Click on the map above to get more details of our adventures
Please excuse us for being slow to post here at Malheur. We are in a very rural area of Oregon. We are thirty miles from the closest town (Burns) and the cell reception is as you might expect it, poor. We occasionally go to a place where we can get wifi. We think it is worth that sacrifice, it is a beautiful area. <>Our trip to New Orleans was fun, but we are now at work. The first weekend in April is the local bird festival. We were in the refuge visitor center for the weekend. Our major function was trying to let visitors know where they will have the best chance of seeing the birds they are looking for. Obviously, nature does not work on a hard, fast schedule, so we give the visitors our best guess. During the spring, most of the birds are migrating through the area. The ranchers flood their home fields using water from the Silvies River. Migratory birds really enjoy this since it provides lots of food. In return, the birds fertilize the fields. When the ranchers drain them in June, the hay has a good start. Common birds are Snow Geese and Ross' Geese (thousands of them in large flocks), waterfowl of all kinds and Sand Hill Cranes. Though we were working during the bird tours, we did get to attend a raptor presentation Friday evening and the festival dinner during the weekend.
Snow Geese
Sandhill Crane
Another bird that is highly sought after is the Sage Grouse. These birds are most commonly seen in the spring on "leks" which are areas in the sage brush where the males display in hopes of getting a chance to mate with a female. They always use the same location, always right at sunrise and only between March and May. No one knows why they choose the same location year after year. At any rate, on our first off day, we headed up Foster Flat Road (dirt and gravel BLM road). It was pretty exciting - the morning was beautiful and we got to see the males doing their best.
Sage Grouse - note to self: need bigger zoom lens!
Afterwards, since it was so early, we decided to see if we could find the wild mustangs that winter nearby. They spend the summers up on Steens Mountain and it's hard to find them without a 4-wheel drive. We had great luck - they were quite near the road, along with pronghorns and deer. For lunch, we headed to Fields for a hamburger and milkshake.
Wild horses near Steens Mtn
Fields - best hamburgers in Oregon
There are lots of hot springs in Washington and Oregon (goes with the volcanos - think Mt St Helens). Alvord Hot Springs is miles from anywhere. There are two concrete structures with jerry-rigged pipes carrying 140 degree water in. One of the tubs is kind of enclosed by corrugated sheet metal; the other is open to the desert. There is a dressing room, but the springs are "clothing optional". When we went, it was very pleasant - sunny, cool, hot water. We can attest that "clothing optional" is accurate (not us - the other guy!).
Alvord Desert Hot Springs
The facilities at Alvord Hot Springs
Our frst free four day weekend, we headed for Baker City and La Grande Oregon. Our original intent was a songwriters showcase and a play at Eastern Oregon University. We missed on both counts, the showcase was cancelled and we did not make it in time for the play. Seems we got distracted by the Oregon Trail Intrepretive Site. We spent more time there than planned, but we had a great time. We ate dinner and watched hockey since we missed the play, and got into the hot tub at the motel. Not a bad weekend.
Baker City downtown
Oregon Trail ruts
BLM Interpretive Center
The plan for the next weekend was to go nowhere. So we went to the Crane Hot Springs. The area we are in is a volcanic. The whole valley is has geological formations that are rarely seen together. Hot springs is the rare water flow that is heated by underground fissures. This area is full of them. We chose to get a private room at the springs. It was very interesting, the "tub" was a cattle water trough. The water was cold, which we thought was odd. but then we read the instructions, opened a valve and, wouldn't you know it, hot water.
Crane Hot Springs - private tub
The next day we went out to see more geological wonders. The Diamond Craters are formations created by volcanic eruptions, dome creations and dome reductions. The BLM publishes a very informative pamphlet that explains how, when and where the eruptions occured and what you are looking at. Unfortunately, it was very windy, thus dusty. Wherever the pamphlet said we had a panoramic view, all we could see was the first 100 yards.
Next week we are headed to the Washington coast to camp with Tom's cousin. See you in the funny papers.
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