B
Friday, November 1, 2019
RECREATION
REPORT
The second Rocky
Mountain elk hunt-
ing season starts
Saturday, Nov. 2, and
continues through
Nov. 10. As a re-
minder to hunters in
the Lookout Moun-
tain Unit in Baker
County, the Forsea
Ranch Access Area
will not be available
for big game hunting
this fall. The prop-
erty owners have
withdrawn from the
Access & Habitat
Program.
WILDLIFE
VIEWING
BAKER COUNTY
• Bighorn sheep
can be seen in the
Burnt River Canyon
west of Durkee or
along the Snake
River Road south of
Richland. The best
viewing is in the
early morning and
late in the evening.
• Bald and golden
eagles can be seen
along the Snake
River. Take the Snake
River Road between
Richland and Hun-
tington.
UNION COUNTY
Ladd Marsh
Wildlife Area (note:
all visitors must have
in their possession a
free daily permit to
access the wildlife
area. Permits are
available at several
self-check-in stations
at entry points and
parking lots. All
visitors also need
a parking permit to
park on the wildlife
area.)
Hundreds of
waterfowl are using
the area. Species
present include
Canada goose, mal-
lard, northern pintail
and American green-
winged teal. During
the day they are
most often loafi ng
on open water areas.
American white
pelicans and a small
number of tundra
swans have also
been present. Binoc-
ulars or a scope from
the Foothill Road
viewpoint will offer
views of waterfowl in
the refuge below.
Raptors are
numerous around
the area and include
red-tailed hawk,
northern harrier and
both sharp-shinned
and Cooper’s hawks.
A few ferruginous
hawks have been
reported in the area
in recent weeks.
Rough-legged hawks
have not arrived
yet. Watch for them
when cold tempera-
tures and snow hit
areas to the north.
WALLOWA
COUNTY
A good place to
observe mule deer
is along the Wal-
lowa Lake Highway
between Joseph
and the south end of
Wallowa Lake. Drive
slowly and watch
along the moraine
on the east side
of the lake around
dawn and dusk. Be
careful to use the
turnouts when stop-
ping to watch.
The Observer & Baker City Herald
FAREL BAXTER, WHO LIVES IN BAKER CITY AND GREW UP IN UNION, RECOUNTS MEMORIES OF THE EAGLE CAP WILDERNESS
Wilderness Wonders
■ His father’s
decision to take a
job with the Forest
Service in 1951 led
Farel Baxter, then
8, to a love for the
Eagle Cap that has
never abated
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Farel Baxter’s dad died
almost a quarter century ago
but even now there are mo-
ments, when he’s deep in the
Eagle Cap Wilderness, that
Farel feels his father as not
merely a pleasant memory
but as an almost physical
presence.
And once again, however
briefl y, father and son are to-
gether in the place they both
loved best.
The place where the man
taught and the boy learned.
Where they shared trails
and tents and fresh fl aky
trout cooked in the coals of a
campfi re as night draped its
black cloak over the alpine
forest.
“I think sometimes he’s
there, laughing at me,”
Baxter, who’s 76, said of his
father, Reynolds, who died in
1996 at age 84. “I don’t think
he’s very far away. I have
those feelings.”
These interludes, when the
intervening years dissipate
much as ground fog clears
from a mountain meadow on
a fi ne summer morning, are
invariably prompted by an
actual event.
Baxter, a retired Baker
High School teacher who
has lived in Baker City since
1978, will be hiking, say, the
trail along Eagle Creek, north
of Boulder Park, and the sight
of plump purple huckleber-
ries spangling the trailside
bushes will remind him of
one afternoon with his dad.
They were hiking that
trail, and sampling the juicy
berries from the same reliable
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald
One room in Farel Baxter’s Baker City home is chock full of photographs, elk antlers and other mementoes from his
dozens of trips into the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
“I think sometimes he’s
there, laughing at me.
I don’t think he’s very
far away. I have those
feelings.”
— Farel Baxter, talking about
his late father, Reynolds
patch, when his dad spotted
a sow bear with two cubs
trundling toward them.
Father and son watched
the trio of bears splash across
Eagle Creek and when they
emerged from the sparkling
stream Reynolds told his son,
who was still young enough
to be pranked, that he had
never seen this species of
bear.
The joke, Baxter says now
with a smile, is that the bears
were black except for their
bellies, where the fur was
brown.
The brown was from
muddy water clinging to the
bruins’ fur after they forded
the creek.
But Baxter, who grew up in
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald
Farel Baxter smiles frequently when reminiscing about his experiences in the Eagle
Cap Wilderness.
Union, needn’t rely solely on
When he hikes into the
memories to rekindle his rela- Eagle Cap Wilderness Baxter
tionship with his late father. frequently sees, and indeed
touches, tangible evidence of
his father.
Reynolds Baxter worked
for the Forest Service from
1951 to 1972. And for much of
his career he was responsible
for trails, bridges and signs
in the southwestern part
of the Wallowa Mountains
that would, when President
Lyndon Johnson signed the
Wilderness Act into law on
Sept. 3, 1964, become part of
Photo courtesy of Farel Baxter
Reynolds Baxter stands on
a bridge over Eagle Creek
that he built in 1968.
the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
Today it’s Oregon’s biggest
federal wilderness, covering
about 365,000 acres.
“I’m so grateful it was pre-
served as wilderness,” Baxter
said.
Reynolds Baxter built 12
bridges in the Eagle Cap. His
son knows something about
all of them, and it’s always
a special experience for him
when he steps on a wooden
plank that his father fash-
ioned, or puts his hand on a
rail, its surface smoothed by
time and weather, that his
father’s own palms rested on
as it was nailed into place.
See Baxter/Page 2B
Cutting to the chase: Sharpening your skills
Since we’re in the middle of hunt-
ing season I thought that this would
be a timely topic. All outdoorsmen
use a knife and yet I’ll bet not 5%
can sharpen one. I know this is a
true statement — why else would
shows have me conduct knife-sharp-
ening seminars from Texas to Vegas
and on up to Alaska?
In the old days all our dad used
to sharpen knives was an Arkansas
stone, but nowadays, most knives are
constructed of metal so hard that you
can’t sharpen them on an Arkan-
sas stone so I recommend using a
diamond stone. With a diamond stone
you’ll be able to obtain an edge within
literally 2-3 minutes. Even a hard
knife like a Diamond Blade or Buck
knife. I’ve had good luck with Smith’s
BASE CAMP
TOM CLAYCOMB
Consumer Products fi ne diamond
stones. Smith’s has the best stones.
Let’s get started. You see people
grinding their knife in a circular mo-
tion, others cutting into the stone and
yet others cutting away. Which way is
the correct method? It doesn’t matter,
as long as you use the same angle all
the way down the edge and do the
same number of strokes on each side.
If you don’t do the same number of
strokes on each side then the edge
will be lopsided.
Submitted photo
If you bowhunt for long you’ll miss an occasional shot, and learning to
See Sharp/Page 2B sharpen your broadheads can save you money.