Exploring – Page 13 – Occidentalist

Oregon Apples, Washington Wine

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2019-10-08
Post category:Exploring Truck Camping
Post comments:0 Comments

Just when you think you have a plan for the fall, weather comes along and changes it. We were working down our list and the forecast for the coming weekend was for snow and freezing temperatures. So much for plans to view fall colors on the high desert. Luckily there is always another option. We wouldn’t want to do something extreme like stay home. We headed to the lower elevation country for a tour of the Hood River Fruit Loop, an ideal time with the fall harvest of apples, pears, peaches and such just coming on.

We stayed on the Mt. Hood National Forest. We had a wild pack of spotted owls wake us up in the night hooting and howling from all directions. Then we awoke to light snow.

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Hart Mountain, 2019

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2019-10-01
Post category:Exploring Hiking Truck Camping
Post comments:3 Comments

We were there in the spring, but ran out of time for a real visit and really just passed through. This time we’d make it our destination. Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge lies in Oregon’s outback. That is to say, it’s not really near a whole lot. Maybe that’s what makes it so nice. We made our way down highway 31, through Paisley and Plush and were able to arrive as the sun was going down. The wildlife were at home on the range.

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Malheur, 2019

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2019-09-25
Post category:Exploring Fishing Uncategorized
Post comments:1 Comment

Labor day had come and gone. Summer fishing adventures in the high Cascades are winding down and we are moving on to our list of fall destinations. Counting the possible destinations and the number of weekends available until Thanksgiving rolls around, it seems the numbers don’t quite match up. But, we’ll get out to see what we can see and maybe have a list left over for next year. The first stop turned out to be a trip to the high country of the Malheur National Forest, and the headwaters of the Malheur river.

This is familiar country to me but I haven’t visited in a long time. I used to hunt deer and elk here regularly but with how difficult it is to draw a tag now in Oregon and how lousy the hunting is I’ve concentrated more on fishing the last several years. It was good to be back and see the country again. With the days getting shorter we arrived in the dark on Friday night. First up on Saturday was a hike in the Strawberries to High Lake.

High Lake, down in the bowl, almost hidden by the ridge

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