Looking for Oregon geodes, crystals, or gemstones? The quick answer is that Oregon’s most satisfying finds are usually not loose, ready-made geodes. They are thundereggs, agate, jasper, Oregon sunstone, and other material that rewards a little research, a legal place...
A recent rescue on the California volcano is a sharp reminder that a polished answer from a chatbot is not the same thing as a sound mountain plan. Three novice hikers from Roseville, California, were rescued after becoming stranded during a Mount Shasta climb,...
There are plenty of reasons to wander an Oregon beach in late October. The Pacific gets moodier, fall storms begin rolling in with more frequency, and those gray skies and crashing waves somehow make a warm drink and a long walk on the sand feel even better. But this...
There are two kinds of folks. There are the people who look at an insect hovering over the lavender and say something useful like, “Oh, that appears to be Bombus vosnesenskii, the yellow-faced bumblebee.” And then there are the rest of us: “Look! A chunky fuzzy...
There are certain things in life that most reasonable humans are powerless against. Freshly baked cookies. Puppies with oversized paws. And baby goats. Especially baby goats. aarononearth Tucked into the green countryside of Gales Creek in the Tualatin Valley, about...
There are ordinary movie nights, and then there are the kinds of movie nights that feel like somebody climbed directly into your childhood memories, grabbed two battered VHS tapes from beside the television, and projected them onto an enormous outdoor screen. That is...
There are certain things you expect to see while driving through northeast Oregon. Rolling wheat fields, old barns, cattle grazing beneath enormous skies, and eventually the jagged peaks of the Wallowa Mountains rising ahead of you. Image Copyright The Author A herd...
There is something wonderfully Oregon about finding an old covered bridge where you least expect one. Drive east from Eugene and Springfield on Highway 58, following the road toward the forested foothills of the Cascades, and the scenery gradually loosens its grip on...
There is something about fall in Northeast Oregon that feels a little different from autumn anywhere else in the state. The mornings arrive colder, the mountains seem sharper against the sky, and pockets of brilliant yellow begin appearing along rivers, old roads, and...
There is a moment every autumn when western Oregon seems to change overnight. The mornings grow cooler, the first real rain returns after months of dry weather, and the enormous green canopy of the Coast Range begins picking up flashes of gold. Fallen maple leaves...
There are beautiful towns in Oregon, and then there are places like Hood River where it sometimes feels like nature may have been showing off a little. Perched above the Columbia River and surrounded by orchards, forested hills, waterfalls, vineyards, and some of the...
There are road trips where the destination is the whole point, and then there are those wonderfully strange Oregon adventures where simply getting there feels like part of the story. Way out in the high desert of south central Oregon, beyond the forests, waterfalls...