Alvord Desert Road Trip

Over Thanksgiving weekend we went on a driving tour of Southeastern Oregon with our dogs Cami and Warren. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip. We visited the Alvord Desert/Steens Mountain and the John Day Fossil Beds. As you will see from the pictures, this part of Oregon is a little different from what we are used to in Portland. Eastern Oregon is commonly referred to as "Oregon's Dry Side" due to the relative lack of rainfall, when compared to Oregon's western side. The area really reminded us of the deserts of the Southwest...just a little bit colder!!!

Just before our trip, the Pacific Northwest fell into a severe cold snap. It was 20 degrees F in Portland the morning we left, and as we drove towards the Alvord Desert, it only got colder. By the time we reached our destination of Fields, Oregon, the temperature was 10 degrees F.

Here is a roadside shot of the sunset about an hour north of Fields, Oregon.

Fields (population 12) sits at the southern end of the Alvord Desert and is a great base from which to explore the area. We stayed at the Fields Station, which is the only gas station, store, restaurant, motel in the area. If you need something, you get it here. This was a great place to stay and we really enjoyed the food and people we met in the restaurant.

The following morning (Thanksgiving Day), Scott got up at early to photograph the sunrise at Borax Hot Springs. Borax Hot Springs is one of the many hot springs in this area. The water here is ~180 degrees F and has 25x more arsenic than is found in normal water, so obviously you don't want to swim in this one! The air temperature that morning was extremely cold (~5 degrees F) and it was tough to stay warm. Here are a few photos.

Sunrise at Borax Hot Springs

Borax Hot Springs

We spent the rest of the day exploring the Alvord Desert. Our next destination was Mickey Hot Springs at the northern end of the Alvord Desert. The water in this one is ~220 degrees F...again no swimming here!

Steam rising off Mickey Hot Springs

Scott and Angie in the steam at Mickey Hot Springs

After visiting Mickey Hot Springs we drove out onto the alkali flats of the Alvord Desert. This place was amazing. The dogs went crazy here chasing their tennis balls. With the "Chuck It" we could throw the ball a mile. Here are some photos of us enjoying the Alvord Desert.

Scott and Cami

Angie, Warren and Cami

Scott and a couple of crazy beasts!

Cami

Warren and Cami

Angie, Warren, Cami

Steens Mountain/Alvord Desert

After our drive out onto the flats we stopped by Alvord Hot Springs. This is a unique hot spring which looks out over the Alvord Desert. Although Alvord Hot Springs is on private land, the owners allow visitors access to the area. If you visit here, please help to keep the place clean, so the owners continue to allow access. Unfortunately the people who visited the springs before us left the hot water pipe open, making the main pool way too hot. The temp in the main pool was ~112 F, which was a little too warm for us! We spent about 15 minutes in the secondary pool, but found the water a bit too cold in this one. Sounds a little like Goldilocks!

Angie at Alvord Hot Springs. Yes, that is snow on the ground!

Steam rising off Alvord Hot Springs. The air temp was ~25 degrees F.

Later that evening, Tom and Sandy (the owners of Fields Station) invited us to the community Thanksgiving Dinner at the restaurant. Hanging out with the locals was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. The food was amazing and Scott had a chance to play guitar with the local band.

The following morning Scott got up early again to photograph the sunrise at Borax Hot Springs again. It was slightly warmer that morning (~10 degrees F).

Sunrise at Borax Hot Springs

"Radiant Glow" Alpenglow on Steens Mountain from Borax Hot Springs.

Beautiful grasslands around Borax Lake

After eating a delicious breakfast at Fields Station (Angie had the biggest omelet we have ever seen) we began our drive north to the town of John Day. We couldn't resist driving out onto the Alvord Desert one last time. It was a perfect day out on the flats. We were amazed by how quiet it was out there that day. There was no wind and absolutely no ambient noise. One interesting thing was that we could hear random booming sounds out in the middle of the desert. According to the local lore, these booms are due to seismic activity beneath the floor of the Alvord Desert. Kind of creepy!

Angie and Warren

Scott, the dogs and the Steens

Warren

Scott's Honda Ridgeline in the Alvord Desert. This should give you a sense of scale for this area. Angie thinks the truck looks like a matchbox car!

Scott and Angie (as featured on our Holiday Card)

Thanks for reading. We hope you enjoyed the pictures. If you ever think about planning a trip to this area, pack up you things and just go. You won't regret it!

Fall in the Columbia River Gorge

Here are a few images from a beautiful fall day in the Columbia River Gorge in October. These waterfalls are about a 60 minute drive and a short hike from Portland. It was a very nice fall day and the water levels were high from the rain we had a few days before.

Elowah Falls

Metlako Falls

Metlako Falls

Mike and Kylie's Wedding

This past weekend Angie and I attended Mike and Kylie's Wedding at DC Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was an amazing wedding and the location was absolutely beautiful. It was great to catch up with our Arizona friends and meet the families of the bride and groom. Congrats again to Mike and Kylie. We wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness.

Here are a few pictures from the ceremony and reception.


Mike

Ryan and Kylie's sister

Kylie and her Dad.

Mike and Kylie

Mike and Kylie

Patrick, Julie and Kelley at the reception.

Karen and Angie

Scott and Ryan

Mike on the move.

