Painted Hills - April 2014

The Painted Hills Unit is part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Park, which lies about 2 hours northeast of Bend, through the beautiful Ochoco Mts, and not far from Mitchell :-) The colors of the clay layers that create the painted effect can vary depending on how much moisture has been recently received.

I did not get a good picture of Ranger Scott Rinker (?) who led us up hills and down, but here are the two group leaders from Bend Parks and Rec, Leslie and Ron.

You had to keep your eyes open for rattlesnakes and cactus (this should sound familiar to my Nevada hiking pals). The hedgehog cacti were just starting to bloom.

We saw several other types of wildflowers, including Yellow Bee Plant (cleome):

Chaenactis:

Larkspur:

Pink and White Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva):

Getting pictures of the latter were responsible for me spraining my ankle - sigh - but they were indeed beautiful and amazingly delicate looking amidst this harsh landscape.
Saw an interesting antler along the trail that had been dyed pink, maybe by the minerals in the soil??

We went onto BLM land (out of the park) under the guidance of Ranger Scott and were able to pick up rocks with petrified leaf fossils.

The spans of time revealed in these geologic formations are truly mind boggling.

And isn't it nice to know where some of the basic ingredients for your toothpaste and your kitty litter come from?!

Eagle Rocks Hike

Monday, April 21, 2014 was a cool cloudy day but we covered 5.7 miles without a drop of rain. We started just on the outskirts of Sisters at the Peterson Ridge Trails. Very level walking until we reached the Eagle Rocks Pass cut-off and then it was a very manageable 100 foot elevation gain to be rewarded with an up-close and panoramic view of the three Sisters and Broken Top mountain. Unfortunately, the high overcast totally washed out the contrast and you can barely see the snow covered mountains against the gray sky.

Just as we were getting toward the end of the trail, we came across a white headed woodpecker and I managed to get one decent shot when its head was not buried in the tree.

There were some huge burned out snags that provided wonderful color (and often homes for multiple critters) along the trail as well.

Much of this trail system is also used for mountain biking but we only met up with one biker that day.

Catherine Creek - April 2014

On our most recent visit to see Mickey and Joan in Portland, we were joined by their friend Kashala for a day hike at Catherine Creek, a couple hours east along the Columbia River gorge.

It was a beautiful spring day and we had some panoramic views of Mt. Hood on the horizon above the river and the orchards on the Oregon side of the river.

I loved the derelict old corrals along this trail and took several pictures of them.

We had a nice picnic at the top of the trail and some people even had a little lie down. The tough looking guy in the hat is brother-in-law Mickey...

We saw lots of wildflowers, some in great swaths sort of "flowing" down the mountain.

 

The drive back along Hiway 14 was pretty. The Friday afternoon traffic on I-5 coming into Portland was not!

Tumalo Historic Canals Trail - April 2014

I have decided to start using this blog to post pictures of our activities around Bend as well as our travels further afield. I may do a little retrospective posting, so these are not necessarily going to be in order. Joined Bend Parks and Rec group, led by tour leader extraordinaire Leslie Olson, on April 14, 2014, to hike on the trails located between Hiway 20 and 97 that were once slated to be irrigated developments. The whole thing with the canals, and later with the dams, did not work so well, however--seems that porous lava rock does not hold water very well. In spite of an early April snowfall, this trail was already dusty and dry, but fairly level for the 4 miles we covered. Some nice views of the Sisters and Broken Top from several spots along the trail.

I learned from our volunteer assistant that lichen is a combination of algae and fungus and saw several brightly colored examples along the trail.

Some amazing old junipers were to be seen including one which had grown up through the rocks and carried a piece of rock up into the branches. Also saw some really beautiful twisted old stumps like this one.

 There was also a ruin of a small stone building--not sure if it had been intended as residential or just for hunting.

I think this would be a good trail for winter hiking, but not for summer as it would be too hot.