Saturday, February 21, 2009

WHERE I WAS THIS AFTERNOON

On Elk Mountain Road, looking south toward the Wallowa Mountains.

Elk Mountain Road, looking north.


Mule deer near Swamp Creek Lane.


I didn't make it all the way up Swamp Creek Lane... it was muddy here, and bad enough up the canyon that I had to turn around.

The Wallowa Mountains as seen from Enterprise, OR.

Minam River Canyon looking south, from OR Highway 82.

15 Comments:

Blogger Jim Marquis said...

Nice scenery. Do you ever see elk up there?

10:07 AM  
Blogger Snave said...

Not near Elk Mountain! Heh! Plenty of mule deer, though. Most of the elk I see in NE Oregon are not far from La Grande, either in the Grande Ronde Valley or in the Ladd Canyon area.

I was in Enterprise yesterday to buy some organically raised beef from a ranch called Marr Flat Cattle Co. The cattle are "free-range" until their last six months, when they are taken to the Vale area and fed there on grains and alfalfa. The meat is processed in Ontario, then shipped back up this way.

Wallowa County doesn't have a USDA meat processing place at this time, thus all the shipping/transfer. Anyway, some of the Marr Flat meat finds its way to Trader Joe's stores. I think it's packaged as Painted Hills.

12:43 PM  
Blogger jmsjoin said...

Very nice! You know looking at the pictures I was thinking that could be everywhere USA!

1:40 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Nice pictures. Reminds me of why I love being in rural Washington. Do I miss living in urban California? Hell no!

3:52 PM  
Blogger S.W. Anderson said...

Nice pix. The land is very much like that along the Snake River in Idaho.

12:43 AM  
Blogger Snave said...

Actually, the Wallowa Valley is not far from the Snake River and Hells Canyon, where Wallowa County borders Idaho. To get to Hells Canyon from Enterprise and Joseph, take the state road east to the town of Imnaha, and then drive north from there. When the road crosses Cow Creek, there is an easy 4-mile trail down the Imnaha River to the Snake. At the confluence of the rivers you can find some old foundations of buildings in which Chinese laborers worked in the late 1800s. There are several mine shafts in the immediate area.

Or, from Cow Creek you can take the torturous road up over the hill and down to the Snake at Dug Bar. If you don't like narrow roads and precipitous drop-offs, don't go there.

From the town of Imnaha, the road to Hat Point is similar... you can look out the window of your vehicle and look DOWN a long, long ways.

I think the best way to see Hells Canyon is to drive east of Joseph like you'd be going to Imnaha, but turn south onto the Wallowa Mountain Loop Road. To see more of the upper Imnaha River and Hells Canyon from the Hells Canyon Overlook, check out my entry for August 29, 2007 at

http://variousmiseries.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html

8:16 PM  
Blogger S.W. Anderson said...

Thanks, Snave. If I should head down that way, I'll refer back to your very informative comment ahead of time.

9:29 PM  
Blogger Demeur said...

Sorry but somehow I just don't get excited about photos of miles and mile of miles and miles but I like the cat pics.

1:31 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

Ah, but Demeur... even though they tend to be inhabited by Republicans, within all those miles and miles there is absolutely no visible reminder of any worldly problems besides the road itself, a few fences and a few poles and power lines... maybe an occasional house here and there.

But I can see your point! 8-)

I will be adding more cat pictures at Baby Mackie's blog now on a regular basis!

2:37 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

But I WILL continue to put up pictures of vast, empty countryside from time to time! 8-)

2:38 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

And I will keep making comments here for a while to pump up the number of comments to make it look as if there is really something of major import being discussed here!

2:39 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

At least it will look that way when someone comes to the blog and they see there are 12 or 13 comments on this topic.

2:39 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

I apologize for being so silly. I know I should be getting back to what people come here to read, which is the snarky semi-coherent political stuff...

2:40 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

...but I guess I just haven't really been in the mood for that lately! Hehehehe!

2:40 PM  
Blogger Terence Towles Canote said...

Oh, that is so beautiful, Snave.

4:51 PM  

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