What in the crap is going on?

Restroom

OregonLive ran a story last week that ODOT will be closing the restroom facility in Government Camp effective October 31, 2011.   The story says in part:  “Among the reasons for the closure listed in the letter, ODOT Region 1 manager Jason Tell cited the deterioration of the 50-year-building; vandalism; the public's perception that the restrooms are unpleasant; competition for parking spaces with people using Summit Ski Area; traffic congestion at both ends of Government Camp Loop Road; and the availability of other planned and existing restrooms in the area.”

                                 Photo - Kate Mather/The Oregonian

Now this is the only public restroom along Highway 26 east through Clackamas County past the Warm Springs Reservation all the way to Redmond.  This is a  v-e-r-y   l-o-n-g  s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

There are 40+ comments to this article. Link http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2011/09/state_transportation_officials.htm

Most of the comments chide ODOT for this bad decision.  ODOT gave notice several years ago of this decision, so this is really no surprise to Federal, State, and County officials.  But where are their plans?   

We understand Clackamas County provided significant funds to the US Forest Service to expand the services at Zigzag Ranger Station.  But the targeted opening date has been delayed to spring next year.  What is the State doing?  What are our representatives doing?  Does anyone in power give a crap!

Native Americans and the Mount Hood Salmon and Mushroom Festival

Native Americans and the Mount Hood Salmon and Mushroom Festival

My older sister recently asked me “why didn’t Oregon have more Indian names?”  I said Clackamas is and there are others.  She replied that both California and Washington states have many.  Then she wondered why.  Kinda agreeing with her, I speculated that the Oregon Trail brought settlers in such mass that they swept aside the tribes and used “white man” names.  California was settled by the Spanish earlier in the 19^th century and Washington State was a side event compared to Oregon.  So the neighboring states may have experienced a less direct cultural change.  I also mentioned that there was a recent demonstration by Native Americans in Portland regarding the naming of a park.

In researching the process of cell tower applications, I found that there is a review step to  contact the local tribes to make sure the proposed site is away from sacred lands.  So an internet search found little information on the Clackamas Indians.  If I recall the research from several years correctly, there was mention of the last five Clackamas Indians being deported to the reservation of Grand Rounde Tribe (central, coastal Oregon). 

Another historical document about the early automobile trips from Portland residents to Mt Hood did mention that in late the summer the Indians would be camping near the Salmon and Sandy rivers presumably for fish and huckleberries.  The document mentioned the Indians did NOT like having their pictures (spirit) taken.

OregonLive just posted this related article and photo:

      Ko-Na Foster Kalama performs Oct. 1 at the Mount Hood Salmon and Mushroom Festival.

      Photo by  Anne Morin

WELCHES -- Music, food, arts and crafts, exhibits, a storyteller and habitat walks will highlight the Mount Hood Salmon and Mushroom Festival at Mt. Hood Village, 65000 E. U.S. 26.

A Sasquatch talk, a scarecrow-making contest, a Native American salmon bake, and mushroom, huckleberry and buffalo fare will also be featured at the 20th annual event slated from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 1 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 2.

Organizer Michael P. Jones says the family-oriented event is held during the month of October to welcome home the return of the salmon to the streams of Mount Hood and the wild mushrooms to its forested landscapes.

Oregon Mycological Society experts will help with mushroom identification and discuss habitat preservation. The Cascade Geographic Society, the event's sponsor, will sell flavored mustard and wild berry products.

Highlights include a performance by the Quartz Creek Drum and Dance Group of Warm Springs from 1 to 2 p.m. Oct. 1 and Native American music presented by the Mount Hood Flute Fest throughout both days.

A free concert will also be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1. The featured performer is Ko-Na Foster Kalama, a renowned musician, artist, teacher, speaker and treaty fisherman who lives in Warm Springs.

Admission and parking are free. For details, call 503-622-4798 or visit www.cgsmthood.com

Birthday Prayer

B I R T H D A Y  P R A Y E R  by Paul Keller

May the glaciers know they will be safe

beneath these aging memories of blue stars

who sing new light onto the skins of wild oceans

where the ghost shapes of whales still remember

their routes, the history of blood still circling their veins,

just like ours, just like the old rivers reassuring the night,

the fire dreams of these mountains, our quiet prayers,

the breathing of every season's first wind -- or rain;

this ancient sunrise filling with the eyes of coyotes

and owls, all looking back in a language

that burns deep inside all of our bones.

Sense of Place - Unspoken Poetry - Silent Music

View from Crutcher’s Bench

Last night poet Paul Keller and musician Will Frank entertained 50 or so fortunate mountain dwellers at the Rendezvous Tap Room in Wemme, Oregon. Paul, who is well known in these parts as our mountain bard, has had works printed in auspicious literary journals but there are no collections of his work. Thus, chances to experience these rich words, evocative of our mountain land, its four-leggeds, its winged ones, are rare gifts enhanced when read by the artist.

