6B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, MAY 1, 2021
EMPTY
Couple clashes
over time spent
with their sons
Continued from Page 1B
That’s an area bigger
than the fi ve smallest states
combined — Rhode Island,
Delaware, Connecticut, Ha-
waii and New Jersey.
Yet the total population of
the three southeast counties
is just 47,470, less than half
the number of people who live
in Bend alone.
But even that comparison
is somewhat misleading.
The three-county population,
meager though it is, in one
sense greatly exaggerates the
region’s population density. Of
the 47,470 residents, almost
half — 23,430 — live in one of
just six towns: Ontario, Nyssa,
Burns, Lakeview, Vale and
Hines. Outside those cities the
population density through-
out the three counties is below
one person per square mile —
640 acres.
Suffi ce it to say that if you
venture away from one of the
few highways or other paved
roads, the only traffi c conges-
tion you’re likely to encounter
is a herd of cattle, deer or
pronghorn.
(And the pronghorn, like as
not, will be running far faster
than you can safely, or com-
fortably, travel in a rig, what
with the typical condition
of the backroads in an area
where pavement is as rare
as rimrock in a metropolitan
downtown.)
One of the bigger bare
stretches on the map is also
one I had been hankering to
revisit since I fi rst ventured
there with my dad about 20
years ago.
This is the area west of
Owyhee Reservoir and south
of Highway 20.
To put into perspective the
scale of this region, from Vale,
the nearest paved road to
the south — Highway 95 at
Jordan Valley — is about 75
miles away.
To the southwest, Highway
78 — which runs from Burns
to Burns Junction, where it
meets Highway 95 — is about
60 miles, with not a single
settlement between.
This is not a place to have a
fl at tire and no spare.
A place where the whine of
a starter that fails to get the
engine running is perhaps
the most frightening sound
imaginable.
A place, perhaps most
importantly, where a nearly
full tank of gas is the best sort
of insurance.
This region is probably best
known, at least in the past
few decades, for the interest
that multiple mining com-
DEAR ABBY: My
wife and I have been
married fi ve years
DEAR ABBY
and are raising
four children. One
is from my previous
relationship, one is from her previous relationship and two
are ours. We both have joint custody. My son goes to school
near his mom. My wife’s son goes to school where we live.
They are 9 and 8.
There’s a lot of tension between us because my stepson’s
father isn’t the greatest parent. He never comes to school
events or sporting events, so he misses half of everything.
I regularly attend my son’s events, which are a couple of
hours away and take time away from my stepson. I put my
9-year-old fi rst because he’s my fi rstborn, and I have him
less. My wife disagrees with this, and we fi ght about it con-
stantly. I believe I am doing the right thing. Advice, please.
— WONDERING IN WISCONSIN
DEAR WONDERING: I’m sorry your wife’s son’s father
hasn’t stepped up to the plate. But please do not allow
your wife to interfere with your relationship with your
son. You ARE doing the right thing by showing an interest
in what he’s doing and supporting him emotionally.
DEAR ABBY: I have been married nine years. My hus-
band doesn’t allow me to leave the house without him. He
makes sure I don’t have a car or access to the one we have.
He tells me he doesn’t mean anything by it, but if I try to
take a walk alone, he is right on my heels.
If I go anywhere with my sister or a friend, I must wait
until he is gone. If he gets home before I do, he’s sitting on
the porch waiting for me. He is not physically abusive, but
I feel like a prisoner. I have told him several times how it
makes me feel, but he doesn’t seem to get it. I really need
some advice.
— TRAPPED IN GEORGIA
DEAR TRAPPED: Your husband doesn’t get it because
he doesn’t WANT to. What he is doing is NOT a demon-
stration of love or concern for your safety. It’s an example
of his own insecurity and need to control you. This is a big
red fl ag, and my advice is to call the National Domestic
Violence Hotline and discuss this with someone there
because what’s happening could escalate into abuse. The
toll-free phone number is: 800-799-7233.
DEAR ABBY: I love my grown children and grandchil-
dren, but I hate it when they come “home” for a week or
more. My house gets turned upside down and inside out,
and I end up losing my temper. Then I feel like an aw-
ful mother. I suggested we all meet somewhere else, but it
didn’t go over well. Help!
— INVADED IN NORTH DAKOTA
DEAR INVADED: Your suggestion may not have gone
over well with your children and grandchildren, but that
doesn’t mean you shouldn’t “suggest” it again. And when
you do, make sure they understand you are saying it
because when they visit they leave your home in disarray,
which creates more work for you than you are comfortable
doing. Unless they are willing to make sure your home is
as neat when they leave as when they arrived, enough is
enough.
weather
| Go to AccuWeather.com
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
The Dry Creek arm of Owyhee Reservoir in Malheur County south of Vale.
panies have shown in the
microscopic, but extensive,
gold deposits around Grassy
Mountain, about 22 miles
south of Vale.
