First journey of the year! (Jan 10th weekend)

The first epic journey of the year has been completed. My buddy Tye and I left Portland right after he got off work.We hit I-205 at 10:50pm and headed up to I-84 and then took a right and went east. Around 11:30pm or so we hit the exit for I-197 and then turned south. We decided on a brief stop at Rock Creek campground.

The lake was frozen and it was fairly cold when we arrived. No surprise that no one was there. I tried to get some pics while there, but the exposure times were long and the moon kept popping in and out of the clouds, making for under and over-exposed images. After a drive around to look at the various campsites available we were off to Smith Rock. On the way there we managed to spook a herd of elk that were in the middle of road. Not sure who was more surprised, them or us! Luckily no one was hurt so we all went our own way down I-97!

We arrived at 3am or so and I decided that as the clouds had cleared a bit I would try for a few long exposure images. They didn't turn out as expected, but you get the general idea. The moon was definitely bright!

After freezing my fingers (it was pretty damn cold), I hopped back in the truck. Tye had his portable dvd player out so we started watching The Departed. He ended up sleeping for an hour or so, but managed to wake up to see a couple of deer walking by 5 feet in front of the truck.

As the sun was rising I hoped out to catch a bit of the color on the clouds. Not a bad way to start a day!

After looking around a bit there we decided to take a run a bit down the road to see if we could get a better look at the rock formations. Good call... we both managed some pretty good shots. Still not a lot of light, but that makes for some great silhouettes.

A little more light, but still not great by any means. The formations were pretty incredible though.

I managed one parting shot with some fantastic light before we left the area to head to take a look at Hatrock Reservoir. Smith Rock is an amazing formation!

We debated on where to head next. The Painted Hills REALLY sounded good but we were slightly concerned with the roads and weather. A lot of the roads we traveled were dirt, sometimes very soft dirt, and the rain doesn't make for a great combination! Final consensus? We went anyway!

So off to Prineville to hook into highway 26. Along the way I had to make a pit stop (one of many) so we pulled off here. Of course this turned into a photo op, so we had to take 15-20 minutes to do some shooting.

Decent view of Mt. Hood as well.

Almost into Prineville and a hole opened up in the clouds. This was shot through the windshield, so it is a bit hard to see, but the rays of light looked pretty cool.

We had to stop in Prineville. We both needed caffeine at this point. I hadn't slept since getting up at 3pm the previous day and he was only operating on an hour sleep since noon the previous day. Food sounded good... so... McDonalds! I know not great, but the options were limited! After an egg mcmuffin and a healthy dose of coke and coffee, we were headed east again on 26 to the Painted Hills.

The first painted hill I saw wasn't even at the official area. It was only a couple miles from where we turned off the pavement.

Here is Tye saying hello from a Painted Hill.

Off to the main Painted Hills area. What a surprise to see. I had seen some images, but the view was still amazing!

There be gnomes in them thar hills!

After a visit to the fossil area, which didn't turn up anything worth seeing, we headed to Painted Cove. Talk about a bright variation of colors. Just wish it wasn't overcast. It really muddied up the pictures. Even with bad light, the images really show how varied and bright the colors are.

People aren't the only visitors to the Painted Hills.

One of the greatest things about this area is the lack of garbage and defacing so common to most public areas of interest. It almost restored my faith in humanity... almost.

So we had seen all the area had to offer. Now what? Do we head back the way we came... or do we take the road less traveled (literally) and take the 40 mile off road route to the little town of Antelope. Any guesses? Yeah, we went the off road route.

After a few miles with one or both of us camera clicking, we rounded a bend and saw this sight.

We happened to notice a road with a sign that said boatramp that led down a very steep route towards the river. Yeah, we took it. This was the first indication that I should have driven my 4wd truck as Tye's is 2wd. Still, his truck did a great job! Going down was very soft and we both looked at each other then at the road. Too far down and steep to back up. Crap. So we figured a good run at it might get us back up, but not before we look around at the bottom.

It was a very spartan area. No fires unless you burn on a metal pan, no trace philosophy, meaning you take out everything you bring in. This makes for a great experience as there isn't any trash or evidence of humans. It is definitely a spot I will be returning to, to spend a night or three!

So the road out... we made it, but it was not without a bit of concern. Very slippery and if possible, even softer going out then coming in. Once we made the top of the hill I decided to try to catch an image of the sun coming over the hill. There are times I swear I shoot more black and white than anything. Good choice in this instance.

So back on the original road we managed to find an original homestead building that was partially intact. Amazing to think about how hard it must have been this far out with no way to get to a store without a day journey (if not more).

The harsh realities of this area came to light with the finding of critter remains in a gully by the road. Not having your head screwed on right out here is just not an option. No cell service and VERY light road traffic could make a minor accident a major catastrophe.

The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, but we still stopped for a few random shots. One of them we got lucky and found a small herd of deer.

I can be a bit of a macro whore, but I like seeing how close I can get to get an image. Just happened to walk by this thistle and figured I would give it a try. The one on the right is still a bit out of focus, but overall I am happy with it.

We rounded a bend and came across this homespun setting. It definitely would not suck living there.

Less and less light. The sun seemed to speed up it's decent so we hurried a bit. We came across the messiest, stickiest, and most slippery section of road I have ever been on. You wouldn't think that you could have all of those conditions at once would you? Guess again. The tires loaded up so that we were riding on 3 inch thick mud/clay donuts, the road gave about 3-5 inches, and it was steep, so we were sliding all over. After some great white knuckle driving by Tye, we made it to the top of the 4 mile ascent in time to get some great sunset images.

About 15 minutes later the sky blew up into this.

Then it just kept getting better!

The rest of the journey was basically uneventful. With the color to end the day, what a perfect way to end a journey!

Camera batteries died so I didn't get anymore photos anyway. I had enough for one day. It was time to get some sleep!

Until the next journey!

P.S. Click on any image for a larger view!