A walk in the woods...

Tahkenitch Landing Campground

Gardiner, OR

There are hiking trails near the Tahkenitch Landing Campground that I thought I should investigate.  After all, I am here at the Oregon Dunes for the Summer.  The two closest trails to my location are the Three Mile Lake Trail and the Tahkenitch Dunes Trail.  Both start from the Tahkenitch Campground, which is a quarter mile south of Tahkenitch Landing Campground.  Both trails lead out to the Dunes.  I enjoy the Dunes but I am not terribly anxious to walk on the Dunes for any distance.  So, knowing this, I chose the Three Mile Lake Trail.  The Three Mile Lake Trail is…three miles long, one way.  It is a moderately difficult trail.  The surface of the trail is hard packed dirt and, in some places, hard packed sand, so mostly an easy surface to walk on.  The moderately difficult part is the terrain.  The trail is either up a hill or down a hill.  The only level portions of the trail are at the bottom of a hill before the trail begins to climb again or at the top of a rise before the trail begins to descend.  There were three bridges, but two of the bridges angled slightly up. 

The first half mile of both trails parallel Hwy 101.  After splitting from the Tahkenitch Dunes Trail, the Three Mile Lake Trail continues parallel to Hwy 101 for another quarter mile or so and then turns west near Elbow Lake, toward the Dunes and, ultimately, the Pacific Ocean.  If you walk at a good pace, a person can walk from the trailhead to Three Mile Lake in about 90 minutes, longer if you stop to take pictures.  From the time you turn away from Hwy 101, the predominant sound you hear, other than your footsteps and your breathing (which can be labored), is the sound of the ocean, about a mile away (as the crow flies).  The forest through which you are passing is mostly Douglas Fir.  The trees are tall and stately.  Not far down the trail after you turn west at Elbow Lake, the Dunes have begun to encroach on the trail and for about 20 or 30 yards the trail has been covered by the white sand of the Dunes. 

At one point on the trail, as you have descended quite a distance, following the contours of the terrain, you will come upon a tree stump that the trail passes through.  Most of the stump is on one side of the trail, while the remainder of the tree is on the other side.   

Approaching the stump from the trail.

Looking back up the trail.

On another portion of the trail, you will come upon a tree that appears to have been felled by a lightning strike.  The jagged edges of the stump and the appearance of the scorch marks are the first things you notice as you approach the tree.  On the other side of the trail, opposite the stump, is the remainder of the tree.  Its bark and wood is black, like it had burned. 

Near the end of your walk/hike/trek/jaunt/adventure, you come down a hill (actually you descend along the side of the hill as the trail almost never runs straight up or down any of the hills, as that would make the trail much more difficult to use or maintain), turn a corner and walk out on to a bridge which crosses the creek which feeds Three Mile Lake.  To your left is the Lake. 

The day I took my walk the skies were cloudy and the wind was blowing briskly into my face as I looked out on Three Mile Lake.  My glasses became covered with the mist blowing down the Lake.  After pausing to snap my pictures of the Lake, I continued across the bridge and began the walk up the trail to the beginning of the Dunes access.  About a quarter mile further on, I came out on the edge of the Dunes. 

The three pictures above represent a three picture panoramic view of the Dunes.  If you look closely, you just make out the surf on the shoreline, above the trees in the distance.

This picture was taken after I photographed the three picture panorama by turning 180 degrees and snapping the picture.

The moisture in the air was so thick that I could hear but barely see the beach and the ocean.  When I took the pictures from my perch on top of that hill above the Dunes, I didn’t think I could get the camera to see the beach or the waves on the ocean.  I suppose, if I had a better camera or a filter that could reduce the glare of the white sand and the mist in the air, I might have been able to capture a better picture of the beach/ocean.

The return walk back to the trailhead took about 60 - 75 minutes.  I took only one picture on the return.  I was still trying to get a photo of the beach and surf.  No luck.  Still too bright for the camera.  This picture is shooting downhill toward the surf and the beach dunes.  The contrast between the darkened forest and the sand/mist is more that the camera can calculate.  It was either too bright or way too dark.

And now you folks tell me what you think.  Leave a message on the blog.  Adrian, tell me what you think!  

Until the next posting...

And some more thoughts on many things...

At Home

Phoenix, Arizona

and

Tahkenitch Landing Campground

Gardiner, OR

Last week I took a couple of days off from my duties at the Tahkenitch Landing Campground.  Wednesday, July 24^th, was my wife, Deborah’s, birthday.  She was 21, again.  I flew to Phoenix to help her celebrate the event.  I had not seen her since she flew back to Phoenix from Eugene at the beginning of May.  We speak/text/email/communicate often but this was special.  It looked as if this would be the only time we could be together until the end of September when I complete my duties for the Forest Service.  If you know Deborah from Facebook and haven’t wished her a Happy Birthday, then you blew it.  If you aren’t her friend on Facebook, then leave a Happy Birthday message/comment on the blog (belated).  She reads the blog, she’ll see them.

