The Blue Mountains of Oregon

I have heard that the Blue Mountains, located in Oregon, were actually harder for the pioneers to cross than the Rockies were, in Wyoming.  Looking at them, you would never imagine that.....they look like soft rolling hills covered with praire grass and evergreen trees.  But underneath all that green softness, they are solid rock with very little top soil.  If you stop at one of the many Pioneer Interperative Centers, and actually walk on the Oregon trail a bit, you will still see the rut marks made by the covered wagons.....ruts dug into solid rock.    The Blues just go on and on, rolling for miles and miles.  There are no natural passes, so the pioneers literally had to create their own passage through the mountains.  It makes me very thankful for the modern conveniences we have, such as highways and comfortable cars to travel in.

We spent about a week in Pendleton....from May 12 through May 17.  It was really nice to go "home" and spend time with my mother.  She will be 84 next month, but is still game for a new adventure.  Springtime is absolutely gorgeous in Eastern Oregon, as there are miles and miles of green winter wheat, and beautiful golden fields of canola.  You don't realize how tall the canola grows until you actually stand in a field of it.  It smells wonderful, and there were busy honey bees all over collecting pollen and nectar.

The area called the Palouse, runs from Pendleton north to almost Spokane, Washington, and then west to the Tri-Cities area.......it covers hundreds and hundreds of square miles and is almost entirely cultivated.  It is a beautiful area to explore, and you rarely see another vehicle.  Most of the roads are dirt, because they just connect the farmhouses and fields.  We spent most of one day just exploring and driving around the Palouse, looking at the beautiful wheat, canola, peas and and vineyards.  We stopped in the little town of Waitsburg and found the city park and ate lunch.  80 degrees.....perfect dry heat.

Ron and I are always game to try a new road, and this trip was no exception.  I can't even remember the name of the road, but it started taking us toward the foothills of the Blue Mountains.  For several miles we traveled along the top of a ridge....everything was so green and beautiful, with higher snow capped peaks in the distance.  One of the things which I really enjoy about the Blue Mountains, is that they are so accessible.  There are large meadows and not a lot of underbrush, so it's fairly easy to traverse.  Also, even though you will find private property signs, there is practically unlimited access to the roads which criss cross the mountains.

We saw lots of deer and even a herd of antelope.  The wild flowers were just beginning to bloom, and in another month they will be spectacular.  My mother took every opportunity to get out of the truck and hike around.....especially when there was a field of wildflowers close.  The bluebells were really beautiful.

I love old fences and praire grass.  Even though the mountains are covered with trees, black pine, ponderosa pine, fir, tamarack and more, it's the mountain meadows that I really love.  Sometimes they can look like a manicured lawn.

After exploring the mountains for several hours, we returned to the valley just north of Pendleton where we had found some old barns earlier in the day.  The sun was getting low in the horizon and the color of things started to intensify.  The sky was coloress though, because there was a haze over then entire Pacific Northwest...which makes photography rather frustrating.  As long as we didn't have the sky in a photo, it turned out a lot better.

I have to admit, living on Camano Island, I really miss the warm spring and summer evenings in Eastern Oregon.  Nice dry heat.  The wheat fields at this time of year are my favorite.  The wheat is at least a foot high, and it's rich green and very thick.  They've had more rain than usual this spring, so the wheat looks extra good.

The next day we decided to go exploring again.  We started by crossing the Blue Mountains at Tollgate, which is between Pendleton and Walla Walla.  As we got to the top of the mountains, at Tollgate, we got out of the truck and walked to where Ron had taken a panoramic photo last winter, February 26, 2011.  Just to compare how the seasons change the appearance of a place, I took a similar panoramic of exactly the same spot where Ron took the winter picture.  Wow, what a difference in the seasons!  This is definitely a winter scene!

The air was even hazier than the day before.  As we entered Elgin and then proceeded into the Grande Ronde Valley, you could hardly see across the valley because of the haze.  So we gave up on trying to get the perfect picture and decided to just go exploring.  We headed up the Grande Ronde River just out of LaGrande, Oregon.  This area was even more beautiful than where we were the day before.  The wide mountain meadows were pristine and beautiful.  I think we counted on one hand the number of cars that we met the entire day.  This is one area that we want to return to again, to photograph when the light is right and there isn't any haze in the sky.  We found a couple of old homesteads that would be perfect to photograph.

We followed the Grande Ronde practically to it's source, and then got back on the road and drove into the Elkhorn Mountains out of Baker City, Oregon.

 We found a forest service map of all the dirt roads in the area.  We picked a road and started up it.  It was supposed to come to a meadow called Limber Jim Meadows.  The road got bumpier and more potholed as went continued, but I think that Ron was enjoyed every bump.  I know that he just wanted an excuse to put the truck into 4-wheel drive.....which we finally did toward the end of the road.  The ponderosa pines in this area, were huge and beautiful.  Mom and I got out and collected a very large plastic sack full of perfectly shaped and gorgeous pine cones.

When we got to the end of the road, there was not any meadow, but there was a pond, so we got out and hiked around the pond.  We decided that it wasn't the right spot for a picnic, so we started back down the road......I had to get out several times to pull tree branches back so the truck wouldn't get scratched.  (as soon as we got home, Ron buffed out the scratches that we got before I started pulling the branches back!)

The snow had just barely melted in places, so there were huge potholes full of water.  Our clean truck didn't stay clean for long.  Several of the potholes were really deep.....more like a small lake instead of a hole!

Found an elk camp and decided that it was the perfect spot for lunch.  There was a clear rushing creek right beside the camp in a beautiful large meadow.  Somehow food always tastes better outside.

After lunch we got back on the main road that crosses this area, and headed south toward Sumpter.  We came across this beautiful farm at the end of one valley.  (I'm sure that they get snowed in, in the wintertime.)  Ron wants to come back here and take photos in the early morning....probably in the fall when there would be ground mist, and maybe an elk or two.

We tried to find the little ghost town of Whitney, but discovered later that we had taken a wrong turn......maybe next time we'll find it.  We did see an elk and a bear as we drove up to Anthony Lake.  Road to Anthony Lake was still covered with snow, but we drove as far as we could, and then turned around.  Anthony Lake is in the Elkhorn Mountains.  We finished our loop and came out at Baker City, and then drove home to Pendleton.

It was nice to relax and enjoy the time with my mom and husband.  But we couldn't stay forever, so we headed back to Washington......the scenic route however.  We took all the back roads.....Horse Heaven Hills, and the old highway through the Yakima Valley.  Then at Ellensburg we turned off and went across Blewett Pass.  I've always wanted to stop and photograph this old abandoned farm, so this time we stopped and took some pictures.

 Here is my attempt at a panoramic photo.  This was taken in the Blue Mountains as we drove along the ridge outside of Waitsburg.  Just looking at those beautiful rolling hills, it's hard to imagine that they are really solid rock.  I heard the people who have had near death experiences have said that the spirit world is indescribably beautiful......but since I haven't been there yet, I can't say.  But I can say, that I think we live in an incredibly beautiful place right here and now.  I'm glad that I had the opportunity to grow up in this gorgeous area.