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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2021)
2B | WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2021 | APPEAL TRIBUNE A panoramic view as seen from the lookout tower on Mo unt Ireland. Baldy Lake is seen on the right. WILLIAM SULLIVAN/FOR THE REGISTER-GUARD Panorama Continued from Page 1B It’s important not to intrude on a staffer’s privacy without permission, so as I approached the tower I called out a cautious “Hello?” That was my last word for quite a while. The 60-year-old woman who bustled out the door in a fuchsia vest talked as if the words had been bottled up in mental rehearsal. “Another visitor! I’ve had 12 now, and have only been here 11 days.” She in- formed me that the previous staffer had left suddenly on emergency leave, abandoning his belongings in the tower. She had no idea why he had fled Mount Ireland so abruptly. She was just the emergency replacement. All I could do was nod. She told me she had grown up in Col- orado, but spent 20 years as a wilder- ness ranger in the Trinity Alps out of Weaverville, California. As she grew older and that work became too de- manding, she got a job as a lookout on a remote cinder cone near Paulina Lake, Oregon. Eventually, the Deschutes Na- tional Forest let her go because she “kept reporting lightning strikes and suspicious activity on the neighboring Winema National Forest and private timberlands.” I managed to ask, “Wouldn’t that be a good thing to do?” “I thought so,” she said. But as her torrent of words continued, I began to suspect what the problem might have been. She might have clogged the radio channel with chatter about anything that seemed of interest to her. A mountaintop conversation These days, after a year of social iso- lation, lots of people are having trouble relearning the art of conversation. Is what we’re saying really of interest to others? I didn’t need to know, for exam- ple, about this woman’s decision in April to reject an assignment in Colora- do because the site couldn’t guarantee a bed, so she might end up sleeping in a tent. On the other hand, I was fascinated by her sudden love of Mount Ireland, a place she had never heard of before. On her first day, the U.S. Forest Service sent a woman to hike with her all the way to the summit, flagging the route with red ribbons at every conceivable wrong turn, “to make sure I found the right mountain.” A helicopter brought her gear, so she wouldn’t have to carry it. On that first day, she counted seven mountain goats lounging in the snow- fields nearby. “The Forest Service put salt blocks at a distance from the look- out to lure the goats away. There’s even a special gate at the stairs to keep the goats from nosing into the lookout to chew things for salt.” Eventually, her words slowed. She looked bashful. “I’m new to these moun- tains. The very first night I was here there was a lightning storm. I was use- less as a lookout. I didn’t know the names of the peaks, or the wilderness boundaries, or anything.” She said she purchased a “Peak Find- er” app to supplement the big circular fire finder table in the cabin. Together we surveyed the horizon of peaks. I was able to help her identify half a dozen summits that had confused her. She, on the other hand, was able to point out five staffed lookouts that she knew from radio conversations. Her app proved its worth by identifying the dis- tant snowy peaks of Sacajawea and the Matterhorn in the Wallowas, dim ghosts peering through a gap in the Elkhorn Range. She had never seen Mount Hood or Mount Rainier, but her cabin’s logbook reported that previous lookouts had been able to spot the shadowy tips of those summits on clear sunset eve- nings. When she finally asked who I was, she exclaimed, “But I have your guide- book, ‘Oregon Trips & Trails’! I used it to explore Sisters and McKenzie Pass. Sign the visitor register, please, and under ‘Comments’ write ‘famous author.’ ” I wrote something milder and hoisted my backpack to leave. We bumped el- bows, the coronavirus version of a handshake. She followed me down to the helipad, repeating goodbyes. Months later, she found my email ad- dress and continued the conversation. “I’m reading your memoir ‘Cabin Fe- ver’ nightly while I learn to use my new solar stove. I’m just to the part where Ja- nell is trying out the tub marked ‘Rub- bermaid Agricultural Division.’ There was a washtub on Mount Ireland, and I learned to use it fairly quickly, as it was too cold and windy to wash on the tow- er’s deck. (Not to mention that I was in plain view of anyone glancing at Mt. Ire- land!)” She added, “Even though I was on (Mount) Ireland for only a partial sea- son, I had a ‘10 out of 10’ experience: the people at the ranger district, the forest, and the tower were wonderful.” I had been tempted to leave Mount Ireland out of the next edition of my book, to list it at the back with the also- ran “More Hikes.” Only 50 people a year hike here, and most of them probably don’t use my book. But I think the look- out staffers need company. And maybe dreamers who wish for a lonely moun- tain retreat should try visiting this peak. After absorbing the wider view from Mount Ireland, this