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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2019)
2B Friday, November 1, 2019 The Observer & Baker City Herald BAXTER Continued from Page 1B “I’m really lucky to have had a dad who was actually building these things,” Baxter said. These are the connections — to a special place and to his father — that prompted Bax- ter to write “Trails, Bridges & Blizzards” in 2018. As its title implies, the 148-page book chronicles Reynold’s Forest Service career. But it’s also a memoir of Farel’s experiences on the same trails and at the same peaks, passes and lakes where his father worked and played. Baxter was able to as- semble this collection of anecdotes largely because of his affi nity, dating to his boy- hood, of keeping every scrap of paper that might later be of interest. When he was 4 or 5 his mother, Oreta, brought him a box of documents related to family history. Baxter not only saved the box. He added to its burden. “I started saving every- thing that came along,” he said during a recent inter- view in the front room of his Baker City home. “I always thought I would put all that stuff together some day and write a book.” He ended up writing more than one. Baxter has also compiled an extensive family history, as well as a collection of short stories of his experiences in the mountains, titled “The Worthy Hat.” His master’s thesis at the University of Oregon exam- ines settlements of North- eastern Oregon. But as useful as the docu- ments in that old box turned out to be, much of “Trails, Bridges & Blizzards” derives from a type of history as old as verbal language. The book might not have been written but for Baxter, as a boy, badgering his father on dozens of evenings in front of the family’s fi replace. Not that Reynolds was bothered by his son’s interest in his work. “Every day when he came home from work I was all over him, asking about what he had done,” Baxter said. “He’d fi ll me in and I’d take out my maps to follow along where he had been.” (In the author’s note for “Trails, Bridges & Blizzards,” Baxter wrote that he could in- terpret contour maps, which show the lay of the land, before he could read.) SHARP Photo courtesy of Farel Baxter This photo was taken in 1957 while Farel Baxter’s father, Reynolds, was building a bridge over Eagle Creek north of Boulder Park. The logs are heavy green tamaracks, Farel Baxter wrote in his book, “Trails, Bridges & Blizzards.” “The wilderness teaches you lessons whether you want to learn them or not.” — Farel Baxter least one of our local farmers for a year.” Farel Baxter attributes his affi nity for writing to his But in 2010 Baxter’s group mother, Oreta, who he said had a gift for writing. hiked, and they carried their stuff in backpacks. “I remember these things for late July. In the book Baxter writes vividly,” he said. “I guess I was Baxter’s group avoided a that he usually had access to supposed to.” blizzard, but their trip wasn’t a horse to pack some items As a boy Baxter was without inclement weather. during wilderness trips when enthralled not only by his They had to hunker down he was a teenager, but he father’s work in the Eagle on the 8,400-foot plateau hiked with a pack strapped to Cap Wilderness, but also by above Swamp Lake while a his back. tales from the pack trips his thunderstorm pelted them But only in name did those father helped lead, guiding with rain, and lightning bolts contraptions have anything groups of Boy Scouts on 50- illuminated the gray sky. in common with modern mile, multi-day treks through “While we dallied here for a packs constructed of light but one of the most scenic places bit I refl ected again upon the sturdy alloys and fabrics. in the West. passing here of my father’s “As teenagers our back- The fi rst of these was in group in 1948,” Baxter wrote. packs were made out of July 1948 and Baxter, just 5, “It was at about this point boards and cord, with heavy was too young to go along. that they began to get snowed canvas sacks,” Baxter said That trip, which included on. With the warm tempera- with a rueful chuckle that 20 youths and seven adults, tures we were experiencing suggests his shoulders don’t also inspired the “Blizzards” there was no danger we think the memories of their part of Baxter’s book title. would get snow and I was old burdens are especially His dad’s group endured a really thankful for that.” amusing. “They were the best midsummer snowstorm while On July 29, 2010, Baxter’s we had.” camped at Swamp Lake. group, which like his father’s And it wasn’t only the Several years later Baxter included several teenagers, packs that pressed heavily started accompanying his sheltered from a torrential on Baxter and his buddies — dad on summer trips into the downpour at Long Lake, the so did the food they stuffed wilderness. same place, and the same inside. “My cousin Don Baxter date, where his father had “We took cans of peas,” he and I were packing into the camped in 1948 while 6 said, remembering in particu- wilderness area by ourselves inches of snow fell. lar one trip when his mother by our 13th summer,” he “We too found ourselves insisted that he haul at least writes in “Trails, Bridges & at the mercy of nature and nine cans of peas. Blizzards.” made the best of our situa- The little green morsels More than half a century tion,” Baxter wrote. were at least tasty — “we ate later Baxter still relishes One major difference them all,” Baxter said — but every journey