B
Saturday, May 22, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
B OUNDARY
B ECKONS
■ Borders between counties sometimes are just straight lines
drawn on a map, but in some places the boundary is defined by a
natural feature that makes for a compelling hiking destination
M
aps fascinate
me, and be-
cause they do
I harbor what’s probably
an abnormal interest in
boundaries.
Political boundaries in
particular.
Physical borders can be
compelling too — the Cascade
Mountains, for instance,
which divide Oregon and
Washington into their wet
and arid sides, or a great
chasm such as Hells Canyon.
But these natural boundaries
generally are not so distinct,
or anyway not so easy to
defi ne with specifi city, as the
lines we draw on maps to
separate counties, states and
other delineations of human
construction.
conformity, the Snake for sev-
miles fl ows wholly within
ON THE TRAIL eral
Oregon, this being the only
JAYSON JACOBY
area where it doesn’t form the
border. From the spot where
Of course we often borrow the Snake begins as the state
natural features to serve such border, the boundary to the
functions.
south is a ruler-straight line
Waterways, both great
that continues to the so-called
and small, commonly fi ll this “triple point” where Oregon,
role, creating conspicuous, if
Idaho and Nevada meet — a
rather squiggly, borders.
sort of ersatz, rarely visited
In our region the Snake
version of the famous Four
River and its reservoirs form Corners, where New Mexico,
the boundary between Or-
Colorado, Utah and Arizona
egon and Idaho for more than come together.)
100 miles.
The border between Baker
(This stretch starts just
and Union counties, mean-
north of Adrian, in Malheur
while, is formed for many
County. From that point
miles by either the North
south, in what has always
Powder River or Anthony
struck me as a curious
Creek, two streams that drain
deviation from cartographic
from the east slopes of the
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Mount Ireland, a western extension of the Elkhorn Mountains, is topped by a fi re
lookout that’s staffed each summer. The mountain, which rises to 8,321 feet, is on the
hydrologic divide between the Powder and North Fork John Day rivers, which also
serves as the boundary between Baker and Grant counties. The lookout itself is in
Grant County, just a few hundred feet or so east of the Baker County line.
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Rock Creek Butte, tallest peak in the Elkhorn Mountains at 9,106 feet, from a forest
road near the Baker-Grant county border northwest of Sumpter.
Elkhorn Mountains.
But the people who made
these geographic decisions
don’t always rely on rivers.
I fi nd it passing strange,
for instance, that the Minam
River, the biggest river fl owing
from the northwest side of the
Wallowa Mountains, doesn’t
mark the border between
Union and Wallowa counties.
Those two counties indeed
meet in the Minam River
Canyon, but the division is a
series of straight lines rather
than the meandering river
itself.
In many cases when water
itself doesn’t conform to a
political boundary, natural
drainage patterns fi ll that role.
Geographers, and others
interested in such matters,
sometimes call such a feature
the “hydrologic divide.” Typi-
cally ridges or shoulders of
mountains, these are elevated
country that stands between
two creeks or rivers.
As with waterways them-
selves, hydrologic divides span
a spectrum from a minor
eminence that separates
two trickling tributaries, to
America’s most famous such
division, the Continental
Divide.
The latter, which is marked
prominently on many maps
and given much attention
in the form of roadside signs
and scenic vistas — the
divide coincides in places
with highway passes — is
the narrow point on the
ground where water fl owing
west eventually reaches (in
theory at least) the Pacifi c
Ocean, and water heading
east winds up in the Atlantic
(by way of the Gulf of Mexico
in some signifi cant cases,
including the mighty Missis-
sippi).
In Northeast Oregon,
hydrologic divides most often
serve as boundaries between
hunting units, national for-
ests or ranger districts.
But occasionally these
natural features also sepa-
rate counties.
If You Go ...
From downtown
Sumpter, continue
northwest on the
Elkhorn Drive Scenic
Byway toward Granite
for about 4.7 miles to
the junction with Forest
Road 900. The junction
is at a sweeping curve in
the byway.
From the byway it’s
about 2.2 miles to the
top of the ridge, which
marks the Baker-Grant
county border. The
elevation gain is 700
feet. From the border
(which is not marked),
Road 900 continues for
1.3 miles where it rejoins
the Elkhorn Byway. You
could do a loop hike,
but that would require
walking for 2.7 miles
on the shoulder of the
Byway to get back to the
junction with Road 900.
