The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Last weekend, Terry Lawhead and I ventured down to Halfway, Oregon to gather winter photographs and impressions of the area for Volume 6 of "The Blues". This will be the latest in the series of books published by the Blue Mountain Land Trust.

Taking the long way, through Tollgate, Imbler, Cove, Medical Springs, Keating, and Richland, Oregon, we were amazed at the substantial difference in snow depths along the way, which increased at lower elevations. My best guess is that the difference in snow depth between the few inches at High Valley (elevation 3,340) and the foot or more in Halfway (elevation 2,543) may be attributed to a combination of thermal inversion, wind erosion, and the rain shadow effect of the Wallowa Mountains.

Little Lookout Mountain, located to the south of Richland, Oregon and the Powder River glared with a blinding icy coating created by partial melting in the daylight sun and subsequent freezing during the frigid nights. Our journey was cut short by a destroyed, brand new, "off road" tire as we attempted to drive the gravel road between I-84 and Richland. We were forced to head into Baker City to replace the tire and will attempt the road again, once the snow has melted from these remote, relatively unknown and unpopulated highlands.

Terry and I will be exploring more of Baker and Union counties during the next six months to gather additional material for the book. At times we will be joined by photographer Mark Hussein of Bothell, Washington, who has contributed images to three volumes of "The Blues" books.

Hussein has journeyed to Waitsburg to co-instruct the Blue Mountain Land Trust's "Learning on the Land" one-day photography classes for the past five years. The next class is tentatively scheduled for May 28, 2022, and a fall class is also in the works. Stay tuned to the Land Trust web page (www.bmlt.org) for the online class signup form.