Bend and beyond

Malheur NWR is really a unique place. We are enjoying working in the visitor center. People do not just drop in, they are coming in to a destination for bird watching, hunting, fishing or taking in the history of the valley. To check out this area and the refuge, visit the Malheur Refuge web site.

View from the visitor center porch

The history of the area is quite interesting. Peter French came to the Blitzen River Valley (as in Donder and Blitzen) from California in 1872 with 1200 head of cattle and a team of vaqueros. He was backed financially by Hugh Glenn. The valley is very fertile and has plenty of water from snow melt off the Steens Mtn. His cattle ranch became the largest deeded ranch in the US by the time of his death in 1897 (killed by a homesteader in a land dispute). There are many buildings remaining from this period, including three barns, a bunkhouse, one of the ranch offices and the original fence at the northernmost outpost of the ranch near refuge HQ. You can find details on the refuge web site or do a search on Peter French and Blitzen Valley.

The Sod House Ranch - Peter French's northern outpost

We like to travel around the area where we are staying and there's no lack of places to go in Oregon. Our first out trip was to Bend. It is the largest town within 150 miles. Our trip was planned as an exploration of the area. The drive of over 120 miles was over rolling hills and immense valleys. The lack of trees in the area gives great views when driving over a “hill”, but pictures do not do it justice.

View across a valley (note gravel road - there are lots)

Bend is in central Oregon very close to the Cascade mountains. The city is a tourist spot - there is skiing in the winter and camping/hiking in the summer. The downtown is full of little shops and restaurants; we ate lunch at a very good Indian restaurant and walked through the downtown area. The mountains surrounding the town are absolutely beautiful. All of the area is volcanic, like Yellowstone, full of hot springs, fissure cavities and, well, volcanoes. The Sisters (a set of three mountains), Mt Bachelor and Mt Hood are all active volcanoes. People do not take notice they are on the east side of a natural disaster waiting to happen.

It's not a working example - just an exhibit at the High Desert Museum

We went to visit the raptor center while in Bend. It is a rehabilitation community for injured animals, mainly meat eating birds, but there are a few otters and other wildlife in the park. There are also exhibits of early life in the area. From Indian, to settlers to lumbermen, each has a demonstration of the hardships the people went through. There was a live animal demonstration. The Red-tail Hawk flew very close to the crowd.

Farm exhibits include this old Caterpillar

The red-tailed hawk

The tiny saw-whet owl

We have the luck of being in a fertile valley with many farmers and ranchers. Terri from the NWR told us of a farmer who brings fresh picked produce into town each week. We are impressed with his wares. We are regulars getting corn, tomatoes and melons. Once again it goes back to eating, and we are doing it very well.

Swans with their three "ugly duckings"

Well, we are on to other things, like taking a week off of traveling. We are just hanging out before we travel to Boise. Keep the faith.

Welcome to Malheur NWR

Welcome to the beautiful Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Wildlife refuges are sanctuaries for animals, mostly migrating birds, and have generally been set up along paths taken by these fowl. Malheur is a water oasis in the high desert. It is located on a plain where no water escapes to the ocean. The water is trapped in a flat area surrounded by hills and mountains. There is very little rain. Most of the water is from snow melt in the higher elevations. There are a couple of rivers from the mountains that feed several lakes where the only escape is evaporation. The refuge follows one of the rivers and surrounds three of the major lakes.

View across the desert (from the RV)

The refuge is located about 30 miles from Burns Oregon. Burns is about 120 miles from Bend Oregon and about 180 miles from Boise Idaho. We can truly say this is a remote location. Burns has about 8000 people. It is the largest city in Harney County. It is about 70 miles from John Day, where we attended the SolWest Festival.

White Faced Ibis - they are mostly dark green and black.

