Road Trip With Bill

Last weekend, a quick 700-mile trip into Oregon's Union and Baker Counties began rolling decades ago when Waitsburg photographer Bill Rodgers studied botany and geology and then worked professionally throughout the western states. His familiarity with the timeless forces shaping the Earth's subsurface informed his love for the mystery and beauty of the landscapes above.

This outing was to seek photographs for Volume VI of "The Blues," to be published later this year by the Blue Mountain Land Trust (bmlt.org). We enjoyed sunshine, pelicans and meadowlarks, emerging arrow leaf and Hooker's balsamroot, flowing creeks, pondering the relics of 19th-century ghost towns, and appreciating prosperous farming and ranching operations in the region's springtime countryside.

A rule for discovering beautiful, secluded landscapes is to take an exit off the freeway-almost any exit, the less known, the better-and carry maps, preferably Gazetteers. Bill carries two, both worn out from his numerous trips through the region. There is stunning terrain everywhere, but there are only occasional road signs on the best gravel and dirt back roads. Feeling comfortable getting a little bit lost opens one up to delightful discoveries, and it is also good to know the way back.

Carrying a geology book for reference adds to the experience as well. We studied one unusual landform that defied explanation; the ancient geology of Oregon is extremely complex. It wasn't until we found information in one of his books that what we were seeing made sense and thus became even more wonderful.

The science of knowing where one is, thus understanding that it took wild planetary changes over millions of years to produce a landscape, yields a new appreciation of what a person sees. Throw in a sudden meadowlark song when you step out of the car for a photo, and you feel lucky.

I enjoy seeing cows on narrow roads and the young horse riders trying to get them back into the pasture, the friendly waves of the men and women moving hay bales, and even the presence of the moderately large tire-busting stones we had to drive around that when I looked up the rocky cliff above, understood they had tumbled down not long before we came upon them.

Stone and soil began the gift of abundance produced by thoughtful farmers and ranchers caring for the land. The wide green fields and slopes of sage and junipers climb to dark pine forests in the steep valleys and ridges, revealing the structure of geology far beneath. It is a pleasure to view and experience.