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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