🌲 Gray Skies in the Forest 🌨
It's been rainier than usual in Central Oregon the last couple weeks, which is generally a good thing for the high desert... as long as it's snowing up high, which I think it is.
But that didn't stop me and Theo from getting out on our usual 5 km walk. And this time we just went cross country for the fun of it.
This walk took us through some areas that are fenced off (to vehicles) for restoration, and the rain had filled them with actual ponds for a change, something that's rarely seen here at that size. Little ponds, sure. But these were bona fide.
There's something about crunching through the snow in the middle of sparse forest that I really like; there's no path to follow and it's just you and the bunchgrass, rocks, and trees.
This part of the forest has a large number of pits dug in it. We call them "viking ships" due to their typically elongated shape that looks vaguely like a viking ship hull. I have no idea why they are there, and the time I asked someone who worked for the Forest, they didn't know either. But there are scores of them out there.
One thing they are good for is offering Theo a vantage to search for any wayward squirrels.
We looped out past Badger Rock, a modest rock outcrop rising some 3-4 meters above the surrounding terrain. As far as I can tell, the only reason it's named that is because there's a Geocache on top by that name.
And then we hiked toward a fault scarp out there. There are a number of these running north to south, with maybe a 3 meter drop off. But the neat thing is that you can find clusters of spatter cone remnants along them where the earth was weakened, and we passed a number of these on the way back.
A seasonal pond, partly frozen
We dropped back into the restoration area, and there, hidden in plain sight, was the biggest pond of all. As much as I enjoyed this as a moto terrain park, it's certainly much more peaceful and beautiful now.
Made it back to the car at 4.8 km, so just a little shy of the goal. That's okay; Theo was soaked and ready to get out of the rain and wintery mix. Got him home for a towel-off, and he curled up and went to sleep, another successful day completed.
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