2B
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
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APPEAL TRIBUNE
Halibut
Continued from Page 1B
near-shore (40 fathoms or less) season opened May
1.
“We had a little bit of success,” she said. “They
caught, I believe, three. We hoped for more, but we
were happy to get something. The early near-shore
can be difficult trying to find them. We’re really
looking for the weather to turn for the better and
really getting people out here.”
The limit is one halibut a day at sea, three in pos-
session on land (think three-day weekends and
coastal vacationers). There is no size limit.
If you’ve never been out on the deep ocean, other
than say on a cruise, it’s an experience never-for-
gotten, in more ways than one.
On a personal note, if you’re among the, ahem,
chronologically challenged, as I am, you might want
to ask about the availability of electric-assist fish-
ing reels. It’s a long way up from the bottom 300 feet
below the boat without an elevator.
Also ask about available options such as crab-
bing, weather-permitting, with the traps soaking
while you’re breaking your back beyond the hori-
zon.
A one-day fishing license is $23, which includes
halibut. The license with a one-day shellfish permit
for crabbing is $32.50.
While shopping around, look for discounted trips
for those such as military, seniors, police and fire-
fighters as well as reduced rates for kids and groups.
And lastly, I really don’t recommend a 12-hour
halibut junket for those who don’t know whether
they get seasick.
If you need a reference, ask my brother-in-law,
Bob, who despite wearing a Scopolamine patch, de-
scribed his seagoing fishing experience as “the first
half of the trip I thought I was going to die. And the
second half I was worried that I wouldn’t.”
If you’re unsure, tune up with a five-hour rock-
fish charter or an even shorter whale-watch excur-
sion.
Here is a shortlist of options and prices. Be sure
to check the websites for deposit and cancellation
policies and discounts. Also, if you’re feeling lucky,
check to see if there are near-shore halibut options,
some offering crabbing.
DEPOE BAY
Dockside Charters: $335 a person. Call: (541)
765-2545 or visit docksidedepoebay.com
Tradewinds Charters Depoe Bay: $320. Call:
(541) 765-2345 or visit tradewindscharters.com
NEWPORT
h Newport Marina Store & Yaquina Bay Charters:
$275. Call: (541) 867-4470 or visit nmscharters.com
h Newport Tradewinds: $285. Call: (541) 265-
2101 or visit newporttradewinds.com
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Because they live
where they do, fish really don’t care if it’s raining.
Contact Henry via email at HenryMil-
lerSJ@gmail.com.
“They caught, I believe, three. We
hoped for more, but we were happy
to get something.”
Lauren Craven
Newport Marina Store & Yaquina Bay Charters
Junipers line the Red Butte Trail of the Juniper Hills Preserve near Post. WILLIAM SULLIVAN/FOR THE REGISTER-GUARD
Juniper
Continued from Page 1B
The Alaska Pacific Ranch once logged pines and ran
cattle on a huge spread just east of Post. The Nature
Conservancy recognized the place as a critical wildlife
corridor. Deer and elk cross through here on their way
from the Ochocos to the Maury Mountains. Migratory
birds often drop in, looking for an oasis on the Pacific
Flyway. The fact that the ranch includes a pristine
patch of painted hills turns out to be a bonus for hu-
man visitors.
When the Nature Conservancy bought the ranch in
2011, it hired Andy and Brooke Gray to live in a ranch
house near the entrance. The Grays oversee habitat
restoration, keep out poachers and assure suspicious
neighbors that they’re friendly. The Grays have raised
a family out there. Their children, now ages 11 and 15,
ride the school bus 36 miles to Prineville.
This past year, the Grays completed work on two
trailheads for hikers. Brooke is usually the one who an-
swers phone calls, when she isn’t driving the kids to
basketball practice an hour away in Prineville. Andy is
the soft-spoken handyman, with a long stringy beard.
He maintains the trailheads and answers the “door-
bell” — the barking of their three-legged border collie,
who lets the world know when visitors approach the
farmhouse.
The Grays have worked hard to get along with their
ranching neighbors. On Halloween, they hosted a
haunted hay ride for local kids, complete with a grave-
yard with cobwebbed tombstones for “Ben and Ilene
Dover.” Still, their nature preserve is the only place in
the valley where the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife was allowed to set up trail cameras to watch
for wolves. Officials haven’t documented a wolf pack
here yet, and the Grays’ neighbors don’t want them to.