into those between the two trips, he modern dehydrated, freeze- mountains. said — besides the passage dried meals, which weigh a He describes many back- of 62 years — is that the small fraction of canned veg- packing adventures in his 1948 group both rode horses etables, are much less taxing. book, including one in 2010 and relied on the animals to “Those were heavy packs when he, along with several haul their gear and food. The and we were scrawny kids,” companions, retraced much latter category, according to a he said. “We were tougher of the route of the 1948, narration by Reynolds that’s than we thought we were.” blizzard-marred excursion his featured in “Trails, Bridges & Decades later, Baxter re- father guided. As his father Blizzards,” included “enough mains dedicated to staying fi t. had, Baxter planned his trip pancake fl our to support at As he sits in a recliner he question. How do I obtain the correct angle? Good ques- Continued from Page 1A tion. Here’s a trick that will So how many times should help you. Get a semi-fi ne tip you stroke the knife on each Sharpie. Mark along the edge side? It doesn’t matter but of the knife. Now grind on everyone does three times each side once and look at the so just do that or you’ll freak edge. If only half of the mark everyone out. You will tend to is gone, that tells you that you have a smaller angle as you need to drop the spine down get into the curvature of the a little. If the mark is gone blade. You may be starting — perfect! If there are grind out on the hilt at 25 degrees marks on hollow grind above but as you get into the curva- the edge, then you have the ture of the blade you’re at 15 knife laid too far down. degrees. You want to use the More than likely you will same angle all the way down fi nd out that you are not con- the blade. To eliminate end- sistent at all. You will start ing up with multiple angles I out OK near the hilt, then by recommend lifting your elbow the end of the tip all of the when you start into the cur- mark is gone plus some. And vature. Watch the YouTube in between there will be spots video (the link is at the end of that you somehow totally the column) to comprehend missed. The mark will tell what I mean. you what you are doing right If the edge is really dinged or wrong. up and mushroomed, I’ll To put on a fi ner edge, after slide the blade backward the using a diamond stone ad- fi rst four revolutions to get vance to an Arkansas stone. the metal lined back up and When using an Arkansas then I’ll start cutting into the stone apply a few drops of stone. honing oil before you start. Now, the million-dollar Use the same procedures as S. John Collins/Baker City Herald looks like nothing so much as a venerable alpinist, thin and wiry, the sort of man you might fi nd nursing a beer in an Alpine hut after complet- ing a tough route on Mont Blanc, a coil of rope slung over one shoulder. A humidifi er puffs mois- ture into the air in Baxter’s living room to compensate for the woodstove that chases the chill on this bright morning in mid-October. The stove is burning a few of the tens of thousands of chunks that Baxter stacks every year. Retired from teaching, he spends much of his time — when he’s not hiking — cutting and selling fi rewood. He puts up about 70 cords per year. The combination of tromp- ing around the Eagle Cap Wilderness and bringing in wood keeps Baxter in fi ne fettle. It also helps him control his diabetes. “I do it because I can, and it’s fun,” he said of his wood- cutting. Although the Eagle Cap Wilderness fi gures promi- nently in many of Baxter’s own memories, some of his favorite stories aren’t really about him, or his father, but about youngsters he intro- duced to the mountains on long backpacking trips much like those his father guided. “It’s life-changing, I think,” Baxter said of these treks. He talks of youths who kept hiking despite nasty blisters that left their feet bloody, of older kids who helped their younger compan- ions, of the musical laughter How To Get A Copy Of Farel Baxter’s Book Baxter can be reached at 541-519-8640, or by mail at 3095 B St., Baker City, OR 97814. He said he also plans to make copies available at Betty’s Books in Baker City. around many campfi res. “Those kids still talk about those trips,” Baxter said. “And I don’t forget. I think kids are hungering for that experi- ence, if they just get a little taste.” He remembers most vividly a teenage boy from Idaho who lived on the streets with his mother. This boy, Baxter said, arrived for his fi rst backpack- ing trip with a “chip on his shoulder.” “He was growling at people, very sullen,” Baxter said. “Not a very happy boy.” But the fi rst night in camp, Baxter managed to coax a laugh from the boy. The next morning the boy smiled — “he started feeling good,” Baxter said. By the time the trip ended six days later, “that kid was 100% changed,” Baxter said. “It was the most amazing change I’ve ever seen.” Baxter said he never did fi nd out how the boy fared when he returned to Idaho. But he wouldn’t be sur- prised if that week in the Eagle Cap Wilderness had a lasting, and profound, effect on the teenager’s troubled life. Baxter has seen it happen. “The wilderness teaches you lessons whether you want to learn them or not,” he said. Knife-sharpening you employed on the diamond stone, use warm soapy water Amazon Kindle titled “Knife and a rag. Sharpening” that goes into video on YouTube. 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