Anthony Lakes

Those of you who know me, know I used to play in a Marimba Band in La Grande, Kupenga Marimba.   I moved away from La Grande about 9 years ago, but the band invited me to perform with them when they are short handed, and I LOVE getting back together with them to play.    It is a wonderful group of people, and the music is delightful.     They have invited me to play with them at the Pendleton Farmers Market on October 7, so I have been practicing at home a lot, since the last time I played with them was before Covid.     Practicing on my soprano instrument only goes so far, so I traveled to La Grande to practice with them, on the Band instruments, last Monday.     I decided to make a Waddles trip out of it.

I dropped Waddles off at the Anthony Lakes Campground (one of my favorite Forest Service campgrounds) before practice and easily found a place.   This is high elevation, so getting cold this time of year, and I figured there would be lots of open sites.  I was right.

Then I drove back to La Grande to meet a friend for dinner before band practice.    I alway take back roads, and so drove through North Powder and Union to get back to town.   Along that road is this historical plaque.   It honors Maria Dorian, an amazing woman who was a contemporary of Sacagawea.     Her story is documented in a historical fiction book series by Jane Kirkpatrick.    

After practice I drove back up to the campground and crawled into Waddles for the night.    It is delightfully DARK and QUIET there.

I got up early the next morning to hike up to the top of the ski area (I was on a mission to find some geocaches).   This area has lakes, mountains, wildflowers, wildlife and is one of my favorite places to hike.

At the top, there are some interpretive signs about the Whitebark Pine trees which are a high alpine species.    There were lots of Clark's Nutcrackers, and Mountain Chickadees about. 

Hofer Lake

Fall is coming...

At one geocache I had to run a gauntlet of deer to get to the cache.   We all remained calm and moved slowly and it all worked out fine.

The old bridge

The new bridge

And then it was time to head back home.    Of course I took the back roads.

The bushes are turning, and were beautiful 

Out in the middle of nowhere!

I am hoping to get out with Waddles at least one more time.   I will be going back over to practice with the band in early October, so we will see; two days after I was at Anthony Lakes, they got 4" of snow.    Winter is coming.

 

Paulina Lake

 It seems I'm doing almost back to back camping trips, which feels good!!!    This trip was an annual get-together with former Forest Service GIS co-workers.   I missed last year because of the virus, but this year felt a bit safer, so off we went.    

Paulina Lake is part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument in central Oregon.     It is a wonderful place for exploring and learning about the geology of the area.   We rented a group site, so had lots of room for tents and campers and trailers, lots of trees and great waterfront access.

Plenty of opportunities to take the boats out on the water and we had a variety of boats; canoes, kayaks and a SUP, for water sports.

Looking at Paulina Peak

This trip was scheduled to coincide with the Perseid meteor shower, and the beach front property we had was perfect for viewing.   I didn't take any night photos, but there were some spectacular meteors that streaked across the very dark sky.

There are many hiking trails to choose from around the lake and we hiked up to Little Crater, for more great views, and geology.

                              Huge Lava Flow 

 There was concern this year about the smoke and the heat, but neither seemed to be a problem at the Lake.   Elevation near 6000' meant cooler temperatures; nothing much above 80 degrees most days, and cool nights.  The smoke rolled in one evening, and rolled out almost as quickly.   The last night and last morning there was enough smoke to make for beautiful sunsets and sunrises, but not so bad the breathing was an issue.

Looking at East Lake from Paulina Peak

Sunset from Paulina Peak

Looking at Paulina Lake from Paulina Peak

Sunrise paddle before heading home

I hope for a couple more outings before the end of the season.   What great places have you been exploring?

Anthony Lakes

 Just got home from a wonderful trip back to my old haunts in Eastern Oregon.    I lived in Baker City and La Grande for about 24 years and spent a lot of time playing (and working) on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.    A couple of friends and I made reservations to camp here a while back and this was the week!   We drove over on Monday, and encountered some pretty smokey conditions.   Normally you can see the Wallowa Mountains across this valley, but not today!

Looking across the Powder River Valley

We found our campsite, and got settled in.   Me with Waddles, and my friends with their tents.    The mosquitoes were on us immediately so we happily set up my screen tent over the picnic table and went for a walk.    The campground is very near the Anthony Lakes Ski Area, and right on Anthony Lake.    This is pine forest and granite country.

Tuesday we set out on a 8+ mile hike which took us up to the ridge (Elkhorn Crest Trail) and around in a loop back down through the ski area to the campground.    I've done this hike many times, and it is one of my favorites.   The wildflowers were wonderful and made up for some of the missing views due to smoke.

Lilly Pad Lake and Gunsite Peak

Wednesday we had planned a hike we had to drive to, which was short but steep.   It was pretty smokey in the morning so we chose to do a different hike that didn't require as much climbing (thus deep breathing).    We hiked to Hoffer Lake which is in a cirque below the mountains we hiked around the day before.   Again it was spectacular, and the mosquitoes were unrelenting.

Hoffer Lake

Camped a third night and after breakfast we packed up camp and headed toward home.    My friends spent the night at my house and we did another hike on the Mt Hood National Forest in the morning before they headed home.   This is another of my favorite hikes, to Lookout Mt, which provides a 10-Mountain view and didn't disappoint today.   

 There were a couple of scary moments on this Waddles Wander.  The first occurred when we stopped for gas on the first day and I realized I had left the key ring with ALL of Waddles' keys, at home.  This meant not only could we not get into Waddles, we could not unhook her from the car and drive home to retrieve them, because one of the keys goes to the hitch lock.   After a few moments of sheer panic, I remembered I had stashed an extra set of keys where I could get to them, and we were back in business.    We had to stop and take a lunch break at the next rest stop so I could calm down (and I'm not one who easily panics!).

The second incident occurred on the way home.   There was an obvious caravan of trucks with utility trailers and cars (about 7-8 vehicles total) that passed us on the freeway.   Then we saw them all stopped on the side of the freeway.    We stopped at a rest area for lunch and they pulled in to the rest area.   We left and shortly they all passed us again on the freeway.   Did I mention that I really don't like cars that travel close together in caravans like this.    There was a semi-truck in front of me on the freeway with lots of space between us.   The semi all of a sudden did a big swerve..... and my immediate thought was either the driver fell asleep, or there was something in the road in front of him he was trying to avoid.    Sure enough, one of the caravan truck/trailers had lost a full size mattress in the middle of my lane.    I was able to slow down and drive off on the shoulder to avoid it, but it was a pretty scary moment.    I don't know what happened behind me on the freeway but I am guessing there was a bit of a traffic tie-up for a while.   And of course, all 7-8 vehicles were stopped along the freeway where this was all happening.

Happily it all ended well, and we had a wonderful time.    It felt so good to get out in the granite and pines, and log a lot of hiking miles with good friends.    Thanks Diane and Lanita!