The party was great.  There were two of the four children (and spousal units) present and all four grandchildren present.  Deb’s brother was there.  A niece and her granddaughter were there. My niece was there. The party was noisy bedlam, just like it should be.  I got to go swimming with two of the grandkids.   

All three of these pictures are of my granddaughter mermaid, Harper.  She loves to jump in the pool and swim. 

And a good time was had by all.  I was back in Oregon late (late, late) Thursday night and back at the campground by about 2:00 a.m. Friday morning.  Whirlwind tour of four days….!

If flying wasn’t such a cattle car type of experience any more, I could love it.  I love to look out the windows at the scenery during the day and I enjoy watching the lights on the ground at night.  Did you know that the charts pilots use for flying depict each town, community or city as a shape (shaded with color).  When you look at the lights of the town/community/city from the air, the shape shown on the chart and what you see from the air are the same (or very, very close).  I always enjoyed that when I was flying at night.

As you drive south on U.S Hwy 101, approaching mile post 204, about 100 yards north of the mile post, is a roadside memorial.  It appears to have been there for some time.  There are two crosses and several bouquets of artificial flowers.  The crosses and the flowers are fading and weathered.  The name on both crosses is KARLA.  I have searched the internet extensively, using multiple variations of search terms to see if I could find out what happened here and when.  So far my efforts have been fruitless.  Each morning, when I take my walk along the highway, I walk south from the Tahkenitch Landing Campground to mile post 204.  I cross the road and turn north toward mile post 203.  I re-cross the road and walk south, back to the campground.  The distance is 2.01 miles and every morning that I take that walk, I pass the memorial for KARLA.

 

I wonder what happened.  I wonder when it happened.  The memorial does not look as if anyone has visited it in quite a while.  Who was KARLA?  Does anyone in any of the cars, trucks, campers or semi-trucks that pass, know of the memorial?  What was KARLA like?  Was she young or old?  Did she have a family?  Are any of her brothers/sisters/cousins still alive?  Was she local or passing through?  Was there anyone with her when the event occurred?  It's a mystery.

Just before I flew to Phoenix, the city experienced some monsoon storms on Friday, July 18th and quite a bit of rain on Sunday, July 20th.  The evidence of the power of the storms and the amount of water falling was all around the house.  Phoenix, for those of you unfamiliar with the monsoon style of rain normal for the late summer, has no storm sewer system in my neighborhood.  The closest storm sewer openings are usually on the major streets, not in the neighborhood streets.  Consequently the streets are often full of gravel and rocks which have been washed down from desert landscaped yards, the desert itself and alleys.

And these pictures were taken six days after the Friday storm.  Much of the debris had been moved by the traffic up and down the streets.  Of course, for someone who was born and raised in the midwest (Iowa), thunderstorms, with lots of wind and lightning, are just fabulous.

I'll be publishing twice this week because I missed an episode last week.  Look for another on Thursday or Friday.  Until then...

How about this...

Tahkenitch Landing Campground

Gardiner, OR

Last week, a camping club pulled into the campground for three nights.  The members of the club have monthly campouts at various locations around the state.  During this month’s event, the members caught over 100 Perch (it’s a fish, for those of you that are unfamiliar).  Consequently, on Saturday evening (7/13), the club held a fish fry.  There were about 20 – 25 members present for the feast and yours truly was invited to dinner.  The food was potluck, but I was allowed to attend without having to bring a warm dish.  The fish were splendid and the accompanying grub was wonderful.  After dinner we sat around and visited.  Most of the members of the club are retirees who live in and around Florence, Oregon.  During the after dinner socializing, one member asked if I had ever been told about the “Exploding Whale” episode in Florence.  I had never heard the story, so I got the skinny on the exploding whale and the aftermath.  Since then, I have conducted some research into the story and this is what I have learned:  

Excerpts from the Wikipedia article “Exploding Whale”

“The term exploding whale most often refers to an event at Florence, Oregon, in 1970, when a dead sperm whale (reported to be a gray whale) was blown up by the Oregon Highway Division in an attempt to dispose of its rotting carcass. The explosion threw whale flesh over 800 feet (240 m) away. This incident became famous in the United States when American humorist Dave Barry wrote about it in his newspaper column after viewing a videotape of television footage of the explosion. The event later became well-known internationally when the same footage circulated on the Internet a few decades later.”

“On November 12, 1970, a 45-foot (14 m) long, 8-short-ton (7,300 kg) sperm whale beached itself at Florence, Oregon, on the central Oregon Coast.^[1][2] All Oregon beaches are under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department,^[3] but in 1970, Oregon beaches were technically classified as state highways, so responsibility for disposing of the carcass fell upon the Oregon Highway Division (now known as the Oregon Department of Transportation, or ODOT).^[4] After consulting with officials from the United States Navy, they decided that it would be best to remove the whale the same way as they would to remove a boulder. They thought burying the whale would be ineffective as it would soon be uncovered, and believed dynamite would disintegrate the whale into pieces small enough for scavengers to clear up.”

