On to Summer Lake and Hole in the Ground

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Coldest night thus far; down to around 0º F; toastie in my sleeping bags, however.  Because I was going to be driving soon, I wore my Sorel boots, but because I remained sedentary during my breakfast, my toes felt the cold; Sorels are best when active, and soon warmed up when I walked around taking photographs.  I retraced my path back down the Chewaukan River to Paisley, stopping to take photographs, inspecting tracks in the snow, and observing the odd bit of wildlife now and again; 2 deer, a startled coyote who dashed off up the slope with his very bushy tale waving behind, and several hawks.  I took care on the road as it was covered in old snow compacted to ice, and I made it down past the snow line without incident. 

Slush-Ice on the Chewaukan

On the Chewaukan

Chewaukan Pewter

I slowly drove around Paisley, before heading north on Hwy 31 to Summer Lake, with Winter Ridge looming 3000’ above along its entire western side.  Winter Ridge or Rim is another one of these fault escarpments that are to be found in this part of the Oregon High Desert.  These to features were named by the Fremont Expedition in the 1840’s.  The exploration party was struggling through along the heights of Winter Rim, when they came to the edge and saw the lake below, snow free.  I expect the names came readily to mind.  I drove about a mile up a forest road to an overlook at the south end of the lake and had lunch, and studied the vista, from Winter Rim to my left around the basin of Summer Lake and to the hills east of the lake, which included Diablo Peak, which I now saw from a different direction than seen during my lunch stop on the previous day.

Chewaukan Landscape

Valley of the Chewaukan

After this I slowly drove up the western side of Summer Lake and stopped at the Nature Reserve for a few minutes.  The circular drive was closed, but you were allowed to drive into the reserve on a day pass, and it probably would have been OK to spend the night in one of the campgrounds there.  Mostly it was duck hunters going into the reserve at this time of the year.  I filed away this information for future reference, and proceeded on my way.

Winter Rim and Summer Lake

Winter Rim and Summer Lake #2

I climbed out of the Summer Lake basin, passing Silver Lake (dry lake bed at present), and eventually passed the road to Fort Rock and Christmas Valley.  I checked out the entrance to several forest roads, but they were all closed from December 1^st – March 31^st to give the area’s wildlife a bit of a respite.  Eventually I found that the road to Hole-in-the-Ground (yes an actual place-name) was open, although snow covered, and I proceeded up about half a mile to spend the night in a clearing found there.  Hole in the Ground is a volcanic maar, about a mile across.  I camped there back in 2010 on Easter weekend.  Coyote deer and elk tracks in abundance in the clearing.  Tomorrow I shall see if I can squeeze out one last painting before heading back to civilization, just before the New Year.

Campsite on the Road to Hole-in-the-Ground

On to Paisley & the Chewaukan River

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

The day after Christmas; Boxing Day in England; and overcast, as it had been all night, and I headed out as I thought I needed to be back in civilization by the 30^th; wrongly as it turned out, and most unfortunate as I could have squeezed out a few more days in the wild to include the New Year.  Be that as it may I left the CCC Hut Campground, home for the past few days and part of the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, and slowly crossed Warner Valley on a county road, between the dry lakes, stopping to take photographs now and then, and to study the map and identify distant features, eventually meeting the Hogback Road at a T-junction.

Floor of the Warner Valley

(Looking South with Hart Mountain on the left)

Hart Mountain from the West across the Warner Valley

(the CCC Hut Campground is at the base of the Mountain

below the dark diagonal slash at the center of the face of the mountainside)

Here one may turn south for Plush or north for Hwy 395, twenty miles away.  I turned for Hwy 395, and proceeded up between the Coyote Hills, to the south and on my left, and the Rabbit Hills north and on my right, seeing them close to, after having studied them from afar all week.  Seen from this road there are rocky buttes that rear up from the northern aspect of the Coyote Hills that look like they should be called the Coyote’s Teeth; whether they are or not, I do not know, but they should be.  A couple of miles before the junction with Hwy 395, there is a good view of Juniper Mountain and the northern extension of the Abert Rim; this latter is a fault escarpment, with its rim facing west and the plateau sloping east towards the now distant Coyote & Rabbit Hills, and the Warner Valley beyond.

The Coyote Hills from the Hogback Road

(a couple of the buttes I have called the Coyote's Teeth can be seen)

The Rabbit Hills

(Hart Mountain is beyond and across the Warner Valley from this view)

Juniper Mountain and the Northern Extension of the Abert Rim

(from the Hogback Road a couple miles before the Hwy 395 Junction)

From here I drove north for four miles to check out a rest area for future reference.  It had water pumps there, similar to the one at the CCC Hut Campground, but whether they were turned off for the Winter or just frozen, I do not know.  I retraced my path past the Hogback Road and dropped down towards Lake Abert, but before arriving I turned right onto another county road that would eventually take me to Paisley on Hwy 31.  If the road became to iffy, I could always come back to Hwy 395, but as a county road, I thought it would be OK; I wouldn’t take chances after my experience of the Mudfest of several weeks before; it was not as good a road as the Hogback Road, but was no real problem, partly because it was frozen for the first two-thirds of the drive, when I stopped to have lunch at a view north past the east edge of Wildcat Mountain, and Diablo Peak just poking its head up beyond, and with St. Patricks and Sheepshead Mountains a bit to their right.   It was turning out to be a photo-recon day; these days are too short to drive very far, stopping to take photos, and expect to get a painting in as well.

Lake Abert & the Abert Rim

(the latter on the left)

Abert Lake Homestead with the Abert Rim beyond

Wildcat Mountain

(with Diablo Peak just poking up beyond

and with St. Patrick's and Sheepshead Mountains a bit to their right;

here I had lunch)

Paisley, named after the town in Scotland, looks to be a pleasant village (hot in Summer, I expect), about the size of Lake Nebagamon, in northern Wisconsin, where I spent my first three years of grade school.  I topped up with petrol, and decided to check out the Chewaukan River, which flows through town.  I meandered up the river valley (county road 33), taking photos, and eventually decided to turn around about 10 miles up, the now icy and snowy road.  A few hundred yards back down the road I decided to spend the night at the Jones Crossing Campground, which although officially closed, was only closed as far as amenities were concerned.  Many tracks in the 3” of snow covering the ground … deer, coyotes, and what may have been cougar tracks; these latter were along the road where I had turned around.  I kept my bear spray canister close to hand while strolling around and preparing supper.  Studying the map I see that I’m now about 30, maybe 40, miles from the site of the now infamous Mudfest, but over some desperate and snowy roads, over the escarpment and mountains.

On the Chewaukan River #1

On the Chewaukan River #2