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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2019)
B Friday, November 15, 2019 The Observer & Baker City Herald RECREATION REPORT PARKING FEES WAIVED AT STATE PARKS ON ‘GREEN FRIDAY’ NOVEMBER 29 The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) invites Oregonians to celebrate “Green Friday” Nov. 29. OPRD will waive day- use parking fees that day in 25 state parks across Oregon. “Fall weather brings a different fl avor to many state parks and we’re encouraging folks to get outside and explore,” said Lisa Sumption, OPRD director. “This is our fi fth year celebrat- ing Green Friday and we’re excited to continue the post- holiday tradition.” Parking is free year-round at almost all state parks; the waiver applies to the 25 parks that charge $5 daily for parking. The waiver applies from open to close on Nov. 29, except at Shore Acres State Park, where it ex- pires at 3 p.m. for the Holiday Lights event that runs Thanksgiv- ing through New Year’s Eve. A list of parks that charge the $5 parking fee is available online. Learn more about Oregon State Parks on oregonstateparks. org. BOAT REGISTRATION RENEWALS MAILED The Oregon State Marine Board mailed approximately 37,000 boat registration renewal notices to boaters whose mo- torboat registration expires on Dec. 31, 2019. Each renewal notice is unique to the owners and their boats. Additionally, registration renewals will also be sent elec- tronically to 38,000 boat owners with emails on fi le in an effort to encourage online renewal. Any watercraft with a motor, or sailboats 12 feet or longer, are required to title and register with the Marine Board. Registration fees vary based on boat length. Elk hunt with no elk still turns up treasures ■ The placid pace of hunting, combined with the limited attention span of a child, can emphasize the simple joy of being outdoors on a fine autumn day When my son Max realized that ON THE TRAIL going elk hunt- JAYSON JACOBY ing with me was unlikely to involve any actual elk, his Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald attention wandered. then it must surely An ancient, gnarled juniper tree supplies a compelling diversion during an elk hunt So did his feet. be the hope that This epiphany happened about half something dramatic that turned up no elk. an hour after we set out, although I will ensue. concede this estimate lacks precision. But I did concede I didn’t keep a time log or anything. that it was possible we wouldn’t see morning was already unusually mild to where I was precariously standing. Possibly as many as 45 minutes any elk. for November, and the air strangely So I shuffl ed down to him, raising elapsed before Max, who’s 8, stopped Max shrugged. still for a typically gusty place — and a dust cloud around my feet much shadowing me and began to veer off He didn’t act disappointed, exactly. then resumed our climb up the hill. like the character Pig Pen in “Pea- the game trail I was trying to discern But he no longer seemed particu- Like almost every hill in this part nuts” (the past couple dry weeks have among the camoufl age of tawny grass larly invested in the endeavor. of eastern Baker County, this one sapped the top layer of soil of the copi- and desiccated balsamroot leaves. It was one of those moments, is pitched at the sort of angle that ous moisture from earlier this fall). (The latter foliage, by the way, is fraught with potential peril, that delights extreme skiers. I told him to use my back as a sort the bane of any hunter. Balsamroot every parent recognizes and fears, But the juniper, evil or no, seemed of brace, and we tentatively made our leaves grow about a foot long and if wondering whether the child’s pa- to have stimulated Max’s interest in way to the slightly fi rmer footing of a you mistakenly step on one of the tience — as unpredictable as certain natural phenomena, and I sensed wider game trail. Max said the televi- dead husks it makes more racket rare and unstable elements — has that so long as the Milky Ways held sion survival star Bear Grylls, one of than a pair of castanets tossed down come up empty. out we’d be fi ne. his current heroes, recommends the a fl ight of wooden stairs. This is the Sometimes the child at this point They did. And we were. shuffl ing strides as the fastest way sort of cacophony no elk within half a demonstrates an aptitude for stub- To be sure, Max’s appetite for down a precipitous slope. I took this mile could fail to heed.) bornness that would impress an exploring outdoors needs only the as a compliment. When I noticed that Max was no overloaded mule. barest amount of whetting. Just before we got back to the side- longer so near that I could hear the