See Boundary/Page 6B
Spring in the Northwest: crappie, morels and whistle pigs
The other Friday night Katy and
I were running to buy a pair of boots
and then I was going to take her
out to dinner. I was thinking about
how magical the Northwest is in
the spring (I know, I know, I say that
every spring). Suddenly I was singing
“It’s the most wonderful timeeee of
the year. There’ll be whistle pigs fl ip-
ping, the crappie will be nipping, the
mushrooms will be growing and the
turks will be crowing, it’s the most
wonderful timeeee of the year!!”
OK, I’m not a songwriter, but
springtime is magical in the North-
west and lest we get tied up mush-
room hunting, turkey hunting, bear
hunting and crappie fi shing, don’t
forget whistle pig hunting. It’s one of
the highlights of the year. It provides
for high-speed shooting and is a great
hunt to break kids in on.
There are plenty of them and they
are in no danger of being overhunted.
They’ve been shot for centuries and
are doing fi ne. In fact, if they are
thinned out, they’ll do better because
the plague won’t run through their
colonies as fast and wipe them out.
Farmers will gladly welcome you be-
cause they devastate crops. They can
wipe out a fi eld of alfalfa in a short
amount of time.
So, what is a whistle pig? They are
the next seven or eight months. Some
people think that they hibernate.
What they actually do is called es-
tivation. Sort of a summer hiberna-
tion.
You may be fooled into think-
ing that they are cute little furry
creatures but make no mistake,
they are a prairie rat. Adult squir-
rels have been known to cannibalize
unweaned young. And while hunting
you’ll frequently see them run out
and eat their fallen comrades.
Enough of the scientifi c angle.
What will you need to hunt them?
Some people use a .223 but most peo-
ple use the lowly .22. Most shots will
be within 100 yards so a .22 is the
Tom Claycomb/Contributed Photo perfect gun. And the Ruger 10/22 is
The equipment for hunting whistle pigs is pretty simple: Umarex
the most popular model. Since they
airgun. Ruger 10/22. Riton Optics 4-16 scope and 10x binoculars.
are small, you’ll need to use a scope. I
Shooting sticks.
put a Riton Optics 4-16x on my 10/22
and a Timney Trigger and a Boyds’
a unique animal. Their offi cial name are weaned muy pronto. This seems Stock to make it super classy.
is Townsend ground squirrel. They
to be their system to me. As stated
But the .17 HMR is also a popular
emerge and mate in January and
above, they come out in late January/ rifl e. It is faster, has better results
February. Although everyone thinks February and go on a breeding frenzy. and reaches out a little further. But
of them as appearing in mid-April
Then they go on a feeding frenzy un- the past 10 years I’ve mostly been
I’ve had good hunts in early March.
til the end of May/June when it gets using air guns. They’re a lot cheaper
When it gets warm, they are out in
hot and the grass dries up. Then they to shoot and with ammo being so
full force.
go back underground and that’s the scarce air guns might be the only
Gestation is only 24 days and
last that you see of them for the year. option for you. Plus, since they’re
they’ll have six to 10 young in April.
Some people think that they go
quieter they pop back up faster.
Their eyes open in 19 to 22 days and underground and eat plant roots for
I’ve been using the Umarex
.25-caliber Gauntlet and the .22-cali-
ber Synergis. They are both super
good choices in the air gun realm.
For pellets use JSB Dome pellets if
you want supreme accuracy. But JSB
just came out with a pellet named
the Knockout pellet that looks like
a good hunting option. I went out
shooting yesterday but the wind was
blowing so bad that I can’t testify
one way or another as to their ac-
curacy. You’ll also want a good pair
of binoculars to fi nd the little elusive
creatures. I use a pair of Riton Optics
10x42 binoculars.
I think that the high deserts are
beautiful in their own forlorn way.
Hunting whistle pigs gives you a
good excuse to go out and see them.
Plus, there will be unique wildlife
viewing opportunities. You’ll see
badgers, which I think are beautiful
(but the kings of bad attitudes). Once
I shot a whistle pig and suddenly a
badger ran out, grabbed it and ran
back to his hole. Another time my
old buddy Roy Snethen shot one.
He fl ipped twice and I said “You got
him!” Suddenly a hawk swept down
and grabbed him and I said “You had
him!”
So, before they go underground for
the year you better grab a kid and
run out and have some fun!