I've been needing to take a little camping trip for a long time and finally got a large enough block of time to make it worth while.
After finishing loading up all the stuff I thought I'd need, I headed up into Malheur National Forest after making a few stops in Burns. By mid afternoon, I had found solitude on the shores of the little Lake Delintment.
The first thing I did was to hang my hammock and take a nap to the sounds of birdsong and breeze. Then I set up camp, made supper and checked out my area. I was the only tent camper around, although there were two trailers about a quarter of a mile away. I had lots of robins but couldn't find the calling birds in the tall Ponderosa pines. Cut chipmunks raced away with their tails up or popped up on a rock or stump to check me out.
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| Camp under Ponderosa Pines |
I ate supper, read a while, and then went to sleep listening to the frog chorus. All too soon, the sky was lightening and birds were singing.
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| Dawn View |
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| View over my table |
I got up and fixed breakfast and then drove off to explore the area.
In a few miles, I found a gurgling creek with blooming shrubs - they
looked like some kind of berry with bell-shaped blooms - covered with
several species of bees. I had brought my bee net and kill jars with
me, as well as enough materials to run one 14 cup transect. I caught 7
bees and found I had 6 species. I also set up my cups and left them
while I did further explorations and then back to camp for lunch. I
also pinned my netted bees. I think I have at least one new species and
perhaps two. I took several logging roads and found some beautiful
scenery and a little wildlife.
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| Curious golden-mantled ground squirrel |
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| A curious pronghorn antelope watched me run the bee transect |
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| Coyote Willow Catkins |
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| Yellow flowers |
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| Part of a huge boulder outcropping |
My afternoon was drowsy with reading and dozing. In the evening, I
retrieved my drowned bees and stored them in ethanol in my cooler before
cooking supper, which included a piece of carp. Three deer visited my
camp and one ate my apple core. After another short walk, I was ready
for bed.
This morning I was cleaning out my tent and
hanging out all my stuff to dry or air out by 5:15. Then I made
breakfast and finished breaking camp. I even had time to read a while
before taking a hike around the lake. It was a lovely walk with lots of
birds. I got to see a pair of Canada geese with downy yellow babies, as
well as ring-necked ducks, mallards, ruddy ducks, and coots. There
were a few red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds, a hairy woodpecker, 6
spotted sandpipers, one of which had a red bill and sang a song that
sounded like he was calling his dog. I saw a few juncos, heard
chickadees and several birds I couldn't identify and couldn't locate in
the tall trees. There were several kinds of wildflowers, most just
getting ready to bloom. After walking four miles, I still didn't have
any aerobic miles so did another quick mile around the camp before
heading out.
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| Pink flowering shrub that drew lots of bees, flies, and butterflies |
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| More spring flowers |
I came back via a different route and enjoyed views of Emigrant Creek and more open spaces as I left the forest.
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| Roadside View |
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| Emigrant Creek |
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| New Leaves and flowers (Manonia repans) |
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| Out of the forest |
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| Abandoned |
