there can likely identify what’s there for you and tell you all about them. They may even tell a tale or two about the adventure they had when collecting them.
Some birds you hear long before you see them. I was happy to follow the sound of a northern flicker’s calls to discover it was nesting on our property. Here is peek-a-boo view of it looking out from its nest cavity in a western juniper tree. Their markings are loud and sharp – just like their calls. I know the birds won’t be in their nest for long, but I am glad to catch glimpses of them glimpsing at me.
Weekly Photography Challenge – Transient
Silent Sunday
Have you ever seen a plant out in nature and thought to yourself, “Wow, I wish I could have that in my yard!” You can with water wise gardening.
Well sometimes you can and if you include certain types of plants, you’ll benefit in several ways including:
Water wise gardening, otherwise known as xeriscaping, incorporates plants that require less water. The plants can be native to the area or from other areas with similar environments. There are hundreds of these types of plants that can be incorporated into your garden.
Continue readingI recently heard a complicated and beautiful birdsong but it took me a minute to locate the singer. Though the photo I took turned out to be one of a blurry songster, the mockingbird’s song was loud and clear. Be sure to visit this site to hear it – Northern Mockingbird’s song. No wonder its Latin name translates to “many-tongued mimic.”
Northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
Weekly Photo Challenge – Focus
Tree swallow Tachycineta bicolor
Silent Sunday
Land forms of the Moenkopi Formation at Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
The landscape at Capitol Reef National Park tells many stories in colorful layers of rock. The darker columns in the picture above are part of the Moenkopi Formation and it is 225 million years old.
The sedimentary layers of rock in this picture consist of silt, sand, clay, and gravel. The bands of gray and burgundy are made up of volcanic ash. The 700 foot thick layer at the base of the cliffs is the Chinle Formation. That formation contains a lot of petrified wood.
I was impressed by contrasting colors and textures at this park. If you take a trip to Utah, don’t overlook this park. There are a lot of hiking trails here and a short scenic drive.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Order
Silent Sunday
Purple wildflowers
Punctuating dry deserts
With cool regal tones
A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Remembering a wonderful trip with my friend at Hosmer Lake.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Friend
Silent Sunday
It’s hummer time! Here’s a view of a hummingbird working the flowers of spring last year. The flowers fade away as the seasons turn but the memory of their brilliance remains.
Weekly Photography Challenge – Evanescent
Silent Sunday
Can you guess where (or wear) I was earlier this month? Yes! I was on a 2,754-mile road trip to see parks in Utah and Nevada. We visited five national parks and one state park in Utah and one national park in Nevada.
I love the artwork on these t-shirts. It’s nice to remember a place with a piece of art you can wear.
I took a few pictures while on this trip. 1,420 to be exact. Lots of material for future blog posts!
An amazing example of petroglyphs can be seen on the road into the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Wow! I have seen petroglyphs before but never so many in one spot. There are more than 650 drawings on Newspaper Rock at this state historical monument. The dark desert varnish provides a nice contrast to the messages carved into the stone.
The first carvings at this site have been determined to be 2,000 years old. People of the Archaic, Anasazi, Fremont, Navajo, Anglo, and Pueblo cultures have carved their messages into the rock over the years. Unfortunately, it looks like some more modern graffiti artists added to parts of the scene.
The meanings of the messages here have been difficult to figure out. Do they tell a story or are they merely scribbles? The Navajo refer to Newspaper Rock as Tse’ Hane – translated as “Rock that tells a story.” It does indeed appear to tell many stories. Only the people who made the carvings know exactly what those stories were.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Heritage
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Silent Sunday
Bull Flat from Tumalo dam
It’s hard to imagine that the big flat area pictured above was once filled with water that all disappeared. Developer William A. Laidlaw was in this area in the early 1900’s and he promised settlers a project that would irrigate nearly 30,000 acres. Local businesses and settlers put up some of their hard earned dollars for the project but then figured out they were being taken advantage of. Laidlaw was burned in effigy in 1907 and 1912. New plans were made by the state for a reservoir.
Tumalo Dam construction. Photographic copy of TID photograph (from original print on file at TID office, Tumalo, Oregon).
In 1914, the huge earthen Tumalo Dam on the edge of 1,100 acre Bull Flat was constructed. It took 18 months to complete. The reservoir was filled with thousands of gallons of water. A couple of school kids were passing by the reservoir one day and heard a roaring noise like a tub draining. A giant whirlpool was sucking down the water at the rate of 220 cfs – as fast as it was being filled. Yikes!
