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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2020)
B Saturday, May 16, 2020 The Observer & Baker City Herald THE BEST PLACE TO SEE A PARTICULAR PEAK Lisa Britton / For the EO Media Group The distinctive twin summits of Krag Peak dominate the view from the former site of a fi re lookout on Red Knob in the Eagle Creek country northeast of Baker City. The moun- tain at the far right is Red Mountain, highest point in Baker County at 9,555 feet. R EADY F OR M Y C LOSE -U P For every mountain I believe there is one place, one vantage point, from which the peak appears particu- larly fetching. In some cases this singu- lar perspective allows the mountain to dominate the surrounding terrain more thoroughly than from any- where else. In others the viewpoint transforms a peak that from other angles is mundane into something dramatic by emphasizing a sheer spire, or by drawing the eye to a knife- edged ridge. There are famous examples of classic mountain views around the world. The Matterhorn from Zermatt. The north face of the Eiger from Kleine Scheidegg. Kilimanjaro from the Tan- zanian plains. Everest from the Rongbuk monastery. Much closer to home there are many candidates — Gunsight from the shore of Anthony Lake, Mount Emily from, well, just about any- where in La Grande, Chief Joseph Mountain from the Wallowa Valley, Strawberry Mountain from Prairie City. Some peaks, by virtue of their sheer immensity, defy the notion that there’s a single spot from which they shaped volcano. Jefferson’s nearest neigh- ON THE TRAIL bor, Three Fingered Jack, JAYSON JACOBY is much more diverse in its appearances. Jefferson con- ought to be appreciated. tinued to erupt for hundreds Does Mount Hood inspire of thousands of years after more awe from Timberline Jack had gone dormant, and or from Cloud Cap? Or from the erosive forces of ice, wind, Lost Lake? water and time have gnawed Is Mount Rainier more away a great deal of the spectacular from Paradise or mountain’s original bulk. from Sunrise? (Jack tops out at a middling (Sunrise, in my estimation. 7,841 feet.) I’ve been to no other place What’s left is a messy pile where a mountain occupies so of lava pinnacles, ridges and much of the sky.) spurs that vaguely resembles A few of my favorite the remnants of a medieval volcanoes in the Cascades castle several centuries after look so different depending it was abandoned during a on your position that I don’t long siege. even bother to wonder which You needn’t travel clear I prefer. across the Cascades to ap- Mount Jefferson as seen preciate Three Fingered from the west, for instance, Jack’s diverse appearances, is so unlike the mountain which, despite its name, only viewed from the east that occasionally show three main a person seeing two photos “fi ngers.” might not believe they show The peak as seen from the same peak. Santiam Pass is quite dif- The west face of Jeff, the ferent from the view just a second-highest summit in couple miles away where Oregon at 10,495 feet, shows the highway curves around off both of its summit horns. Hogg Rock and briefl y aims The ultimate view is from straight at the mountain. Highway 22 along the North My brother, Michael, Santiam River near Marion recently texted me a photo Forks. of Jack that he took from But from east of the Cas- Round Lake, east of the pass. cades only Mount Jefferson’s I recognized the peak because highest pinnacle is visible, I knew it was near that lake, and the peak more resembles but it was still a new perspec- a conventional, pyramid- tive of a familiar mountain. I like it when that hap- pens — when a mountain I have seen hundreds of times, and from more than a dozen places, suddenly seems, if not new then at least refreshed. I had just that experience a few weeks ago when my wife, Lisa, and I took our kids, Max and Olivia, for a hike in the southern Wallowas near Eagle Creek. Our destination was Red Knob. It’s a minor eminence near the Forest Service’s Lily White Guard Station. Red Knob is one of several high points in the distinc- tive topography that runs roughly east-west between Eagle Creek at the east and Medical Springs at the west. The area is heavily forested but its most notable features are small rocky patches bereft of trees. Such bare areas are called “balds” in the southern Ap- palachians. At 5,121 feet, Red Knob is one of the higher of these balds in the Eagle Creek country, and although I had never been there I was famil- iar enough with the area that I was pretty sure the view from the summit would be expansive. Indeed it is. Not for nothing did the Forest Service build a fi re lookout on Red Knob in 1932. The lookout was dismantled in 1968, according to author and lookout historian Ray Kresek. As Max and I reached the crest (we had fallen behind Lisa and Olivia due to a shoe issue, something that affl icts Max occasionally) I was for an instant taken aback by the majesty of what I saw. I expected to see the snowpeaks of the Wallowas, of course. What I didn’t anticipate was how thoroughly the west face of Krag Peak dominates the view. Krag Peak is a signifi cant mountain, one of at least three dozen summits in the Wallowas that top 9,000 feet — albeit barely, at 9,048. But every time I’ve seen it in the past, Krag Peak shared the spotlight, as it were, with other nearby peaks that loom above East Eagle Creek. That