Traveling in Eastern Oregon |
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| In the extreme east of Oregon, I visited a small town of Jordan Valley which I estimated the population to be in the triple digits. Later I found out that I was right when I saw their numbers were slightly less than 250 souls. The hardware store and the cafe above where the only type of businesses to be seen here. The town was so small that even in 2012 I didn’t get any phone service although the cafe bragged about having free wifi. There was a small museum in the town that I didn’t visit because it was closed, but otherwise Jordan Valley seems to be extremely proud of their Basque heritage. The Basque people live in the mountains along the Spain and French border and claim to be pure blooded and one of Europe’s oldest cultures and ethnic groups. During the 1900s, many people from Basque immigrated to the United States and made a second home here in Jordan Valley. |
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| Not only where there few people in eastern Oregon, but there were also few farms and ranches. If you drive through here you’ll see mostly rolling hills with mountains in the background, some of them snow capped if you come at the right time of year. Occasionally I did pass through a few cattle ranches like the photo on the upper left. During my drive here I passed by a man on a ATV who was probably one of the ranchers. |
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| The dry deserts of eastern Oregon are a completely different life for animals out here than those living in the western temperate rainforest. On the right is a bird from out west flying through some wet grasslands during a rainy day. On the left are some bird houses that had to make their homes out of dry rocky terrain since there are no trees out here. There were plenty of little birds going in and out of their houses but I wasn’t able to photograph any. I’m not sure if these bird houses are all independent which I’d assume, or if some of them connect internally. |
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| I was headed for the Owyhee River which is famous for its beautiful canyons and remote location. As the river is pretty long, there are several places to view it at, including another town that it eventually passes through. The location I choose to visit required some driving on dirt and poorly maintained roads, a few times the direction wasn’t very clear since there were a few forks without signs. The sign above would have been helpful but it was actually knocked over and I was able to re-position it in the direction I assumed to be correct. (I ended up being right). |
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| Driving through the flat plains it was hard to imagine any rivers or canyons around the corner. After leaving the main highway for sometime I came across some dark terrain in the distance which at first my friend thought may have been a shadow from a cloud. Since there were only tiny clouds in the sky the only other explanation was… lava! After over an hour we reached the Jordan Valley Craters which are the remains of a volcano that was believed to have erupted a few thousand years ago. I had always been under the impression that plant life would begin to grow out lava within a few years, but apparently I was either wrong about that or the lava flows at Jordan Valleys have some exception. This could make sense as mostly sage brush and grass live here anyway. Above is my first view of the lava field on the left, and on the right the view of the crater rim. I climbed to the top of the crater rim and took a picture of the view seen on the lower right with a close up of a sparkly lava rock on the right. |
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 Right before the end of the road, I saw about half a dozen white-tailed deer running away from our car at a distance. I had wondered if mountain lions live in this area but apparently coyotes and bobcats are the only predatory mammals here. On the upper right is a photo of where the grassland suddenly drops several thousand feet without warning and opens up to this beautiful canyon on the right. The scenery had changed from rolling grass hills to a deep colorful rocky canyon. The picture of the slopping grasslands was literally immediately to the right of the canyon. |