Biggs, OregonMar 31, 2008
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Yes, We Had Snow This Morning
And Lots Of It
Entrance To Picture Gorge
| The last day of the month finds us ending the day on the Columbia River at the Deschutes River State Park in Oregon. After a wonderful dinner and a couple of glasses of red wine, I can finally sit back and reflect on the day. We woke this morning to about 3 or 4 inches of fresh snow all over. I walked the dogs and dragged my heels, thinking we were pretty well stuck where we were until the snow melted, however, by the time I returned to the trailer, the temperature was going up and the snow was quickly disappearing. After a brief discussion, we decided to press ahead and hope for the best. I talked to a couple of county employees who suggested a route to the Columbia River without having to go over too many high passes and it turns out it is the same route that Ralph had chosen, so we knew we were headed in the right direction. It was a beautiful start to the day, the sun came out and the roads were clear, but lined with fresh snow. We picked a path that was all back roads and it was a delight to take our time and have to share the road with no one. We traversed the valley until we made a hard right turn and entered “Picture Gorge” which turns out to be the entrance to John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. We traveled up the canyon and then entered the visitor’s center and the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center. They have on hand an amazing display of fossils that span up to 54 million years ago, including thousands of fossils of plants and animals and a museum of recreations of what the different time periods may have looked like. It is also a working laboratory, where you can watch the geologists bring samples in from the field and work on them and prepare them for cataloging and display. We left John Day and stayed in the canyons of central Oregon following the path of the John Day River. We popped out as we approached northern central Oregon to find ourselves in the middle of rolling hills of wheat. We negotiated the hills of wheat to eventually drop into the Columbia River Gorge, following closely the path our forefathers traveled on the Oregon Trail. We found our campsite and hunkered in. The wind is blowing, as it always does up the gorge, but in a way it feels good; we are close to home and it just feels right to be in the northwest. We spent the night in Deschutes River State Park, Biggs Junction, Oregon |
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