What Oregon Taught Me About Wildfires

My Midwestern upbringing prepared me for a lot of things: a killer snowstorm that drops 12" of snow on top of 2" of ice? No problem. A tornado in the unbearably hot, humid days of summer? I get it, hideaway in the basement until it's gone. But wildfires? I'm a rookie. 

I should clarify, I'm not in immediate danger by any means (lest you all forget, my Mom is one of my biggest fans/readers: Mom, I'm totally safe)! 

That said, when the end of summer nears and certain parts of Oregon are dryer than normal, conditions are ripe for some mean wildfires. Lightening hits just one tree and it's like igniting a dry stack of hay. There are scars of past fires across state, especially as one travels outward from the typically damp area of the Willamette Valley. Unfortunately however, being a valley means when fires are raging, ash tends to settle smack dab in Rainy City, USA (a.k.a. Eugene). 

I'll never forget my first experience with this. It was a few days after I moved into my apartment in September 2009. I woke up thinking, "Weird, I wonder if my downstairs neighbor burned toast his morning?" Alas, I figured it out when I turned on the local news. That smell was the timber-rich smoke and ash that was settling in the valley, leaving a thin film over everything and shrouding the sky in a grayish-pink curtain. Aside from the thousands of acres full of burning trees, respiratory dangers smoke and ash can cause and the countless other negative circumstances, it was kind of intriguing.

Wildfire season is in full force again this year, check the ash on my car: 

Ok, the ash is hard to see in this one, but I thought the reflection turned out cool. 

A slight haze on the horizon.

I'm heading up to Hood River this weekend to visit a friend. We had tentatively planned on going for a few hikes and a long ride near Mt. Hood, but we'll have to see what happens. There's a pretty big fire in the High Cascades.

I never thought I'd say this in Oregon, but how about some rain!?

More info on current Oregon forest fires: http://www.nwccweb.us/information/fire_info.asp

Crater Lake: Attempt #2

Alright, after a much too long blogging hiatus (silly second year of grad school), here are the promised ramblings and photos from my second attempt at visiting Crater Lake National Park. 

You can revisit the dismal account, here.

Just for fun, here’s a comparison of attempt #1 vs. attempt #2. These photos were taken exactly a week apart.

Week One

Week Two

                                      

                                      

A result of Mount Mazama imploding in on itself, Crater Lake boasts some of the clearest water in the world and is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet.

I can most definitely confirm the water is absolutely breathtaking. Before visiting Crater Lake, I didn’t think such a color could occur naturally.

 We hiked up to a vista point:

…and down to the water. 

The climb back up is the equivalent of 125 flights of stairs to the top of the 75^th floor of a skyscraper. 

Pretty. Awesome.

I promise this was my last post about a National Park...at least for now!

Crater Lake: Hilariously Bad Weather

Well folks, I can 100%, without-a-doubt say that it is possible to visit Crater Lake National Park and not actually see the lake.

Yes, the deepest lake in the United States (1,943 feet). The lake with a 33 mile circumference, completely lost to the human eye this weekend. Thank you Oregon weather.

So instead of this:

(www.nps.gov)

We saw this:

(The lake is literally directly behind us in this photo).

Needless to say, we spent our time at the Crater Lake Lodge reading in front of the fireplace and playing Scattergories with newfound friends. It was fun, but definitely not the scenic hikes we had planned.

Even better, when we came to leave this morning it wasn't just raining, it was sleeting. Lord, thank you for Subarus and all-wheel drive. 

(Crater Lake ladies and gents)!

(Once again, the lake is behind us).

The National Park pass is good for another 10 days, so we're debating going back next weekend. Don't worry, the weather looks much more promising! 

National Park #2

I promise I do actually study and work, but I'm headed to Crater Lake tomorrow morning!

Oh the beauty of being on a quarter system in grad school...fall classes don't start until September 27th.

I'll be back Sunday with *hopefully* some breathtaking pictures. I'm not counting on Oregon weather to cooperate with me on this, but regardless the trip is going to be great!

National Park Update

Just under a year ago, I posted about my desire to visit my first National Park (revisit the post here). I wrote about visiting Crater Lake, thinking because of its proximity to Rainy City, U.S.A., that it would be the first I would visit. Well, little did I know I would be living in Washington for the summer and would actually visit Mt. Rainier National Park first. Now that my work is done in Washington for the summer and I’m back in Rainy City (well, technically I’m on vacation back in WI for a week) I miss seeing the gigantic façade of Mt. Rainier on the horizon.

I was lucky enough to visit the Park twice this summer. The first to tackle a day-hike on the Crystal Peak trail. Being from the Midwest, this means a few things; that I a) am obsessed with mountains b) take way too many photos of said mountains and c) cannot shut up about how awesome mountains are. Visiting Mt. Rainier up close and personal (or so I thought at the time) resulted in me absolutely falling in love with the park. Here are a few photos from my first trip:

Little did I know I would be visiting the Park again in July. My friend K.A.R. and I lazily drove around the Park and took in the sights from the car, enjoyed the winding (terrifying at times) roads, enjoyed a picnic and explored the highest point you can reach without a pair of gaiters and crampons. We parked at Paradise, where the National Park Inn and visitors center is located. From a fifteen minute hike up a paved path full of tourists, we took an heinous  ample amount of photos from here:

Needless to say, I fell deeper in love with the mountain and can’t wait to go back. Perhaps to climb someday…before my joints start really punishing me.

Random thought: Mt. Rainier is technically an active volcano, so is it still technically correct to call it a mountain? 

Devil's Churn

My friends and I took a day trip to the Coast a couple months ago and I just found this video footage on my camera! It's a short snippet of the wave action at an inlet called Devil's Churn.

Please excuse the commentary and lack of video editing on my part. It's week 6 of the quarter and pretty much all of my energy is spent on being a grad student.

Enjoy!

Washington Visit

A few weeks ago, I visited g.s.r. in the great state of Washington. Don't get me wrong, Oregon is absolutely beautiful, but (I'd argue) Washington has a better mix of urban and outdoor beauty. Can we tell I'm sick of {rainy city, USA} where I live currently? Alas, I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

my first sand dollar excursion!

...also my first excursion driving on a beach

Washington Coast

Space Needle as seen from the highway

Fremont Troll

the infamous gum wall (you could smell it before you could see it)!

relaxing on a hike near Snoqualmie Pass

Hello, Mt. Rainier

Oregon Coast Movie

This is for all of you back home (I admit it was an assignment for my design class, but why not share).

Silver Falls Trip

This past Sunday, a couple friends and I decided to take a mini-road trip to check out Silver Falls State Park. It was a bit rainy and dreary (I know BIG surprise for Oregon, right), but we had an absolutely AMAZING time! I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

(ALP and I behind the [pictured above] waterfall!)

(crazy-gigantor leaf)

(straight out of a Dr. Seuss book, no?)