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Virus-Shortened Roadtrip

In early March, Martha and I headed out in Starr for 1-1/2 weeks of visiting folks in Santa Fe and Tucson. She was then to fly home while I would continue on for another 2+ weeks of photographic explorations in the SW. And we had a fabulous time catching up with Berkeley & Marie & Santa Fe’s art scene, followed by a lovely time with family & friends in Tucson. But the covid-19 pandemic worsened the entire time — so, when it came time to separate, we instead decided to drive straight back to Bend together. Obviously that was the right decision!

We did visit a few great locations on the various legs of the trip: Canyonlands’ Island in the Sky, Canyon de Chelley, Gila Cliff Dwellings Nat’l Monument, and Ha Ho No Geh Canyon.

Full trip details, with pictures, can be found in the Virus-Shortened Roadtrip Gallery

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Southwest Roadtrip

In early December I took advantage of Martha’s 3 weeks in India to take Starr on a 2 week trip to southern Arizona and western New Mexico. My itinerary was a long list of candidate locations and a desire to “go with the flow.” After a wonderful family Thanksgiving stop in San Francisco, I continued south and ended up visiting the following locations:

* Joshua Tree Nat’l Park
* Kofa Mountains
* Tucson’s Saguaro Nat’l Park & Mountain Park
* Dragoon Mountains
* Chiricahua Nat’l Monument
* Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Nat’l Monument
* White Sands Nat’l Monument
* Bisti Badlands area (King of Wings, Valley of Dreams, & Bisti)
* Shiprock
* Valley of the Gods

For the most part, the weather was conducive for photography – lots of cloudy to stormy skies. I did experience two days of rain between the Dragoons and White Sands stops, and this later became an issue when driving & hiking on NW New Mexico’s slippery-when-wet clay. And, in the end, the trip was cut short a few days when a large cold & wet storm moved into the western U.S.

Full trip details, with pictures, can be found in the Southwest Roadtrip Galleries

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Autumn at Silver Falls State Park

I can’t believe that in my 40 years in Oregon I had never visited Silver Falls State Park. The Willamette Valley’s peak autumn colors, together with a forecast of heavy cloud cover, were the impetus to drive over the mountains and right that wrong. Over an afternoon and morning, I hiked to 9 of the park’s advertised 10 falls. I found most of them extremely photogenic, helped by recent rains. In fact, the night’s storm forced nearby tent campers to abandon their stay, and made me thankful for Starr’s weather tightness.

Here’s the photo gallery link: Autumn at Silver Falls Gallery

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Owyhee Canyonlands and Southeastern Oregon

The Owyhee Canyonlands, in the remote SE corner of Oregon, have long been on my radar to explore. So, when cooler temperatures arrived this September, friend Andy & I headed out to explore them. That area’s Leslie Gulch was especially enticing, with descriptions of fantastical volcanic towers and gorges which sounded similar to Smith Rocks’. And while we did find Leslie Gulch (& Succor Canyon) beautiful, especially when accented by blooming rabbit brush, we found it difficult to capture photographically. And the open range cattle had produced clouds of oppressive flies. So, after 3 days we headed back toward Bend, but not before putting Starr through some serious off road challenges. One was a very steep and rocky ATV track up to the base of Three Fingers Rock. Starr had no problem handling it, except that he decided to have his air intake hose come loose near the top and thereby loose all power! After a few panic-filled minutes (“how are we going to get a mechanic up here?”), Andy found the disconnected hose and all was well again.

On the way home we visited the always-interesting Alvord Desert, Steens Mountain, and the Pete French Round Barn.

Here’s the photo gallery link: Southeastern Oregon Trip Gallery

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Steens Mountain Wildflowers

I try to visit Steens Mountain most autumns for fall color, but I hadn’t visited during wildflower time … boy, have I been missing out. Although the flowers weren’t especially profuse in late July this year, there was a huge variety and the spots of color added a special touch to this remarkable location! In fact, I think that Steens is in the same league as Crater Lake, but without the people (Shhh!!!). This huge volcanic rock was tilt-thrusted 9500′ into the sky above the high desert flats and then glaciers sculpted huge U-shaped gorges radiating out from its summit in all directions. And there’s the (usually) well-graded dirt road (highest in Oregon) that loops you to these sights without effort. Truly amazing. Steens Mountain Image Gallery

PS Here are image galleries of fall trips to Steens: 2007, 2008, 2016, & 2018

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