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.

Portland, OR (5/1 thru 5/6/2020)

Well, the coronavirus continues to impact my trip.  Not the virus itself, but our country's reaction to it.  I was pleased to get an RV site in Portland without having to commit to a one month stay.  However, nothing is open. No parks, no museums, no theaters, no restaurants (except take-out), no Federal lands, no state parks, nothing.  So, when Ashley's flight from Tampa was cancelled and the alternate offered her was unacceptable, she wisely decided not to make the trip.  There was nothing to do here anyway.

Trying to make lemonade from these sour lemons, I decided to get better acquainted with the city by driving around and taking pictures of things that I feel others may find interesting if they have never been here.  Mind you, I don't expect to generate a lot of enthusiasm because all the best things this area normally offers...the beautiful waterfalls, the lush hiking trails, the International Rose Garden, the Japanese and Chinese gardens, the Saturday Market, and even Voo Doo Donuts...are all unavailable to me.  It was shocking to learn that even the annual Naked Bike Ride has been cancelled, although there are rumors it will be replaced by a Naked Protest March.

Here are the tidbits I've gathered for your enlightenment.  Portland's official population is 653,000, but the overall area is much more populous.  The city sits along the mighty Columbia River of Lewis & Clark fame, where the north-flowing Willamette River joins it and near where it enters the Pacific Ocean.  Consequently, Portland is one of our largest ports, particularly for goods coming from or going to Asia.  The fertile Willamette Valley produces huge quantities of goods for foreign consumption.  Consequently, much of the city's waterfront is dedicated to that industry, but plenty of waterfront land has also been set aside for parks and recreation.  There are many miles of bike trails, all heavily used.  I couldn't get a view of the entire city, but here is a small segment of Portland's skyline.

For miles along the Columbia River, there are more marinas than I could count.  Many of them are actually "floating home communities", complete with security gates that limited my photography to the levee some thirty plus feet above the river.  (The highest recorded flood was 33.6 feet above normal in 1894, but was almost matched in 1948.)  The floating homes range from $200,000 to more than $1 million in price.  The slip is owned in some cases, rented in others.  Most of them could never be moved from their current site.  You may notice the floating docks can rise about thirty feet.

 
There are also numerous condo/town home communities and some single family houses along the river.  One resident who pays no rent is the beaver I spotted swimming in one community.

Other residents who pay no rent are generally thought of as "homeless", but I think they mostly just choose a less costly lifestyle.  In my travels, almost everywhere I went, I saw tent cities ranging from a single tent to maybe fifty.  In other places, junk cars, trucks, buses, RVs, etc lined both sides of a street or just pulled in wherever there was room.  I was not willing to risk taking pictures up close and personal.

One icon of the area, the beautiful Mt. Hood lies about 60 miles east of Portland and is visible from many locations.  At 11, 240 feet (approx.), Mt. Hood has twelve glaciers and offers the only lift-supported year-round skiing in North America.  Having experienced four eruptive periods in its history, it is classified as a potentially active volcano.  I wanted a photo of it with the golden light of the setting sun, but clouds prevented that. This was taken mid-afternoon on a clear day.

In 2013, I went up on nearby Mt. Larch to photograph the full moon rising over Mt. Hood.  With a full moon occurring early this morning, I went out last night by Portland International Airport in hopes of getting photos of the last super moon of 2020 rising near the mountain.  Once again, clouds spoiled the event.  For a while, the mountain was almost totally hidden, but the peak eventually showed itself as the moon also came into view.  The photo isn't the sharpest, but does show how it appeared at my location.

While waiting for moonrise, I photographed some of the arriving planes almost directly overhead.

As I've said, this area seems to have the perfect climate for growing plants.  Until now, my visits here were all in the summer.  Now I've seen Spring blooms and they are lovely.  In addition to blooming trees and shrubs, the Japanese maples and pines are very impressive.  Here is an assortment from my drives around the suburbs of Portland.

Port Orford, Bandon & Heceta Head, OR (4/20 thru 5/1/2020)

My plan was to spend three or four days at each stop along the Oregon coast , visiting places I had missed on previous trips or doing a better job of taking photos.  However, the government, the coronavirus and the weather had other ideas.  To reduce the spread of the virus, Oregon shut down everything but essential activities.  RV parks were only allowed to take new customers for one month or more.  Consequently, I stayed in Port Orford for 35 days.  We had rain for about twenty of those days, which actually made it easier to accept staying inside, and I quickly ran out of places to go even when the weather was good.  On the other hand, I could not have found a nicer park or more accommodating management than Camp Blanco RV Park.

Driving around town, I found a few things of interest to share with you.  Numerous deer wander through town, which has large wooded areas within town limits.  I found this one too cute to resist.

 I never learned whether the old City Jail is still active.

 

Beautiful blooming plants and trees were found all over town.

On top of China Mountain, I found many acres of clear cut forest with a view all the way to the ocean. Along with the utter destruction, pretty wildflowers have emerged, such as these wild irises.

 

When the weather permitted, I went out to watch the sunset, hoping to get something spectacular to photograph.  These are from Port Orford on different days.

On my last night, I drove to Bandon to get a different set of foreground rocks.

Under ideal circumstances, I would have spent more time along the coast.  In fact, I had a reservation to stay in Waldport, but the 30 day minimum rule was extended and my reservation was cancelled.  Since I found a park in Portland apparently not subject to the rule (or not following it), I drove to Portland all in one day.  With the hills, curves and towns along the route, It was a grueling drive, so I only stopped twice, once for fuel and again for Heceta Head Lighthouse.  It was extremely frustrating to drive past so many places I had planned to visit, so many sights I wanted to photograph.

Heceta Head is an iconic lighthouse and the most photographed spot in Oregon.  I stopped here several times in the past, but for various reasons never actually toured the facility.  That was definitely my plan this time, foiled again by coronavirus closures.  Once again, I settled for photos across the bay.

Looking down to the rocks below where I've seen sea lions in the past, I finally found a lot of sea lions basking on the rocks several hundred yards down the coast.

 This shows you the steep, colorful cliffs that line the highway along the Oregon coast.

I am in Portland so my grand-daughter Ashley can visit me during a school break.  Her trip has been planned for some time and I hope virus restrictions don't interfere with it.  Hopefully, we can find things to enjoy despite all the closures.