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OUTDOORS & REC 2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2021 BLUE BASIN Continued from Page 1B Many geology guides are too hefty to haul around while hiking. An exception is the volume we brought, the second edi- tion of “Hiking Oregon’s Geol- ogy” by Ellen Morris Bishop, a Wallowa County geologist, author and journalist who has written extensively about Oregon’s fascinating prehis- tory. Bishop recommends hiking the Blue Basin loop clockwise, advice that’s especially ap- propriate when the trail, as it was on the day of our visit, is by turns slimed with grainy slush and gooey mud. If your time or energy are limited, forego the loop itself and take the right-hand fork of the trail, the Island in Time path, which leads directly into Blue Basin itself. The left fork of the loop skirts an alfalfa fi eld then veers east, climbing at a con- sistent but moderate grade above the dry gorge of Dick Creek. The strangely sculpted landscape on the right (south) side of the trail is compelling, a badland of spires and fi s- sures where the erosive work of water and wind is obvious. As is the origin of the basin’s name. The distinctive color of this volcanic ash — to my eyes it’s closer to green or teal than to blue — comes from the mineral celadonite, according to the national monument’s website. This formation, though formed from volcanic ash, has the consistency of stone, albeit soft, easily eroded stone. The heat from the eruption that produced the ash “welded” it into solidifi ed layers, hence the term “welded ash tuff.” In her guide, Bishop writes that these deposits were laid down during the Oligocene epoch, about 28.9 million years ago. The basin is also known Lisa Britton/For EO Media Group Water and wind erosion have sculpted the volcanic ash beds of the Blue Basin. as Turtle Cove, as the fossils found in this area include many from ancient turtles. The loop trail climbs a bit more steeply to its high point atop a knoll, where a side trail leads a few hundred yards to a viewpoint of the Blue Basin several hundred feet below. The main trail then begins its descent to the basin itself. The grade is gentle for the fi rst half mile or so, but then it drops steeply, in a series of more than a dozen switch- backs, to meet the Island in Time trail near the parking lot. Climbing, rather than descending, these switch- backs, given the slippery surface that prevailed during our hike, would have been a much less pleasant slog. We were glad we heeded Bishop’s suggestion. We also enjoyed the vista from the loop trail, a much more expansive view than you get from within the con- voluted confi nes of the basin. The terrain hereabouts, near the boundary between Grant and Wheeler counties, is distinctive, a contorted landscape of buttes and ridg- es composed of the colorful beds of what geologists call the John Day formation. Most of the high ground is capped with a veneer of much harder, darker stone, like chocolate frosting topping a cake. Generally, this top layer is a basalt fl ow, one of the hundreds of such fl ows that comprise the Columbia River fl ood basalts. In the Picture Gorge area another distinctive formation, the Rattlesnake welded tuff, forms the geologic frosting. The best view of the Rattle- snake tuff is at the Mascall Overlook, just off Highway 26 before it enters Picture Gorge. The scenic highlight of Blue Basin, though — the place that’s likely to gobble the most megabytes on your camera — is the basin itself. It’s a strange place. Some writers, Bishop among them, have described it as a “badlands.” An apt term. But the starkness that the word implies also can be beautiful — and unlike, say, the namesake badlands of a national park in South Dakota, the Blue Basin stands out for its color. In places the shade is so bright it might fairly be called garish, although that adjective seems to me more appropriate for something man-made — the hue of paint slathered on kitchen appliances during the 1970s, for instance — than for a wholly natural formation. Even the water in the slug- gish meltwater stream that trickles through the basin takes on the distinctive tint. Blue is the dominant, but not the only, color represented. In places the ashy slopes are bands of red and ocher, resembling the well-known Painted Hills, the namesake of another of the national monu- ment’s units, near Mitchell about 45 miles west. Many of the myriad gullies that water has gouged into the ash are littered with chunks of basalt that have tumbled off the ridge top rim rock. We even saw a minor ex- ample of the erosion that has sculpted this basin for millions of years, a brief slide of gravely debris, perhaps enough to fi ll a wheelbarrow or two, at the head of the basin. It was a palpable reminder that the natural forces that created this place never end. I don’t believe I would feel com- fortable standing there during a summer cloudburst. Fortunately the Island in Time trail is graveled in places, and the brief walk back to the parking lot scuffed off much of the mud that had clung to our boots as we nego- tiated the switchbacks. Rather than retrace our route to Baker City, I opted for another loop of sorts, going by way of Kimberly, Monument and Long Creek before return- ing to Highway 26 at Mount Vernon. The detour adds perhaps an hour to the drive. But I think the scenery, and the near absence of traffi c save an occasional ranch truck, offsets the extra investment in time and mile- age. Highway 402, which con- nects Kimberly and Long Creek, with Monument between, follows the North Fork of the John Day River for about half its length. It’s a charming river in any season. In one of the bare brown fi elds, where the alfalfa awaits the reviving spring sunshine, we saw a herd of pronghorn antelope bedded down. I remarked that it was rare, at least in my experi- ence, to see this most fl eet of Eastern Oregon mammals sitting motionless. Grant County, with just 7,360 people distributed among its 4,529 square miles, in no place resembles a metropolis. But this northern section of the county seems to me es- pecially remote. Monument, population 130, and Long Creek, with about 195 resi- dents, boast the only street signs for dozens of miles. Neither has, nor needs, a traffi c signal. 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