2B
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2021
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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
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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