is a hike I’m happy to recommend. If you go Take Interstate 84 to Baker City exit 304, drive west a mile into town and turn left on Main Street. When Main Street becomes Highway 7 continue straight 25 miles. Then turn right at a sign for Sumpter, drive 3 miles to this gold rush town and continue toward Granite on the main paved road for 11.6 miles. Beyond Blue Springs Summit 4.7 miles (and 0.3 mile beyond milepost 11), turn right on Road 7370 at a small sign, “Mt. Ireland L.O.” To follow this gravel route, fork left after 0.5 mile and veer steeply left at the 2.2-mile mark. After a total of 2.8 miles, fork up to the right on Road 100 for 0.3 mile to a large wide spot with a trailhead sign on the left. The GPS location here is 44.8127 -118.3287. Berms and pits at the trailhead at- tempt to keep all-terrain vehicles off the hiking trail, with mixed success. After climbing steeply 0.3 mile you’ll reach a junction at a crest with your first view of Mount Ireland. Stay on the main trail by keeping left at this fork and right at the next fork, 80 feet later. The track steepens for 0.3 mile, but then sudden- ly becomes a lovely footpath through the woods. At the 2-mile mark, turn left at a signpost in a ridgecrest meadow, following a gullied route confused again by all-terrain vehicle tracks. Ironically, the ATVs are mostly Forest Service ma- chines bringing supplies to the lookout, but even they cannot drive the final half-mile to the summit, so you’ll arrive at the tower on a pleasant hiking path. William Sullivan is the author of 21 books, including “The Ship in the Sand” and the updated “100 Hikes” series for Oregon. Learn more at oregonhiking .com. The fo rbidden fruit, a banana, floats on Tillamook Bay after a prank was pulled during the Oregon Tuna Classic. HENRY MILLER / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL Miller Continued from Page 1B Even a blind pig sometimes finds an acorn, or in this case, an outdoor columnist lands a keeper Dungeness crab on Siletz Bay. HENRY MILLER / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL Simple Cremation $795 Simple Direct Burial $995 Church Funeral $2965 SALEM 275 Lancaster Drive SE Salem, OR 97317 (503) 581-6265 TUALATIN 8970 SW Tualatin Sherwood Rd Tualatin, OR 97062 (503) 885-7800 PORTLAND 832 NE Broadway Portland, OR 97232 (503) 783-3393 TIGARD 12995 SW Pacifi c Hwy Tigard, OR 97223 (503) 783-6869 EASTSIDE 1433 SE 122nd Ave Portland, OR 97233 (503) 783-6865 MILWAUKIE 16475 SE McLoughlin Blvd Milwaukie, OR 97267 (503) 653-7076 “Easy Online Arrangements” OR-GCI0571428-02 www.CrownCremationBurial.com menace was the centerpiece of one of the most egregious practical jokes that I’ve ever experienced. It occurred during the Tillamook Bay leg of the Oregon Tu- na Classic fishing tournament many years ago. One of the organizers of the event had a staffer put one banana in plain sight on board each of the competing boats during the pre-blastoff skippers’ meeting. As an aside, I was threatened on pain of death if I revealed the name of the head prankster, and thus I will forever plead reporter’s privilege in not reveal- ing my source. I shudder to think about the repercus- sions if that staffer ever flipped on the in- stigator. My suspicion is that a good soaking and overnight stay in a walk-in freezer might be involved. Anyway, the fleet of recreational tuna boats left the docks under a thunder- head of curses and through a bobbing minefield of floating bananas. And as far as the superstition goes, it must have some substance. I have never seen a fish caught on a banana. There’s a great write-up about the an- gling/banana brouhaha on the myth- busting website Snopes. Check it out by going to What’s Behind the ‘No Bananas on a Boat’ Superstition? | Snopes.com Highlights Item 1: The next great minus-tide se- ries is just after sunrises July 21 through 26, with the lowest of the series during the weekend of July 24 and 25. You can look up the times and tides for the hot spots on the coast online at Tide Location Se- lection for Oregon (saltwatertides.com) And, as always, be sure to check be- fore heading out by calling the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s toll-free shellfish biotoxin hotline at (800) 448- 2474 or go online to the State of Oregon: Shellfish - Recreational Shellfish Biotox- in Closures. Reminder: The annual conservation closure is in force for razor clamming on Clatsop beaches in the northwest cor- ner of the state. Item 2: Ocean charters on the central coast are reporting that fishing for coho “silver” salmon is about as hot as the temperatures have been in the Willam- ette Valley of late. Reservations: Depoe Bay Dockside Charters: (541) 765-2545. Website: www.docksidede- poebay.com Tradewinds Charters: (800) 445-8730. Website: www.trade- windscharters.com Newport Newport Marina Store & Charters: (541) 867-4470. Website: www.nmscharters.com Newport Tra- dewinds: (541) 265-2101. Website: www.newporttradewinds.com Yaquina Bay Charters: (541) 265-6800. Website: www.yaquinabaycharters.com Thought for the week: If you’re wearing a T-shirt that says “Fish Fear Me,” maybe that’s why they keep avoid- ing you. Contact Henry via e-mail at Henry- MillerSJ@gmail.com
