June, 2024
In the last blog post or two, I’ve talked about the dry environment here in the middle of Washington and Oregon, on the east side of the Cascade Mountains (the Cascades run north/south through Washington and Oregon — the RED line below). The RED dot in the image below is where I’m camped at the Deschutes River Campground.
Where I’m camped at the Deschutes River Campground, it’s dry! There are a LOT of rocks, and rock walls, and rock cliffs, and rock formations, and rocks along the roads, and rocks in and along the rivers. Rocks. Lots of rocks here. Mostly from lava, but whatever the source, there are lots of rocks here, as well as dry arid land.
All of the photos here were taken by me as I was traveling east or west along the Columbia River, or just off onto a short side road. It’s easy to pull over and snap a photo or two, and walk around a bit to see what there is to see. There is very little traffic on the side roads.
The water in the photo below is the Deschutes River. I’m standing on the west side of the river, looking east across the river at the Deschutes River Campground. The Deschutes empties into the Columbia just outside the photo, to the left. This sure is pretty with all those trees. But you can see the hill immediately east of the campground and see how dry and barren it is. Rocks.
The water in the photo below is the Columbia River. The top of the cliff/bluff across the river is about 520 feet higher than the level of the river. That would equal a 52-story building. Lots of rock.
Here below is a closeup of part of the photo above.
A little bit further down the road, another railroad track appeared on the left (in addition to the one I already knew about on the right side of road 206). That railway on the left came up from southern Oregon and followed the winding Deschutes River all the way up here to the Columbia River.
The top of that bluff/cliff is about 380 feet above the road on which I was driving … a 38-story building. That railway tunnel runs through about 800 feet of solid rock. That’s the railway you saw in the most recent blog post about the meaning of the word “Deschutes”.
I always feel more comfortable with lots of trees around me, because that’s what I’m used to. But after just a day or two here, I was starting to appreciate the intricacies of the rocks and their beauty.
I had driven past the rock wall in the photo below a few times (and saw lots of faces in the rocks). But this time, driving past, I saw what looks like a unique formation near the top, center top.
I’ll zoom in … it looks sort of like a flared skirt.
Here it is …
What made just that one section of rock do that? Water? Earthquake? Glacier? Lava flow?
Further down the road, there was this rock wall (below) which was different from the others.
Here’s a closeup … looks like basalt/lava columns to me.
Then there was yet a different sort of conglomeration of rocks here … and if you look sort of at the middle of the photo below, you’ll see a dark passageway in between the 20-foot high rock walls.
Maybe someone lives in there! Back around the corner deep inside.
But, not all of the land around here is rock. There is also lots and lots and lots of land that doesn’t seem to have anything on it except maybe very dry “grass”.
And yet, even that land has rocks underneath. The photo below shows exposed rock cliffs at the base of that sand/dirt hill.
And then … my favorite rock wall of all … is this one below. And you folks will know why it’s my favorite the moment you see it. Faces! Dozens of them! 🙂 In fact, they all started talking at the same time when I got close to the wall. They all needed to tell me something. There were humans and birds and reptiles and bears and dogs and cats and pigs and fish, all manner of life in those rocks. Their combined voices were so loud that I simply had to leave, but I wished them well before I left.
Here’s a closeup below of just one section. How many faces do you see? The photo will enlarge if you left-click on it. I can find 14 faces in just the first few minutes, but I’d bet there are more. How many do you see? Oh wait, no, there’s another one! Ok, so 15 so far. There’s a horse’s head right in the middle. 🙂
18 faces! Lots of rocks down here around Santa Fe too. But Washington is known as the Evergreen State that most folks think the whole state is green and covered with trees. Great blog post. 🙂
This blog rocks! 🙂 Great photos. I now look at rocks differently, with interest. thanks.
Rockin’ around the clock! 🙂 And yes I remember the train in that last blog post, and now you drive right by that same tunnel, how cool. You make the world interesting.
Oh my goodness, this blog does ROCK!
The faces are fascinating. It reminds of a similar wall in Prague. People stand for hours trying to count all the “people”, animal, human & fairies.
Great job, Ann!
I’m a plant lover and never thought I’d be fascinated by ROCKS. But I am. This is really cool. Love that “skirt”, hope someone knows how that happened, lava I bet.
“rocking around the Christmas tree …. ” 🙂
I never looked for faces in anything before in my life but now I love finding faces. I’ve found 21 so far. Some weird ones, but still, faces. It kind of reminds me that all of us are in this together, whether we really SEE each other or not. right?
Oh, snakes, you didn’t mention snakes, but I found one. 🙂
When I was a kid, we drove through Washington a few times to visit relatives in Seattle. I have no memory of that dry climate or the rocks, but then I was anywhere from 7 to 12 years old and was in the back seat probably reading or coloring. It’s great to learn this stuff now tho!
“Rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over.”
“I wanta rock with you … all night”
You didn’t ask for “rock” songs but it’s sure fun to do. Maybe if we all sing our “rock” songs, then the faces in that rock wall will stop all their noise and listen to our noise. 🙂
Great photos.
“We will, we will rock you (boom) rock you (boom)”
Great photos, great info. The “rock” songs are great. Ann you are letting us run amok with your blog. 🙂
“I DIG rock and roll music, I could really get it on that scene …”
Cool! 🙂 Let’s take over the blog! We are in charge! Rock on!
Oh, I count 23 faces so far in that photo.
This is the best blog ever. 🙂
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock … 🙂
Very good map that shows western (wet!) WA and OR vs. eastern (dry!) WA and OR. Wish we’d camped there when we were wheeling. But it’s fun to see it and learn from you. Rock on!
“Crocodile rock” by Elton John, always gets my feet tapping. 🙂
I’ve driven I-84 east/west along the Columbia a number of times. Those rock cliffs are huge and extraordinarily impressive. These photos show just a few of the cliffs that are there, and these photos show them very well. But wow, driving through there in person is something else. Thanks for the train info too, and everything else. Great blog!
This blog is great, everyone who comments is great, we all took over the comments and made them ROCK! 🙂 Ok, one last rockin’ dance song? Bill Haley’s “We’re gonna rock, around, the clock tonight”.
And then, when we all get tired and head for bed, there’s that sweet little lullaby “rock a bye baby”. 🙂
READERS … I’ll tell you who rocks … you do! I had no idea you’d take off on the rock theme of this blog post with “rock” songs (great idea Lori). That was really cool and really fun to read all of the songs y’all listed and then to sing along with them in my head. 🙂 So I’ll just “comment” way down here at the end of the comment section since each one of your comments is super and each one certainly stands on its own. I really love your comments.
I am going to research the wall in Prague that has faces in it (the Dripstone Wall, yes?). And, a snake, one of you found a snake in this Deschutes wall … ok I will slither around in that photo of mine until I find that snake. 🙂 And, the last “rock” song in the comments was so appropriate … the sweet lullaby, rock-a-bye-baby.
Thank you, all of you, whether you commented to this particular post or not, or whether you ever comment or not. I am so happy to have all of you riding along whether you’re up in the front seat and commenting, or whether you’re sitting in the back seat with a coloring book just riding along. You folks are the best “readers”, the best ever. Thank you.
Next blog post will be about my drive through farm land in Oregon just south of where I’m camped at Deschutes River Campground. Sweet dreams tonight, everyone. 🙂 Rock on!
Ann