Mountain view

It was a great day up there, not too warm... not too cold.

Search for a Steam donkey

Some footage I took while searching for an old steam donkey in the mountains near the Linn Lane county border. If you don't know what a steam donkey is check out this link.

My buddy Doug was with me on this trip and will probably be with me on many future adventures. Doug went with me to the Pathfinder Gathering where we did some looking around at native American sites & site seeing. I did not realize that Doug liked to explore.

I have information from two different "old fellers", that there is all or part of a steam donkey in this specific area. One fella that has since past away, told me about two huge wheels being up here. He said He had no idea how they ever got them up there. The other fella said that there is remnants of the steam donkey and cords of split wood stacked between trees still up there. Other information from both these old fellers has checked out, so I have no reason to doubt them. I have always made it a point of stopping and talking to anyone in the area of something I am looking for. Sort of pick their brain and take some notes. Older folks have some of the best life stories and are a treasure in themselves.

We did not find the steam donkey this trip, just some great scenery, some black bear scat & had some fun. Planning a second trip in the area the weekend of Sept 18th-19th.

Camping in Paradise, July 17-19

A small video of the McKenzie river. It's fast and cold, but crystal clear. It's very popular with rafters. Paradise campground is right of the McKenzie river.

Just a few pics of the river.

Of course there are big trees too.

We hit the trails Saturday morning while my friend Doug was sleeping in. For the record he was up before me Sunday morning.




The trails were well maintained and had the usual great scenery like this huge plant, they look like they belong in a dinosaur movie. I usually find then in small marshy areas, not sure what they are.

This little guy was right next to the trail and kindly stood there so I could take his picture.


After hitting the trails for a couple of hours we headed back to the campground and Doug was up. Doug and I had planned to head up Buck mountain and visit the mine with the cabin above. We also figured we could pick up some firewood up on the mountain, since the campground's $6.00 firewood bundles were more like kindling. We went in Doug's rig so Julie could use mine to run to the small store about 20 minutes down the highway for more ice for the cooler. It was in the 90's so we wanted to make sure the food stayed safe.

So up Buck mountain we go, it's pretty hot and dry. We are about 4600 to 4700 feet.


We make it to the mine and are happy to see no tweekers in the area. As we start to head into the mine I realize Oh crap! My maglite is in my truck. Undaunted to head inside I would take two steps and take a picture with flash and then take two more steps.

This worked until we were about to ran into beams partly fallen across the mine, so we decide to back out and head up to the cabin. Doug had never seen the cabin.

The cabin has also been propped up to keep the one side from falling down with new beams.


It looks like someone has stood back up the old cast iron stove and connected the stove pipe. Also you can see new plastic covering a window.


The table has been patched up and is upright.


Does not look like much has been done to the floor though.

Here is the crapper.

I think this is called Indian Paintbrush, it was near the cabin.

We head back and I stop to take a pic of the Three Sisters across the way.

Now Doug and I really start the firewood search. We find some from wood along the main road, but head down some side roads in search of wood. We go down this one spur road and the winter snow melt and rain has not been kind to it. We continue down to the end of the road and find some nice chunks of firewood. We head back up the road figuring that we have enough firewood now. Part way up things sound different, we get to the top and I tell Doug "I think we have a flat tire". He hops out from behind the steering wheel, he says "Oh yeah..." I get out and look, holy crap there is a 5 inch tear in the side of the tire. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of it, but I didn't. So out comes the jack and off with the lug nuts, but the damn tire will not come off. Doug jacks it up a bit higher, but the jack and rig take a tilt backwards. This is still not the best spot to do this. Better put the lug nuts back on and pull ahead about 10 feet or so. So Doug pulls his rig over to a better spot and jacks it back up. Off with the lug nuts and still the tire will not come off. Doug uses a big rock with the floor mats as cushioning to pound on the wheel. We try kicking it and wiggling the tire and wheel. Finally it breaks loose and we can see that there was a bit of rust that had bonded it on. We are relieved now that we have it off. We are 15 miles from the nearest pavement. We put on the spare and make tracks down the mountain. We make it to the pavement at the bottom of the mountain and we hear a faint sound that does not sound right. We get out and check the spare, holy crap again... a few of the lug nuts are loose to the touch and they are hot! Looks like did not get tight enough or worked their way loose. We would never have heard the noise of felt any vibration while we were on the gravel road on the way down the mountain. Most of the ways down the mountain if you were to go off the road; you’re not going to stop before going a few hundred feet down. Doug tightens up the lug nuts we drive 50 feet and tighten them again just to be sure. Doug says "Okay, no more weird shit". We made it back to camp with a story to tell.

Our biggest piece of found wood burning nicely. Not sure it was worth a tire though... Fire good!

July 4th at Pendragon's Pool

A little video of the pool.



I think I'll call it Pendragon's pool. Hows that Kail?

Yes, that water is that clear. It felt great too. After cooling off and a little lunch I started checking out the nearby plants and flowers.

Not sure what it is called, but it's pretty.

Devil's club

Devil's club, this stuff is nasty! I have seen this stuff a lot bigger than this one.

I think these are salmon berries.

Some strange kind of puff balls.

4th of July Gold Hill

Julie and I decided to head up to Gold Hill for the 4th of July and then relax at the pretty pool we had found in June. Okay, so it was really more like... I talked her into going to the pool and forgot to mention going all the way to the gold mines. ;-) I planned to take you folks with inside one of the mines, but above the mine is an old cabin that has been semi-taken over by tweekers. As we went down the road that leads to the mine I see some shady types, so it is best to turn around and come back a different day.

Here is a pic of the cabin that is above the mine from a previous trip. I will be back in the area in mid July for a camping trip with my buddy Doug I Plan to revisit this mine and cabin then.

Here is a pic of what the tweekers have done to the cabin and this poor old cast iron stove from a previous trip. Very sad.

Here is a pic of the mine below the cabin from a previous trip. When Doug and I go back, I will take pics from inside. The mine goes into the rock about 40 feet back and then opens up into a large sphere.

Onto another area a little higher up the mountain...


Just past an open quarry style quartz mine the road heads down and the road gets really bad, these pics don't really show how back it is. I tried to take pics that would show how nasty the road is. I walked down the road this time to take the pics and found an old pair of pliers that must have bounced out of someone's truck. I also found a rubber hose from an engine, two different parts of two different mufflers, and a washer.

About halfway down.

A view looking back up the road. My 4x4 Toyota Tacoma has made it up and down this road many times, it's a great truck!

The pliers, marked "BlueBird No. 25"

Unknown wild flowers near the quartz mine.

More unknown wild flowers near the quartz mine.

It sure is hot up here, 90 degrees or so. Time to head down the mountain a bit and revisit the magic pool too cool off.

June 20th 2009 Buck Mountain

Took these pics Saturday. What made this rock "pop" like that, pressure?








In the clouds

See that rock cliff in the upper left, that where I am going. We camped on top of the cliff one year.



Still large patches of snow up there



Still have to mark the county line, even way up here. Hmmm maybe Linn county needs to take some territory from those Lane county bastards... No, I didn't move it.



Not sure what bird it was, it was not a grouse. It was very graceful and large. I think some kind of raptor.



Hurry up and take the picture, this thing is getting heavy.