includes its nearest neighbor — Red Mountain, at 9,555 feet the tallest peak in Baker County. From Red Knob, though, Krag Peak has no rivals. This is largely because intervening ridges block most of the Wallowas. Krag Peak lacks the notoriety of the Matterhorn and Sacajawea and of course Eagle Cap itself. But from one place, at least, it boasts a grandeur equal to any peak. If You Go... From Interstate 84 at the North Baker City exit (No. 302), drive Highway 86 east toward Richland. Just past Milepost 23, turn left on graveled Sparta Lane. Follow Sparta Lane for about 4.7 miles, climbing most of the way in a series of curves. Turn left on East Eagle Road. Drive north on the gravel road, passing through Forshey Mead- ows before entering the forest, for 5.5 miles to Five Corners, where mul- tiple roads meet. Con- tinue north, following signs to Lily White, which is 2 miles away. Beyond Lily White the roads are rougher but passable to four-wheel drives. Follow Road 165, which is just north of Lily White. The road heads west for about a quarter mile to a junction with Road 015, which heads north then west. Reach a four-way intersection after about a half mile then turn right (uphill) onto Road 075, a steep, rough route that reaches Red Knob, and the former lookout site, in about a half mile. A most magical pursuit: Picking morels Right now is one of the fun- ner seasons of the year — morel mushroom picking time! It is a short season so you want to make sure that you don’t miss it. In Nebraska and Iowa, it is somewhere around the middle of April. Up in the mountains I do good around fi rst or second week of May. And then they start popping up after that as you go up in elevation. There are a lot of edible wild mushrooms but I only can identify a couple so a few years ago I thought it’s crazy to spend all that time walk- ing around and only be able to iden- tify a few varieties. Why not take a class so I could come back down from the mountains with more? So I attended a mushroom hunt- ing class. They told me that after I had completed the class that I’d feel comfortable picking at least 10 different varieties. By the time I completed the class ... I still only felt comfortable picking the same couple. Here’s the deal. Morel mushrooms are the best tasting food in the world the fi ve steps to be a morel hunter. The problem is ... I can’t! BASE CAMP But let’s go over a few things that TOM CLAYCOMB I have learned. In Nebraska/Kansas I fi nd them on sandy river banks. but, if you screw up and pick the An- And I’ve made hauls out on islands. gel of Death, well, let’s just say that And in the woods along the river. you and God had better be pretty Again, not in wet turf, but sloping, good friends. So in a nutshell, one well-drained areas. little snack is not worth dying over, In the mountains I’ll fi nd them on so the fi rst few times go with an old the uphill side of old logging roads. timer. Today I’m going to cover how In slight drainages that have some to fi nd morel mushrooms. I’m not spread out vegetation but not thick going into how to identify them, fi nd grass. I’ll fi nd them in brush piles. a trusted veteran and have them My old hunting buddy Roger Ross coach you. says he likes to look around tama- Where do you fi nd them? A lot of racks. writers drive me nuts. They’ll confi - Sometimes I’ll fi nd morels around dently say something like go to the fresh (from last fall) caterpillar woods and look around dead logs. tracks. It seems like torn up soil I’ve got news for them. The woods promotes their growth. If you fi nd are full of dead logs and you don’t some, look downhill. The spores get fi nd a morel at every dead log. washed downhill. One year after While it’s true that you do fi nd a fi re I found a trillion like this some around logs, it’s not like every washed down a draw on a moun- log has morels. I’ve hunted morels tainside. for over 40 years and you’d think I If you found some last year, go had it down pat and could give you back there this year. It’s not a guar- antee every year, but almost. I have one spot where I fi nd them at every year. But not last year. So that’s why I say not every year. They are really temperature- and moisture-dependent. When it fi nally turns warm, if you get a rain and a warm night it seems like they pop up overnight. A few years ago I was talking to a Forest Service lady and we were shooting the bull about mushrooms. She brought up the thought about measuring the soil temperature when you fi nd them. Then just this week I read an article and the writer said when the soil hits 50 degrees they start growing. Maybe so. But the absolute best place to hunt them is the spring after a forest fi re the previous year. I’ve had old fi res where I could fi ll two 5-gallon buckets almost as fast as I could pick. Under a lodgepole pine that was laid down I found 17. In one area I could have covered with a 10-by-12-foot tarp I picked 162. Real pickers use a mesh bag so Photo by Tom Claycomb A morel mushroom the spores can drop out. They also use a knife to cut them off at the ground. When you get home, slice them longwise and gently rinse and put in a bowl of water with salt to kill the bugs and set overnight in your fridge. Dip in beaten eggs and roll in fl our. Sprinkle with salt and pepper — or my favorite, Tony Chachere’s seasoning — and fry to a golden brown. Morels are the best food in the world!
