The Final Stretch to Yamhill County, Part 2.

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Saturday, 2^nd of June to Monday, 25^th of June – On to McMinnville, Oregon (with an excursion to Seattle, WA, and then the Forest Roads back to and through the Washington & Oregon Cascades).

Fort Rock … a volcanic maar.

The imaginatively named Hole in the Ground …
another volcanic maar.

From snow in the morning on Winter Ridge, it was north to Fort Rock and the Hole in the Ground, and then 30 miles on forest roads to just off County Road 22, 20 miles east of La Pine, where I spent the night of 9^th June.  The next day it was on into Bend, Oregon, for supplies on Sunday the 10^th, and then into the Cascades southwest of Sisters, between that town and the Three Sisters trio & Broken Top Volcanoes.  The next four nights were spent on these forest roads, which I had never been on before.  There was a lot of old forest fire remnants, but this allowed me a certain  number of photo recon opportunities of the Sisters, that would have been obscured by living trees, so not picturesque photos, but there will be the possibility of future paintings with new forests of live trees … hey, I’m an Artist … that’s what we do … make art out of chaos.   After that it was up onto the Santiam Pass near Big Lake, and finally high up on a ridge above the Blue Pool on the McKenzie River, before finally pulling into McMinnville on June 14^th, two weeks short of a year after leaving the Twin Cities … back at my Oregon base of operations.  The next day, on the Friday, I went to my post office box to collect 15 months of mail … not as much as I feared.  I have covered these last days briefly in writing, and will let the photos say more, on this home stretch to Yamhill County.

North Sister veiled in cloud.

North Sister with cloud burning off.

Butterflies no doubt gathering minerals.

Close up of one of the "miners."

Formerly known as Squaw Creek, this
water is now named Whychus Creek,
which was its Indian name originally. 
This can be confusing for those of us
with older maps.

Middle Sister, I believe, with the slopes of North Sister on the right ...
I could be wrong since I am still coming to terms with this area.

Mount Jefferson far to the North
in the glow of evening.

Mount Jefferson and Black Butte in the light of morning.

Ya, Middle Sister and North Sister …
South Sister off screen to the left.

Mount Washington from Big Lake …
those of you familiar with my well known Christmas card
will recognize this scene sans snow.

A further view of Big Lake.

Sahalie Falls on the McKenzie.

On the McKenzie …

… the opalescent McKenzie.

Koosah Falls on the McKenzie,
about a half a mile down
from Sahalie Falls.

Old Growth Forest on the way to the
Blue Pool at the base of Tamolitch Falls,
a couple miles downstream
from the previous two falls.

The Blue Pool … Tamolitch Falls.

The Blue Pool … Tamolitch Falls; I’m told that the main falls on the left is normally dry as an upstream hydro-electric reservoir has by-passed this falls with a tunnel.  The ingress of water on the right occurs to a lesser extent from the original stream going underground, but many times the Blue Pool is partially dry.  I guess I was lucky, as there is work going on at the reservoir at present.  It’s a two mile hike through mostly old growth forest to see this beauty.

Resident.

The Blue Pool.

Looking upstream from the top of the falls.

Late afternoon in the forest.

Goodpasture Covered Bridge, on the lower McKenzie.