The effects of time’s passage
Obituaries
Timothy Patrick Daly
Timothy Patrick Daly
died peacefully at the age
of 56 on March 1, 2022
in Albany, NY. Born in
Cooperstown, NY, he was
raised in Guilderland,
NY and attended Ithaca
College and graduated
from the New England
Culinary Institute in
Burlington, VT. His ca-
reer as a chef and in the
food industry was spent in the Portland area, where
he also enjoyed hiking and camping with his family
in the mountains and along the Oregon coast.
He is survived by his former wife Kelly Karr
and his beloved daughter Hannah Daly, of Sil-
verton; his mother Susan Daly of Brewster, MA;
his brother Mark, sister-in-law Lisa Grumet and
his niece, Gwen, of Brooklyn, NY; his sister Amy
Daly-Fisher and brother-in-law Matthew Fisher
of Ridgewood, NY; and numerous cousins and
extended family.
Tim was cheerful and outgoing and made friends
everywhere he went. He loved music of many
genres but especially the Grateful Dead and eclectic
rock and roll. He could often be found at concerts
with his cousins and friends. One of his favorite
pastimes was brightening the mornings of cus-
tomers when he worked at local farmer’s markets.
Contributions may be made in Tim’s name to the
Oregon Food Bank or the Portland Food Project,
PO Box 820194, Portland, OR 97282. A celebra-
tion of Tim’s life will take place this summer in
Albany, NY.
If you’re birdwatching, you’ll want to park at the
first trailhead and walk up a gravel road 1.5 miles to a
reservoir. Bring binoculars to see which birds have
dropped by. White tundra swans are common visitors.
Andy reports that a wily coyote once managed to catch
a swan. Afterwards, the site “looked like a pillow ex-
ploded.”
Most hikers will prefer to start at the second park-
ing area to see the painted hills. Here you climb over a
locked gate and walk up an ancient dirt road half a mile
to the colorfully striped formations. Stay on the trail!
Footprints on the soft clay of the hills can last for ages.
Andy says a neighboring rancher used his painted hills
as a playground for ATVs and sledders. All that’s left
there is a brown morass.
The rounded hills are made of volcanic ash that
erupted from the Cascades about 30 million years ago.
The ash settled in layers in lakes. When volcanic ash is
wet, it gradually turns into clay. Iron, magnesium and
other minerals created the colored stripes. A few mil-
An elk skull litters the ground near a reservoir at the
Juniper Hills Preserve near Post.
lion years later, when the Cascades grew tall enough to
cut off most rainfall, the lakes dried up. The recent rise
of the Ochoco Mountains has exposed the lakebeds to
erosion.
Beyond the painted hills, at the one-mile mark, turn
right on a faint side track marked “Red Butte.” This old
dirt road climbs over a hill with a view, traverses across
a few small dry gullies, and then turns uphill through a
glen with a mossy juniper grove. At this point, you will
have walked 2.2 miles from your car. At a small rock
cairn in the juniper grove, the ancient road splits three
ways and becomes very faint indeed. Keep left, follow-
ing the gully up 0.1 mile through a tall grass meadow at
the base of an “unpainted” white hill of volcanic ash.
Now follow the old track 0.1 mile to the right, where it
ends at Brooke Spring, a water trough beside a rimrock
cliff. The spring’s name honors Brooke Gray, the care-
taker. The wire fence here marks the end of Nature
Conservancy land. Return as you came.
How to get there
To find these trailheads from Prineville, drive High-
way 26 east of downtown’s courthouse 0.9 mile to a
light and turn right on South Combs Flat Road (which
becomes Highway 380) for 34 paved miles. Between
mileposts 33 and 34 (10 miles beyond the Post General
Store), turn left into a wood-fenced parking area with
an info kiosk for the first trailhead. From here you can
walk a gated gravel road 1.5 miles up to a reservoir.
For the Painted Hills Trail, drive another 1.4 miles
east on paved Highway 380. Just beyond milepost 36,
park in a wire-fenced gravel lot on the left. Climb over a
locked gate and hike an ancient road track toward the
colorful hills — a painted landscape that has been pri-
vately protected for us all.
William Sulllivan is the author of 22 books, includ-
ing “The Ship in the Woods” and the updated “100
Hikes” series for Oregon. Learn more at
oregonhiking.com.
Due to the holiday,
our offi ce hours and
obituary placement
times may vary.
Please contact us at
503-399-6789 or
obituary@statesmanjournal.com
for further details.
OR-GCI0828379-01
An ancient gnarled tree can see along a trail in the Juniper Hills Preserve near Post.