Sunday, July 17, 2016

We finally met up with our daughter, Katie, and son-in-law, Mike.  They drove east from their campground near Crooked River Ranch, OR, and we drove west from our campground, in Dayville, OR, to meet in the Painted Hills, a unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Talk about timing - they followed us into the park!  Joani could hardly contain herself until we parked at the picnic area and jumped out to begin the hugging.

We started our exploration with one of the longer hikes to the top of an overlook, the Carroll Rim Trail, where we could view the best of the painted hills.

The hike was very enjoyable given the moderate temperature and strong breezes.  Nobody complained, but I know that I, for one, needed to work on getting back into better hiking shape.

As is all too often typical, I don't believe these pictures really did this incredible natural wonder justice.

Next, we walked the Painted Hills Overlook Trail.  We were treated to closer views of the colors leaching from the ground.  Each color indicated the presence of a particular mineral or compound but I can't say I remember anything other than the red iron oxide.

The Painted Cove Trail was about half boardwalk and half gravel that wound its way through the reds, greens and blues of the very strange textured mud hills.

Way too soon our visit was over - we needed to get back to Sam and Katie and Mike needed to get back to their cat, Gray Man.  It was hard to say goodbye, but we'll be in the same park in two days!

On the way back to the coach, we stopped at this tree we had seen earlier.  We were not able to find any explanation posted for the hundreds of pairs of shoes caught on the limbs.  So Joani went straight to the computer.  An entry on the internet said many of the branches have broken under the weight of the shoes and now there are more shoes on the ground than on the tree.  Yes, there was a webpage that listed all of the shoe trees across the country.  Just toss a pair of shoes in a tree and see if more follow.

This was our neighbor Juliet's dog, Mick Waggers.  He discovered crawfish in the river and became fascinated with them, stalking them for hours.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Today was a different kind of driving.  No Interstate highway, no divided highway, just narrow, winding, up and downhill driving.  The 163 miles (79,156.9 total) to Dayville, OR was more than enough to wear me out.  The road took us by such a change in the landscape. High desert gave way to a lush forest as we climbed.  We saw our first glimpse of snowpack high on some unidentified peak.  I even got to have a seat on a Paul Bunyan sized Conestoga wagon.

We settled into a nice shady site right along the banks of the John Day river.  I should note the "river" at its deepest is maybe mid-calf and is no wider than 15 feet.  The campground had some issues with power.  The 15 amp plug didn't supply enough current to operate our microwave.  Good thing we are self-contained and have other options for cooking.  It didn't hurt a bit that there was a nice breeze and the temperature was probably mid to high 70's. Absolutely delightful!

After a few hours of relaxing, we headed 8 miles up the road to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.  We checked out the Visitor's Center to get acquainted with the area's geologic features and history.

We met our neighbor, Juliet, who also travels full time.  She is accompanied by her two dogs, Mick and Romeo.  She maintains a very nice website tailsfromtheroad.com that is well worth checking out.

Friday, July 15, 2016

When we left Georgia a little more than two weeks ago, Joani and I were very excited to get to Oregon where we would meet up with our daughter, Katie, and her husband, Mike.  I knew it was going to be a quick trip across the country and with today's drive of 169.6 miles (78,993.9 total) we finally reached Ontario, Oregon.

We took advantage of another Pilot Travel Plaza to top off the fuel tank, eat some dinner in the attached Arby's and catch some sleep. As it seems so often, the plaza was completely full by 7:00 pm.  We were nestled between two long haulers that did not feel the need to leave their rigs idling all night and with the cool breeze, we slept pretty well.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Thirty-five miles southwest of Jerome was "Balanced Rock".  It was part of a large group of exposed, weathered rock in a scar that cut a swath through the surrounding farmland.  It looks in the picture like it was a high point, but actually, the top of the rock was a little lower than the fields around it.  The entire area was not even visible from the farms nearby.

The top of the Balanced Rock measured more than 40 feet at its maximum and tapered down to three feet at it's narrowest point.  You know one day someone will be there and hear a loud crack and see it fall over. Hopefully, they will not be below it at the time.

A few facts: It is 40 tons of Rhyolite, 48 feet tall, 40 feet wide, and the pivot point is 36 inches x 17.5 inches.

David asked a few questions about the drone buzzing overhead. The owner told us to check out cgwhat.com and then click the "blog" tab.  He would have a video posted later in the day.

If you click on the video you will see Balanced Rock from above.  At 1:48 you can see Sam and me climbing the hill.  At 1:49 David is behind me.  Don't blink, we are out of frame by 1:54.

The adventurous family below decided to climb into the shade of the rock.  They provide a little scale for the strange structure.

Sam was happy to take advantage of the shade whenever possible.

I was a little disappointed to read that the rock's base was reinforced with concrete back in the 1970s to protect it against vandals. 

“Essentially, the Balanced Rock area (along with Twin Falls) was the site of explosive volcanic activity associated with the passage of the North American plate over the Yellowstone Hot Spot,”

“In other words, the Yellowstone volcano was here 8 million years ago and areas such as Balanced Rock and Shoshone Falls record this event,” says geology professor Shawn Willsey

Can you see the dragon climbing up the rock?