Inside the Round Barn - built at the turn of the 19th century

Our first week was full. We signed in with the refuge, the paper work must be done, toured the driving route and had training on our positions in the visitor center. We visited some of the local attractions that we need to discuss with the visitors: The Rund Barn, built in the late 1800's to train the big work horses. We also drove to the top of Steen’s Mountain, the major source of water for the refuge. The road was a real challenge - it's called the rooster's comb. And it's rough! But the trip is worth it - it has what we think are gorgeous overlooks into the valleys. We are at a disadvantage right now. The wildfires from California are sending smoke our way, so the gawking is limited. So too are the picture opportunities. We plan to take another trip up when conditions are better.

The warning sign on the way up to Steens Mountain

This was the good road - we were afraid to stop on the real rough stuff

We also put in our first weekend of work. Our days are Friday through Sunday. We had few visitors on Friday, but Saturday and Sunday had a nice bit of traffic. We had people from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. One Idahoan was actually from near Chattanooga Tennessee. We had a good time watching Ospreys, Pelicans, Hummingbirds and other birds as well as chatting with the visitors.

One of the birds at the feeder - a yellow-headed blackbird. A new one for us.

There will be more on the refuge and our adventures in the area soon. Keep smiling and think of us occasionally.

In which we visit Oregon

Coming back to the motor home from Sally’s high school reunion was the first step to our next adventure. We were to be in Portland on Tuesday early for more light repairs on the RV. We had scheduled a little over 200 miles and a stop at an active volcano.

Mt St Helens

Mt. St. Helens last major eruption was in 1980; there was also minor activity in late 2004. The eruption story is well documented and illustrated in a Washington State Park, Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center. There is film footage, as the mountain gave several days notice that it was about to blow. There were earthquakes and ash plumes starting about 10 days before one side of the mountain slid off, uncovering an escape route for the lava, ash and smoke. Film crews and television crews were on hand to record the event. Many people watched from perches that were dangerously close. The state and federal authorities, who had previously evacuated the area, allowed some local residents back in to retrieve some of their belongings. The first day went without a hitch, but, luckily, the second wave was delayed for other reasons, because the volcano blew before they were allowed into the blast site. And a blast site it was. Now, 28 years later, there is still evidence of trees on the ground from the explosion. We know we say it often, but if you get the chance to go to Mt. St. Helens, take it.

We hope we don’t seem pretentious. We really do wish everyone could live the lifestyle we enjoy. But it comes with a price. We get to go places on a low budget because we volunteer; and we have learned to live inexpensively. We have as many repairs on the motor home as everyone else has on their homes. We just have the ability to carry our home to the repairperson. Our satellite for television has been on the blink. We called ahead to Portland and scheduled a visit (and lead time to get the parts) for repairs. Planning ahead allowed us to actually get out faster than we expected. So we took a couple of days in the Portland area to tour.

Portland - the Rose City

We went to the Rose Garden at the Portland Park. We ate at one of the more famous brew pubs in town. That area was interesting, sort of like Virginia Highlands in Atlanta, or Homewood in Birmingham, or even similar to the Garden District in New Orleans. It was an old neighborhood with shops and markets. It was a step back in time, to a place we had never been before. We suggest you take time to look at the area you are in to see what magic may be in your town, but you are too close to notice.

Lunch at the Brew pub

Mt Hood - on the way to John Day

Mt Hood from the RV

Leaving the Portland area, we headed to the burg of John Day Oregon. John Day was a Paleontologist with several excavations. There is a town and a river named after him. Our purpose in John Day was the SolWest Renewable Energy Festival. We were treated to much information on solar power and wind power generation. We listened to speakers discuss alcohol fuels (which are not driving up the cost of food, wheat does not play into fuels, yet it has increased more than corn without losing any acreage) and their effect on autos and trucks. There is a lot to learn, so study up on bio-fuels and conversion kits.

SolWest - Exhibit Area

Teaching the younger generation

Music in the evening in Capitol City

From John Day, we are moving to Malheur National Wildlife refuge. So stayed turned for our next exciting adventure.