Paramount Nevada is the
fi rm currently working on a
proposal to extract the pre-
cious metal.
Until the heavy equipment
arrives, though, the area is
fantastically lonely.
As is the case with most of
Oregon’s southeast corner, the
Owyhee country is primar-
ily sagebrush steppe, the
famous high desert in the
rain shadow that the Cascade
Mountains cast across much
of Oregon.
But it is hardly the feature-
less, monotonous landscape
that the scarcity of words on
large-scale maps, such as an
Oregon highway map, implies.
Once you leave the ir-
rigated valley of the Malheur
River near Vale, the Twin
Springs road climbs ridges,
dips into dry gulches and
passes rimrock outcrops and
water-sculpted badlands.
Geologically speaking this is
volcanic country, the rocks
predominantly basalt and
rhyolite, with layers of volca-
nic ash in places.
The lone oasis in the ap-
proximately 37 miles south of
Highway 20 is Twin Springs
campground. Formerly a
homestead, the property was
returned to public ownership
in 1963.
The road was in relatively
good shape when we drove it
on April 3, the berms left by
the grader’s recent passage
still looking fresh. But that
changes a few miles south of
Twin Springs, as the road de-
scends into a gulch that leads
to Dry Creek. The stretches of
steep, boulder-strewn road are
best-suited for a high-clear-
ance four-wheel drive vehicle.
I was drawn to Dry Creek
not only because so many
years had passed since I went
this way, but also because I
had only recently realized
that one of Oregon’s most
unusual enclaves of vacation
cabins is nearby.
When my dad and I were
here we drove just a short
distance along the Dry Creek
Road, dissuaded, as near as
I can recall, by the boulders
and by the uncertainty that
we would actually reach the
reservoir.
But a while back I hap-
pened to be gliding over
Owyhee Reservoir, courtesy of
Google Earth, when I noticed
a cluster of structures on the
south shore of the reservoir’s
Dry Creek arm, one of its
longest coves.
This piqued my curiosity,
and prompted our April 3 trip.
We parked just before the
Dry Creek ford, not because
the crossing posed any chal-
lenge but because we wanted
to get in a hike.
(The stream, despite its
desert-appropriate name,
carries a signifi cant volume of
water in early spring, swollen,
I’m sure, by snowmelt.)
That day before Easter was
the warmest so far, the tem-
perature in the mid 70s, and I
was reminded that midsum-
mer is an unpleasant, and
potentially dangerous, time
to travel through this remote
country.
It’s only a mile or so to the
reservoir, even in its depleted
condition — a little more than
half full on the day we visited.
There are a dozen or so cab-
ins, in various sizes and types
of construction, on the shore.
I had learned that these
Astoria
Longview
44/57
Vancouver
44/65
44/65
46/63
Condon
47/69
47/67
43/67
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
A blend of sun
and clouds
Increasing
clouds
Clouds and
sunshine
Partly sunny and
pleasant
66 39
63 30
73 39
Eugene
10
9
10
44/66
64 44
64 33
76 45
10
9
10
La Grande
42 59 35
Comfort Index™ 10
Enterprise
8
37 53 33
Comfort Index™
9
59 36
72 45
10
9
9
7
ALMANAC
THURSDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Thursday
Low Thursday
High: 103°
Low: 16°
Wettest: 4.69”
84°
38°
84°
37°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Thursday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
0.00
0.57
0.81
1.66
3.01
0.00
0.15
1.52
5.84
5.75
0.00
0.54
1.93
13.71
9.63
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION SUNDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
35%
NNW at 8 to 16 mph
6.0
0.16
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Friday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
22% of capacity
99% of capacity
57% of capacity
96% of capacity
63% of capacity
100% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Thursday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
6170 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
34 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
132 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
913 cfs
Minam River at Minam
980 cfs
Powder River near Richland
78 cfs
Death Valley, Calif.
Walden, Colo.
Clinton, Ark.
OREGON
High: 87°
Low: 28°
Wettest: Trace
Medford
Howard Prairie
Brookings
WEATHER HISTORY
Hartford, Conn., had its worst fl ood of
the 19th century on May 1, 1854. After
66 hours of steady rain, the fl ood crested
at 28.9 feet. This height was not eclipsed
until the great fl ood of March 1936.
SUN & MOON
SAT.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
SUN.
5:41 a.m. 5:39 a.m.
7:59 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
12:54 a.m. 1:50 a.m.
9:22 a.m. 10:29 a.m.
