Earth Day Notes: Bound North for the Aleutians

Two days ago we were on a lonely beach near the New River, a bit north of Cape Blanco, the wind whipping the sand. Ann saw something in the far distance. She pointed. It took me a while to make out the thin undulating line far in the distance. Then we heard the unmistakable cries [...]

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New River: Storm Ranch

Oregon’s coast is no old, established, seldom-changing landscape. Take the New River. Once quiet Floras Creek flowed due west directly into the ocean. But in 1890, a great flood created New River by filling the Creek’s original mouth and carving out a 10 mile long north flowing channel behind the dunes. Since then its course [...]

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Arizona Beach

Tuesday is the first not-a-cloud-in-the-sky sunny day we’ve had in the 25 days we’ve been here. We need to be out in it. We choose Arizona Beach, just north of us, an acquisition that came into the Oregon State Park system just last summer. What used to be a private campground right on the beach [...]

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The Capes of Curry County: Blacklock Point

Blacklock Point, north of Cape Blanco, is a treeless promontory a few miles west of US 101 down the airport road. There are two choices signed at the trailhead: For Blacklock Point the arrow points to the left, Floras Lake slightly to the right. We have decided to try for Floras Lake today but in [...]

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Flocks by Day

Yesterday I was sitting in the living room reading the Sunday comics. Given the toxic nature of public “conversation” these days, the comics have become my only consistent must-read in the daily newspaper. Red and Rover is my favorite. (Check it out at http://comics.com/red&rover/) I heard a thump at the front of the house. Nothing [...]

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Bosque Dusk

Evening approaches at Socorro County’s Bosque del Apache. We hurry to the northern end, where the cornfields and shallow wetlands are. Across the field we spot an enormous, restless, white, honking swath. Looking closer, we see it’s a giant gaggle of snow geese, recent arrivals from the north. Overhead, ragged streamers of huge gray sandhill [...]

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Bobcats Meet You at the Entrance Station: Part 2 of Heading Out West

Out of Monahans, West Texas we dipped due south, across the Pecos River and up the Stockton Plateau. Past the Glass Mountains, the Wood Hollows, and, beyond Marathon, we followed the old Great Comanche Trail toward the “big bend”, that portion of the Texas/Mexico border where the Rio Grande’s flow abruptly changes direction from southwest [...]

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After the Rain

In September we camped at Hovenweep National Monument. Never heard of it? Don’t feel bad. Most people haven’t, including many of our Southwestern friends. Although it’s been a national monument since 1923, less than one million folks have ever visited. Hovenweep (Paiute/Ute for deserted valley) straddles the Utah/Colorado border in the Four Corners area, less [...]

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