This was my first experience of Will Frank’s voice and guitar accompaniment. The songs were folk/country with a little blues and one joyful piece by Johann Sebastian Bach. Most used verse and humor to celebrate living this mountain life and the magic of our corner on this earth. Several were original. Frank’s full voice and flair with acoustic guitar were captivating.

                                                                       Paul Keller

Keller and Frank planned and delivered an evening that celebrated Mount Hood and the human and creature communities that populate its western slope. Year round mountain dwellers with roots at least forty years deep made up most of the audience. At one point Frank mentioned that some of his songs would seem utterly different, perhaps meaningless, to non-residents.

                                                                   Will Frank

I understood most references in Paul’s poems and Will’s songs, although by mountain standards, I am a flatlander transplant. I first visited this area in 1967, which is when my unrequited love affair with this place began. In 2001, I joined this beloved point on earth as a full time resident.

There was an unspeakable power that occurred in that room on September 15. And here I charge on in and try to describe that which words cannot possibly convey. That room was filled with people who know this mountain and its valleys and rivers, big cats and coyotes, ravens and stellar jays, old growth and peckerpoles, its very bones and stones. We know it, hold it, and love it in ways fierce and soft with all the in betweens.

Last night the "Vous’s" Tap Room was filled with people whose love was requited. The room held silent magic. Ignited by Paul’s verse and Will’s tunes, we became a whole far greater than the sum of its parts.

(This event was sponsored by Tom Anderson and Kathryn Bliss, who own the Rendezvous, and conceived of and organized by Sandra Palmer, co-owner of Wy’east Book Shoppe and Art Gallery, located next door to the "Vous." Our community has got fingers and toes crossed that the event benefitted both businesses and so there will be many more).

Dollar Lake Wild Fire

The past week has us and local citizens concerned about the Dollar Lake Wild Fire burning on the north slope of Mt Hood just a dozen miles east of Crutcher’s Bench.  On Saturday the fire became more active but within the previous perimeter.  However, the smoke is thicker and ash started to fall on us Saturday.  It is the same this Sunday morning.  Below is a picture of the fire posted by Gary Randall on FB.

The USFS is providing updates, at least, once a day.  Here is their latest.

Dollar Lake Fire Update September 11, 2011 at 8:30

   Yesterday afternoon and last night the north flank of the fire moved about a mile to the north. The fire did not cross containment lines in the northwest corner which have been a key focus of efforts to protect the Bull Run watershed and Lolo Pass areas. The fire remains 9 miles from the nearest structures along Lolo Pass Road and 2 to 3 miles from the Bull Run Watershed.

   On the north side, the fire pushed up against constructed contingency lines. Fire crews are working out ahead of the fire scouting out opportunities for additional containment lines. Fire activity increased as expected due to warmer, drier weather and decreased humidity.

   The fire is burning as a crown fire in the tree tops and is being fueled by lichens and mosses. The lichens and mosses are carrying the fire and are a major source of fire spread within the wilderness. The fire burned towards clearcuts and young forest plantations that break up the continuity of fuels and provide opportunities for control efforts. It was an active fire night, and another active fire day is expected.

   Today is another critical fire weather day. Conditions in the fire area remained warm and dry throughout the night. Extreme fire behavior is forecasted again today and air and ground resources continue to be focused on the critical west perimeter of the fire. Fire officials are looking forward to some relief as a westerly flows will bring cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity to the fire area on Monday.

   Smoke from increased fire activity and will drift toward communities to the west. In areas downwind of the fire, thick smoke in the early morning and evening hours can produce hazardous driving conditions. Drivers are cautioned to turn on their headlights, slow down, and watch for fire traffic along Highway 35. Be alert that Pacific Crest Trail hikers, rerouted by the fire, are walking along the shoulder of Highway 35 from its junction with Cooper Spur Road north to its junction with Parkdale Road. Also watch for hikers on back roads in the vicinity.

For those interested in keeping up to date, the USFS link is http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2563/

Via Facebook, Dale Crockatt reports this morning:

As the sun faded Saturday evening, the Dollar Lake Fire made a surge to the north at the same time it climbed higher on Mt. Hood near McNeil Point

The moss and lichen-carried fire is burning in isolated pockets between ice and rock on the upper slopes of the mountain.

To the north, the fire crossed Vista Ridge and moved north toward fire lines in the Ladd Creek drainage.

On Sunday, the challenge will be to hold the fire in place in the face of continued high temperatures, low humidity, and unstable atmospheric conditions. Fire managers expect the forecasted weather to promote wind driven crown runs in the lichen and moss.

The Hoodland Fire Department has indicated that they are ready to protect our eastern border up E. Lolo Pass Rd.  However, if the property’s trees are within 30 feet of the home or structure, then there is little they can do.  Using this “rule”, then around 80% of our homes, including ours, would be triaged out.  So the concern level remains high even in the unlikely event.  The hotshot firefighters on the ground are working overtime to contain the fire.  We are all supporting their heroic efforts.