MOON PHASES
Last
May 3
New
First
Full
May 11 May 19 May 26
Monument
41/65
35/52
40/60
39/63
Beaver Marsh
46/64
48/70
Silver Lake
Jordan Valley
37/56
Paisley
37/61
35/59
Frenchglen
37/59
Medford
35/60
City
Astoria
Bend
Boise
Brookings
Burns
Coos Bay
Corvallis
Council
Elgin
Eugene
Hermiston
Hood River
Imnaha
John Day
Joseph
Kennewick
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
Hi/Lo/W
57/42/c
61/33/c
64/41/s
63/46/pc
61/29/pc
57/40/c
66/39/c
61/35/pc
59/32/pc
66/39/c
71/46/pc
63/43/pc
61/36/pc
60/32/pc
52/33/pc
72/41/pc
60/30/pc
61/28/pc
Hi/Lo/W
55/45/sh
66/34/pc
67/46/pc
61/47/s
66/36/pc
57/45/pc
62/45/c
68/41/pc
64/43/pc
67/46/c
72/50/pc
64/48/c
67/45/pc
65/42/pc
61/42/pc
73/45/c
66/32/s
66/31/s
47/66
41/61
Lakeview
34/61
McDermitt
39/58
RECREATION FORECAST SUNDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
MON.
Grand View
Arock
40/62
Klamath Falls
Shown is Sunday’s weather. Temperatures are Saturday night’s lows and Sunday’s highs.
SUN.
Diamond
36/59
Fields
47/71
47/63
Boise
45/64
46/74
Brookings
39/63
37/60
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Juntura
35/61
36/56
35/58
Roseburg
Ontario
48/68
Burns
Brothers
44/63
Coos Bay
Huntington
35/56
40/61
Oakridge
40/61
46/63
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
Council
36/60
John Day
37/63
Sisters
Florence
Powers
39/61
Baker City
Redmond
45/54
47/58
Halfway
Granite
44/66
Newport
Enterprise
37/53
42/59
40/58
45/68
46/57
Comfort Index takes into account how the weather will feel based on a combination of factors. A rating of 10 feels
very comfortable while a rating of 0 feels very uncomfortable.
81°
37°
Corvallis
46/67
61 43
Elgin
39/59
La Grande
38/59
42/64
Idanha
Salem
Patchy clouds
7
46/66
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
46/68
Hood River
44/66
TONIGHT
8
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Walla Walla
45/72
Maupin
Comfort Index™
privately owned structures
are on public land managed
by the Bureau of Reclama-
tion, the federal agency that
built Owyhee Dam in the late
1920s and early 1930s.
It’s a stark landscape, the
contrast dramatic between
the reservoir and the desic-
cated lands that surround it.
But it’s also a compelling
place, beautiful in spite of its
emptiness, its very remote-
ness an attraction.
Kennewick
44/66
St. Helens
TIllamook
36 60 31
From the west end of
Vale, drive about four
miles and turn left on
Russell Road, at a sign
for Twin Springs and Dry
Creek.
Drive south for about
15 miles. At a prominent,
but unsigned, junction,
turn right and continue
south toward the power
transmission line. Twin
Springs campground is
about 12.5 miles south
of the junction.
From Twin Springs,
continue south for four
miles to the Dry Springs
Road. The last mile or
so is rocky and rough
as the road descends
into a canyon. Just after
crossing Dry Creek — a
rocky ford; there is no
bridge — turn left, at a
cattle guard, onto Dry
Creek Road. This road
has some rough patches
that demand four-wheel
drive and high ground
clearance. If you decide
to walk, it’s only about
one mile to the Dry
Creek Arm of Owyhee
Reservoir.
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
45/58
Baker City
If You Go ...
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
SUN.
MON.
Hi/Lo/W
68/42/pc
66/41/c
59/32/pc
71/41/pc
54/42/c
65/38/c
68/44/pc
72/39/pc
66/41/pc
67/45/c
64/43/c
63/29/c
70/43/c
68/42/c
64/39/pc
69/43/pc
57/28/pc
66/44/pc
Hi/Lo/W
70/50/pc
57/46/c
64/45/pc
74/48/s
54/45/sh
54/41/c
73/49/pc
72/44/c
68/46/pc
60/47/sh
66/48/pc
66/36/c
70/49/pc
63/46/c
62/42/c
67/48/pc
62/37/pc
66/47/pc
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice
ANTHONY LAKES
PHILLIPS LAKE
Colder
Periods of sun
30
19
54
28
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Partly sunny
Sunny intervals
45
32
61
34
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
A.M. snow showers
Clouds and sun
39
23
53
27
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Cooler
Clouds and sun
52
33
64
38
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Winds subsiding
Partly sunny
60
31
59
35