Angie and Mike.

White Clouds Backpack

In early September, Scott backpacked with Matt, Aaron, Jimmy, Clint, Chance and Keith in the White Clouds Range of Idaho. The White Clouds Range sits inside the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, but amazingly the area is not currently designated as a wilderness area. It should only be a matter of time before this range is given protected wilderness status.

The White Clouds get their name from white color of the higher peaks. These peaks are made up of significant amounts of limestone and other light colored minerals like quartz, feldspar and mica. From a distance the white color of the mountains is nearly identical to the color of high clouds, thus the name White Clouds.

We didn't initially plan on going all the way to Idaho for this backpack. Our original plan was to backpack in Olympic National Park in Washington, but a forest fire closed the trail we were going to use. Our 2nd option was the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington, but unseasonably cool and rainy weather in the Pacific Northwest forced us to look at other options. Matt and Chance found us a great trip to the White Clouds and the trip turned out to be a very good choice.

From a photography standpoint, the light never quite went off like I wanted it to, but there are still a few outstanding photos from the trip. I probably got spoiled by the light a few weeks before in the Wind Rivers!

Here is a link to Matt's photos from the trip.

Sunday, September 5th - Day 1
Livingston Mine Trailhead (7160 feet) to Island Lake (9240 feet) - 6 Miles

The group on a bridge over Big Boulder Creek.

Jimmy and Keith on one of the several log bridge stream crossings

"Island Lake Sunset" - 2 exposure blend for dynamic range 1/10 sec and 1 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer. This spot was not far from our campsite at Island Lake.

"Campfire Under the Stars" 2 exposure blend - 30 sec at f/4, ISO 400 and ISO 800.
The stars on this trip were phenomenal. The Milky Way was about as clear as I have ever seen it.

The temperature the first night was quite cold and windy and we needed the campfire after the sun went down to stay warm. I hung my watch inside the tent vestibule and checked the temperature at 5AM. I was a little shocked when it read 24.2 degrees F...inside the vestibule. We estimated that the temp outside the tent was ~15-20 degrees. Everyone's water bottles and water bladders were frozen solid when we got up in the morning. I'm not sure how the Texas guys survived the night!

Monday, September 6th - Day 2
Island Lake (9240 feet) to Sapphire Lake (9888 feet) - 2.5 miles

Leaving Island Lake

Boulders! A huge boulder field above Island Lake.

Scott with Cove Lake in the background.

Cove Lake

Aaron and I spent the afternoon fishing Cove Lake and caught ~20 cutthroat trout. We kept a few of the bigger ones and had enough for a nice fish fry that evening.

Aaron with the day's catch.
Scott
Cutthroat trout.

"Milky Way Over Sapphire Lake" 2 exposure blend. 1st image taken during twilight to capture some detail in the mountain/lake, 30 sec at f/4, ISO 800. 2nd image about an hour later, 30 sec at f/4, ISO 1000

Tuesday, September 7th - Day 3
D.O. Lee Peak (11342 feet) and WCP-9 (11263 feet) Climbs

I got up early to photograph the sunrise over Sapphire Lake. Here are my 2 favorites from that morning. There was a beautiful stream rushing down into the lake that made for a nice foreground in these images.

"Sapphire Lake Sunrise" 2 exposure blend for dynamic range, 4 sec and 1/3 sec at f/16, ISO 200

"Early Morning at Sapphire Lake" 1/10 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer.

We spent the 3rd day of the trip climbing D.O. Lee Peak and WCP-9, swimming in Sapphire Lake (wow that water was cold!) and fishing.

Keith, Clint and Chance on the climb.

Clint below D.O. Lee Peak

Scott, Chance, Matt, Clint on the saddle between D.O. Lee Peak and WCP-9

Keith, Chance, Matt, Clint

D.O. Lee Peak

Matt and Keith near the summit of D.O. Lee Peak. They eventually made it to the summit while the rest of us stayed back and watched.

WCP-9

Scott, Chance, Clint Keith

Matt and Scott

Cirque Lake, Sapphire Lake, Cove Lake and Walker Lake

Looking out at the Sawtooth Range

Descending D.O. Lee Peak

Bighorn sheep....waaaay down below us in the basin

Descending D.O. Lee Peak

Clint, Scott, Keith, Matt and Chance on the summit of WCP-9.

Scott on the descent from WCP-9

Sapphire Lake

Matt, Jimmy and I fished again in the afternoon and caught a bunch more cutthroat trout. Aaron and Keith fished Sapphire Lake and caught a few as well.

That evening the weather started to change as a front moved into the area. The temperature started to fall and clouds began rolling in from the west.

"Alpine Storm" 2 exposure blend, 5 sec and 2 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Wednesday, September 8th - Day 4
Sapphire Lake (9888 feet) to Livingston Mine Trailhead (7260 feet) via Walker Lake - 8 miles

On our 4th day, we awoke to much cooler temperatures and threatening skies. We had the option of camping 1 more night, but instead decided to push out to the trail head. Aaron and I drove back to Portland that afternoon/evening and the rest of the group drove to Bend, OR.

Heading down the trail in the Walker Lake Basin.

Small stream along the trail

Walker Lake. You can't see it in the picture very well, but it is snowing.