“Thus, half a ton of dynamite was applied to the carcass. The engineer in charge of the operation, George Thornton, stated—on camera, in an interview with Portland newsman Paul Linnman—that he wasn't exactly sure how much dynamite would be needed. (Thornton later explained that he was chosen to remove the whale because the district engineer, Dale Allen, had gone hunting).^{[5] [6]”}

“Coincidentally, a military veteran from Springfield with explosives training, Walter Umenhofer, was at the scene scoping a potential manufacturing site for his employer.^[1] Umenhofer later told The Springfield News reporter Ben Raymond Lode that he had warned Thornton that the amount of dynamite he was using was very wrong—when he first heard that 20 cases were being used he was in disbelief. He had known that 20 cases of dynamite was far too much dynamite to be used. Instead of 20 cases they needed 20 sticks of dynamite. Umenhofer said Thornton was not interested in the advice. In an odd coincidence, Umenhofer's brand-new Oldsmobile was flattened by a chunk of falling blubber after the blast. He told Lode he had just bought the Ninety-Eight Regency at Dunham Oldsmobile in Eugene, during the "Get a Whale of a Deal" promotion.^[1]”

“The resulting explosion was caught on film by cameraman Doug Brazil for a story reported by news reporter Paul Linnman of KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon. In his voice-over, Linnman alliteratively joked that "land-lubber newsmen" became "land-blubber newsmen ... for the blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds."^[5] The explosion caused large pieces of blubber to land near buildings and in parking lots some distance away from the beach, one of which caused severe damage to Umenhoefer's parked car. Only some of the whale was disintegrated; most of it remained on the beach for the Oregon Highway Division workers to clear away. In his report, Linnman also noted that scavenger birds, whom it had been hoped would eat the remains of the carcass after the explosion, were all scared away by the noise.”

“Ending his story, Linnman noted that "It might be concluded that, should a whale ever be washed ashore in Lane County again, those in charge will not only remember what to do, they'll certainly remember what not to do." When 41 sperm whales beached nearby in 1979, state parks officials burned and buried them.^[7]”

“Linnman's implication that the highway department had made a mistake was not subscribed to by Thornton, who later that day told Eugene Register-Guard reporter Larry Bacon that "It went just exactly right. ... Except the blast funneled a hole in the sand under the whale" (causing some of the whale chunks to be blown back toward the onlookers and their cars, he went on to say).^[8]”

“Thornton was promoted to the Medford office several months after the incident, and served in that post until his retirement. When Linnman contacted him in the mid-1990s, the newsman said Thornton felt the operation had been an overall success and had been converted into a public-relations disaster by hostile media reports.^[9]”

“Currently, Oregon State Parks Department policy is to bury whale carcasses where they land. If the sand is not deep enough, they are relocated to another beach.^[10]”

I think you should watch the event yourself: http://www.katu.com/news/local/107530948.html?tab=video.  This news article and video are from the original report from November 12, 1970.  Apparently, exploding beached whales are not uncommon.  The article in the Wikipedia on “Exploding Whales” identified other instances of spontaneous and planned explosions of whales.

And now, for something completely different…! 

A few weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon, as I was driving south on Hwy 101, returning from a grocery run to Florence, Oregon, I noticed a huge column of smoke rising in the distance.  It looked like the smoke was coming from an area near the Tahkenitch Landing Campground.  As I got closer to the campground, it was evident that the fire was close but not a threat to Irv or the campground.  Tahkenitch Landing Campground is on the east side of U.S. Hwy 101, between mile posts 203 and 204.  The fire was on the west side of U.S. Hwy 101, between mile posts 206 and 207 (2.5 miles south of the campground).  The area of land involved in the fire was a clear cut section of land on a ridge line just west of the highway.  It appears that the fire involved only the south side of the ridge line in the clear cut area.  I drive past this area every time I drive to Reedsport.  The fire was intense, the smoke voluminous and the damage to some equipment was complete destruction.  By the time I was able to get a picture of the burned area, the loader that the loggers used to lift the cleared logs onto the trucks had been removed and the only evidence of the fire were the blackened trees on the hillside. 

  

It took almost two weeks to get the equipment removed from the damaged area and the logging company has yet to begin recovering downed trees from the undamaged area on the north side of the ridge line.

The campground has been busier since the beginning of July.  Every time I think that Tahkenitch Landing will be empty of campers, there are three or four arrivals.  The campground during the months of May and June was empty, at times, sometimes for multiple nights, sometimes only one campsite was in use.  But the hot weather enveloping much of the Western U.S. had not touched the Oregon Coast.  Consequently, many folks from California and Oregon and Washington are escaping the heat to celebrate the cool, damp temperatures of the Central Oregon Coastal regions and the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.  Often the early morning fog/mist is covering the lake (see pictures) and when I conduct my early morning walkabout through the campground, I can see my breath.  Eat your hearts out Phoenix, Arizona, and other places in the U.S. where people are wondering why it is so damned hot.  Early morning temps are consistently in the mid 50’s (F) and day time temps, when sunny, are a beastly 70 or 72 (F).  I knew there was a reason for my volunteering this summer…

Here are a few of those early morning pictures…can you feel the cool????

When are you coming to visit???  There are only 10 more weeks or so before I leave, at the end of the summer.  Come on down/up!!!