They tried plugging the hole with bales of hay and detonating dynamite on floating barges. Nothing worked. It turned out the engineer that designed the project had not done much work on the soil at the site. It is extremely porous and modern day engineers liken it to a sponge. There are also lava tubes underneath the surface. Continue reading
Silent Sunday
The Three Sisters volcanoes in Oregon are beautiful but one of the three is dangerous. The photo above shows Middle Sister, a dormant volcano, and North Sister, an extinct volcano. Their other sibling, South Sister, is the troublemaker. This volcano last erupted about 2,000 years ago and research in 2000 indicated uplifting activity so it could blow again. See all three Sisters in the photo below. South Sister is on the left – some distance from her siblings.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Danger!
Rock formations at Fort Rock, Oregon
Sahalie Falls, Oregon
“The key to a wonderful life is to never stop wandering into wonder.”
Suzy Kassem
Weekly Photo Challenge – Wanderlust
If you walk on the Trout Creek trail at certain times of the year, you’ll probably see golden eagles soaring over the rimrock bordering the Deschutes River. This easy trail is located northwest of Madras, Oregon and the trail head is located in a nice Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campground. There is no fee for parking and hiking there.
The trail follows an old railroad track route. As I mentioned in a previous post here, there were two railroad companies competing to work their way south so for a while, there were two tracks. This rails-to-trails conversion serves hikers well. The trail heads west from the campground for 7.6 miles. On a recent hike there we hiked for two miles and then turned around. There’s an outhouse there and a good grass-covered area along the river for a lunch break.
We saw some interesting wildlife on our hike in April. Common mergansers were seen all along the route. The female and males have such different coloring and form you might think they are two distinct species. We saw ospreys on a nest and soaring overhead. Golden eagles and turkey vultures were seen in several places. Double crested cormorants were seen a few times. An unusually silent Townsend’s solitaire songbird did its best to make me think it was something else. See my post here about solitaires. Swallows circled and swooped over our heads. This area does look like it would get hot later in the year so keep a watch out for snakes as temperatures increase.
There are colorful growths of lichen on the rimrock cliffs that border the riverside trail. At one point I saw a huge “O” created by fluorescent green lichens. Were there some University of Oregon ducks out there influencing Nature?
Wildflowers were just starting to come out on our spring hike. I spotted a single beautiful delicate yellow bell flower along the trail. The mock orange shrubs were just starting to leaf out but later in the season their fragrance must fill the air. I saw the biggest bitterbrush shrub I have ever seen along this trail – about 12 feet tall.
The hike is framed by the cliffs rising above the river far below. You can see basalt and tuff from different geological time periods reflected in these formations.
The columnar basalt cliffs make this a popular destination for rock climbers. Climbers can try out over 130 routes there. Some consider this area to offer some of the best desert crack climbing around. For more details on climbing there, click here to read a post by climber Jeff Wenger or here to read a post on summitpost.org. Wenger explains how various groups got together with the BLM to implement a seasonal closure to protect nesting golden eagles – as opposed to a year-round closure. The cliff nesting area is closed to rock climbing temporarily from January 15 – August 15. It may open as early as May 15 but the hiking trail is open year-round.
To get to this trail head you have to go on a somewhat circuitous route so look at directions here under “Getting There.” You will pass through a one-lane tunnel at one point so make sure you have a loud horn. 😉
Balsamroot
Silent Sunday – Photography
While out hiking last June near Camp Sherman, Oregon, we were surprised to find a hidden fawn in a grassy field. Its mother was close by so we took a few pictures and continued on our way.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Surprise
Crooked River Railroad Bridge
You might drive right past the Peter Skene Ogden Viewpoint but stop and check it out. Driving along U.S. Route 97 north of Redmond, Oregon, a bridge dramatically spanning a deep canyon grabs your attention. The Crooked River Railroad Bridge was built in 1911. It passes over the Crooked River, 320 feet below.
There is a nice rest area here with picnic tables, restrooms, and scenic viewpoints. You can get a bird’s eye views of birds of prey, swallows, and other cliff dwellers from here. We had a bald eagle glide over our heads while a turkey vulture drifted by nearby.
The Crooked River, true to its name, meanders in a twisting course through the canyon below the bridge. You get great views of the lichen covered cliffs from this viewpoint. This area was formed about 350,000 years ago as lava flows from the Newberry Volcano, 40 miles to the south, moved northwards.
This viewpoint is named after Peter Skene Ogden, who first entered central Oregon in 1825 when working as a trapper for the Hudson’s Bay Company. For more about the park, click here.
Crooked River