This wasn’t one of those cases. He can be waylaid by a golf-ball- by-side we saw four bighorn sheep soft fabric swish of his coat as he I told Max that even if we didn’t size stone that I wouldn’t even notice — a fi ne ram and his harem of three swung his arms, I looked back and happen across any elk we would unless I tripped on a fi n of limestone, ewes — clambering across a rockslide. beckoned him, in a stage whisper, to no doubt see something interesting barely jutting above the bunchgrass I told Max that I don’t have a tag come closer. there on the steep slopes overlooking like a shark’s dorsal, and ended up for one of those and Max, an inveter- “Did you see an elk?” Max asked, Brownlee Reservoir. seeing the rock on its own level, so to ate follower of rules, nodded with a not in a stage whisper but in his regu- And soon enough we did. speak. serious look on his face, although it lar voice, which can outdecibel a lot of By way of avoiding a particularly During his meanderings Max seemed to me he yearned for me to do competitors. dense patch of balsamroot I led us exclaimed over, among much else, the something with my rifl e besides keep- Crunched balsamroot leaves, for toward a massive gnarled juniper husk of a yellowjacket nest wedged ing it slung over my shoulder. instance. whose branches, many of them dead, into what looked like the burrow of a The sheep served as a reasonable His query had a quality of certainty sprawled over the ground, rather like portly ground squirrel or a diminutive substitute for elk. I thought it a suc- about it — as though fi nally, after a nest of gray snakes. badger, a coil of rusty barbed wire, cessful hunt, in any case. what probably seemed to him an Max, like many young readers who and a shard of white plastic that I Max, as I expected he would, proved interminable period of aimless hiking, have discovered the joy of fi ction, has told him came from a mining claim capable of negotiating the torturous we had come across our intended developed an affi nity for tales of fan- marker. terrain with aplomb. There were no quarry and the shooting and associat- tasy. He quickly dubbed this juniper We waded through a hip-high fi eld signifi cant injuries, and no tears were ed excitement would soon commence. the “tree of evil.” of rabbitbrush (shoulder-high, from shed. I couldn’t bear to give Max the real, It did have the spooky quality com- Max’s perspective), bypassed turrets And his fascination with the minu- Vegas-level odds. We had quite a lot mon to the species — in particular of limestone and gingerly tiptoed tiae of nature reminded me that just of ground still to cover, and if there’s those that, like this tree, have at least across a shaly slope that was about as being outdoors on a pleasant autumn anything more vital than a supply as much deadwood as live. solid to walk on as marbles. day is an experience to be savored, of fun-sized candy bars to keep an We rested for 10 minutes or so Max slipped once and announced whether or not it puts meat on the 8-year-old going in rough country, in the juniper’s ample shade — the that he wouldn’t be able to climb back table. Making a discovery of mammoth proportions ■ Construction crew found prehistoric bones near Prineville ter one of the young mammoths in the animated movie “Ice Age.” The tusk poking out of the earth looked Mammoths and mastodons survived on the distinctly out of place in the gravel seam where American mainland until about 10,000 years Reid Comstock was maneuvering his excavation ago. digger last March. Scientists do not have a defi nitive reason for “Something looked a little funny in the ground, their extinction, although climatic changes and said Comstock, an employee of Knife River Corp., hunting by prehistoric people are believed to be a construction materials supplier that specializes the two most critical factors. in rock, sand, asphalt and concrete. “I grabbed a “I have been doing this work my whole life, couple of guys to see what we had discovered.” and you always believe you might fi nd some- What Comstock found in the 15-foot deep pit thing. It’s just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” near Prineville was the tusk, cranium and other said the 45-year-old Comstock, an operator of bones belonging to a prehistoric mammoth or heavy digging equipment since the age of 12. mastodon. After relaying news of the fi nd to his See Bones/Page 2B three daughters, the family called it “Peaches” af- By Michael Kohn The (Bend) Bulletin Eastern Oregon University photo Eastern Oregon University faculty and students worked alongside Knife River employees in mid-October near Prineville to excavate bones believed to be those of either a prehistoric mammoth or mastodon.
