Farewell Bend State Park
Trip Start
Nov 19, 2007
1
89
165
Trip End
Ongoing
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Huntington,
Oregon,
United States
Friday, August 22, 2008
"A good place to camp is a good place to camp no matter what year (or century) it is." An Oregon Ranger named Joe told us this to explain why this bend in the Snake River has been used by campers back to when the pioneers followed the Oregon Trail. They all had to say, "Farewell" to the Snake River and follow a different waterway as the Snake goes into Hells Canyon heading north along the Idaho border. The pioneers were on their way deeper into Oregon instead.
Joe also gave a ranger's program on owls which was followed up by an evening walk through the park to find the resident 3 foot tall great horned owl. The 10 of us that attended, spread out and walked along under the trees intentionally talking loudly to flush the owl from one tree to another. When one of the sharp eyed kids spotted it, he directed the rest of us to its perch and we passed around a set of binoculars to check her out up close. One of the coolest facts he shared was that they hunt almost exclusively by sound. They have ears that are set at different heights on either side of their head and once they have turned their head to a position that lets them hear their prey clearly, they have triangulated its position and..... that's all she wrote for the prey.
Just getting over the itchy part of our condition, with the red marks as a strong reminder, we asked Joe if it was cool to swim in the Snake River? "I won't let my daughter swim in it" was enough for us to take a pass. The locals consider the river polluted and he believes it's all from agriculture.
Sat. Aug. 23rd.
Had coffee overlooking the river and set out to fix yet another of Jodie's flats before moving on to Idaho. After finding the tiny hole and applying another patch, I remounted the tube and tire and started pumping (we still don't have any Slime yet). After watching the pressure rise to 60 lbs., I noticed that the tire wasn't properly seated and the tube was bulging out of the rim. As I was going for the valve to release the air pressure, it continued to get bigger and bigger. Then, in an instant, BOOM!!!! I mean it sounded like a shotgun going off. Jodie and I started crying with laughter as campers came running over to see if someone had been shot. We told them it was the tube exploding and they turned and left looking somewhat disappointed.
Comments
tubes
Good type of tubes for the bikes are self sealing type sold in most bike shops were there is allot of cactus type plants in the area. great honed owls are the most impressive predators I have ever seen they look like logs while in a tree and have great grace when in flight.
Slime
I've got some extra slime if you need it. I have an owl house in my yard which is smaller than your specimen.