I mentioned the rock was surrounded by farmland, but here nothing grows without irrigation.  This is high desert, after all, and very dry. With a giant sprinkler system in every field, the irrigation business must be pretty lucrative.

The trip to Balanced Rock took us through the Snake River canyon again maybe 20 miles downstream from Twin Falls.  The river had a completely different look from a bridge that was probably not more than 30 feet above the water.  There was quite the ambitious highway construction project bringing the road down to the canyon floor.  To the left in the picture below, you can see where they blasted a deep cut in the wall and used the rock for fill under the roadway. 

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

We are staying in the Jerome County Fairgrounds only a few miles from Twin Falls.  I knew Joani had planned to visit several sights during our stay, but I have to say, I was completely surprised by the Snake River canyon.  The entire landscape was flat farmland as far as you could see in every direction to far off mountains in the distance. Then suddenly, you were crossing this giant scar in the landscape.  It was a canyon nearly 500 feet deep with a vibrant green river far below.

The Perrine Bridge is 1500 feet long, the longest span bridge in the west, and 486 feet above the river.  Would you jump off of it for fun?  Not me, but it was fun watching young thrill seekers do it.

The Snake River Canyon was carved out 14,000 years ago by one of the worlds worst floods, the Bonneville Flood.  A lake 350 miles long and 150 miles wide breached at Red Rock Pass and 25,000,000 cubic feet of water per second poured out of the lake headed north toward the Snake River.

The flood followed the Snake River west and enlarged the canyon from 6 to 7 times its original size.  When the flood passed the Twin Falls area the water was higher than the bridge.

The flood drained 1,128 cubic miles of water.  The Great Salt Lake is what is left of the original lake.

The Twins, by David Clemons, dance at the rim of the canyon.

"BASE" is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: building, antenna, span, and Earth (cliff).  The Perrine Bridge draws many BASE jumpers from around the world. It is the only man-made structure in the USA that is legally jumpable without a permit.

David asked the young men when they planned to jump.  "Within the hour" they answered as they worked on packing the chutes.  We decided to wait.  I can see how they would want them to be just right!

The boys stopped to pet Sam before heading up to the bridge.

There was very little delay between climbing over the rail and jumping. We had trouble catching the action.  If we zoomed in for detail, we immediately lost them on the way down.  If the camera was set for a wide view we had difficulty seeing where the jumpers were and the entire trip down only lasted about 25 seconds.

Are you looking at the guys on the bridge?  Instead, check out the guy falling head first on the lower right.

I wonder what's going through his thoughts at this point.

Two at once, are you kidding?  I'd worry the chutes might tangle!

"They must know what they are doing" is not a safe assumption.  There are no permits or certifications required.  That is part of the appeal - freedom.

They both landed very close to their mark, a small flag several yards from the shore.

A few miles upstream was Shoshone Falls, known as the "Niagara of the West."   With a drop of 212 feet, it is 50 feet taller than Niagara Falls. The water flow today was actually on the low side, but still pretty impressive. Sometimes the flow drops off to almost nothing.

At the right time of year, the water can wrap all the way around to the middle of the photo.

If you are from Idaho, Shoshone is pronounced with a long O and a silent E.

On the way home, I spotted another set of jumpers and quickly stopped at the overlook site on the north end of the bridge.  I caught this guy just a fraction of a second after jumping.

We were crossing the bridge to head back to Jerome when David spotted three more BASE jumpers on their way to the middle of the bridge.  He quickly pulled into the overlook on the other side.  Timing is everything.

BASE jumping is one of the most dangerous recreational activities in the world, with a fatality and injury rate 43 times as high as parachuting from a plane.  Thank goodness today's jumpers all landed safely very close to their mark.

Later in the afternoon, we decided to head back to Twin Falls to explore Centennial Park and see if Shoshone Falls looked better in evening light - it really did not change much.  But we did enjoy the valley from the river almost as much as we enjoyed the river from the rim above.  The bridge made a nice backdrop for photos from Centennial Park making it a very worthwhile visit. 

Centennial Park is a short drive from the welcome center into the Snake River valley.

There were a lot of houses along the canyon rim.  We found one small open spot where we could get an idea of the view they enjoy from their backyards - wow!

Perrine Coulee Falls was clearly unappreciated in its proximity to Shoshone Falls - very few folks seemed to take notice of it as they passed by. There was no parking at the base other than a wide shoulder and no viewing platform or established trails that we could find.  It seemed like anywhere else this would have been considered quite a spectacular attraction in itself.

Perrine Coulee Falls, just off the side of the road, is around 200 feet tall.

As we settled in for the evening a lot of folks were gathering at the fairgrounds grandstands.  You know I had to see what was going on. It was a little rodeo action.  I can't imagine being able to accurately throw a lasso from a horse at full gallop around the head of a steer running full tilt, but most of them did it in around 20 seconds or less.  It's probably a good thing this had no appeal for me because I'm too old to take up a new hobby.

Jerome County Fairgrounds Wednesday Night Roping. Fun and games just a stone's throw from our coach.