Crescent Lake, OR (5/8/2020) & Tulelake, CA (5/10/2020)

Crescent Lake is in a beautiful part of Oregon, heavily forested mountains and plenty of lakes.  Unfortunately, many of the lakes are on Forest Service land, easily recognizable from the locked gates on the access roads.  Those on private land usually have lodges or private residences, making photography a little awkward.  Crescent Lake itself has some of both, including a couple "day use" areas not covered by the shut down.

There must have been decent snowfall this Winter as all the creeks in the area were flowing nicely.  I drove to Salt Creek Falls only to find a locked gate.  Several parked cars indicated people were hiking from the gate, so I did the same.  Upon arrival at the waterfall, I remembered I had been here before (in 2003 according to my records).  Still, it is a beautiful waterfall, at 286 feet the second tallest in Oregon.

This area always seems to have an abundance of Steller's jays, a colorful and noisy bird.  While normally a very skittish bird, I have seen exceptions.  This one was willing to share its space with me, as long as I didn't try to get too close.

I decided to move to greener pastures by heading south, back into California.  The little town of Tulelake is a farming community that is also close to several things that interest me.  First is the Lava Beds National Monument which has numerous lave tubes (caves) to be explored.  Of course, I knew that most of the park is closed, but a unit I most wanted to see  is open.  Petroglyph Point is a large sandstone butte sitting in the middle of farmland.  At one time, it was an island in a huge lake where the Modoc Indians made their home.  The braves would paddle their canoes to the island and create art on the cliffs, while the squaws did their chores.  The climate changed and the lake mostly dried up, although remnants can still be found around the area.

Much of the art has been worn away by strong winds blowing sand against the butte, and some has suffered at the hands of subsequent residents.  People have added their own engravings and someone has tried to repair the damage or enhance faint images by applying coloring of some sort.  The Park Service installed a chain link and barbed wire fence along a quarter-mile stretch of cliff to protect the art from further damage.  There's no protecting it from "sand blasting", however, as the winds still rage in this area.

Anyway, here is a small sampling of the thousands of petroglyphs that can be seen here.

 One of the more unusual and interesting figures was chosen as the icon for Petroglyph Point and appears on the trail guide.  Notice the bullet holes that have been filled with cement.

The other reason for stopping at Tulelake is the presence of three National Wildlife Refuges in close proximity to the town, all centered around lakes and marshes left over from the original large lake.  I drove a big part of one refuge and saw "millions" of birds, including water fowl.  The bad news is birds in such refuges are skittish, and who can blame them.  They see very little human traffic, and most of that is from hunters.  (Why call it a refuge if hunting is allowed")  Needless to say, i got very few photos, even with a cooperative prairie dog.  No photos, but I also saw two pheasants and several sage grouse.

American Avocet

Western Grebe

The high winds (literally sand storms) here make it difficult and uncomfortable to enjoy the refuges, so I'll be moving farther south today and hope for better conditions.