Homestead and pond between maupin and tygh valley

This homestead is directly across from the spot where highway 216 comes to highway 97 between Tygh Valley and Maupin. It is deep in a farmers field but there is a new house which is inhabited that sits nearby so BEWARE the curse of the angry armed farmer! We were never hassled so maybe the curse is just a myth, or is it.........
-originally this casa had a covered wrap around porch but unfortunately it was caved in long before we arrived.
-The nearby pond and cat tails give this homestead a very different feel than all the rest that we have photographed in this area.
-Dan rented that giant lens with a dream, and that dream is to take the ultimate photo of a sweet toosh.

Jefferson Park

After reading about it in a hiking book, Dan, Mark and myself decided to take a trip to Mt. Jefferson. You Take I-5 to Salem, drive east on highway 22, through the area with Opal Creek and the Elkhorn mining area, until you come upon Detroit Lake. Continue past it for about 15 miles until you get to a turn off to a small mountain service road. After about 10 miles and nearly 45 minutes of slow going bumpy roads we came to the Jefferson Park trailhead. There is a small parking lot where the Cascade trail crosses. The trail that we took is actually part of the cascade trail. It was a beautiful hike up, about 7 miles uphill but very rewarding once at the "Park". The park is the area at the timberline of Mt. Jefferson. There are many scraggly looking trees that wrap around Glacier melt water pools, some glaciers still remain even though it was august. Shortly put, it was an amazing dreamland of Sun, Snow, Trees, low-lying grasses and succulents among a maze of volcanic rock and glaciers. all for the exploring. BY FAR the coolest destination of any hike i have ever been on. I could easily spend all day up there. The area is actually a popular backpacking destination with a few designated campsites for backpackers. (sites designated by a wooden post, thats it)

Pictured:: Wildflowers, Glacier melt-water pools, A Stormy Mt. Hood, Wild 5 inch Succulents, Volcanic Rock and Cougar prints in the snow. Yes, Cougar. Not Dog. The print pictured was one of about 3, and was about 4 inches wide.

Tamolitch Pool

Out of sheer boredom three of us decided to go on a spur of the moment camping trip. We chose Tamolitch Pool, meaning "bucket" in Chinook, for our destination. This is the spot where the McKenzie river emerges from the earth after traveling several miles underground through an ancient lava flow. All of the minerals the river collects while underground give the water a dark blue color usually only seen on post cards from the tropics. Strange rock formations and giant old growth trees gives the entire trek a pre-historic feel.
-The Man-a-pault pictured below is a surprisingly flexible log that has a wicked bounce to it. Have your friend bounce you and hope dearly that they show some mercy because it would be a hard fall.
-If you look past the terrible quality of the photo you can get a glimpse of the deep cobalt blue color of Tomalitch pool. By the time we made it to the top of the hike it was afternoon and the glare off the water made a good shot impossible so "deal with it."
-The log crossing is optional but anyone who doesn't want to be referred to as a "baby" or "chicken" had better do it.