OUTDOORS
Blue Mountain Eagle
A12
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
ON THE TRAIL
Falling for an Oregon icon
C
Contributed Photo
This is the Magnetospeed chronograph affi xed to the barrel
of the author’s .25-06.
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
Informative chronograph
provides a wealth of info
hink of it as a speed- of your rifl e just under the
ometer for your
barrel and captures infor-
guns.
mation via electromagnets.
The chronograph is
This design, while a bit
helpful for many reasons,
more expensive than tradi-
especially if you hand-
tional sky screen models,
load. The information chro- proved to be more reliable
nographs provide
and consistent. It
can help you stay
would not read
within safe pres-
rimfi re cartridges,
sure limits as you
and I never had
build a load, track-
occasion to try it
ing actual velocity
with handguns.
as you increase or
After each
decrease powder.
shot you’ll want
Dale Valade
In the old days,
to reset the nylon
they were expensive and
strap holding your Mag-
diffi cult to come by; the
netospeed to the barrel as
only folks with direct
recoil will jostle it around,
access to them were the
especially if your rifl e
ballistics laboratories of
is equipped with a muz-
fi rearms and ammunition
zle brake. Failure to do so
companies. Today, anyone
could result in fatal gun-
can buy one!
shot wounds.
I have used three types
The third is the Doppler
of chronographs: electro-
radar. The Labradar chro-
magnetic, sky screen and
nograph is both the sim-
Doppler radar. The fi rst I
plest and most complicated
ever used incorporated the
design I’ve used. It requires
sky screen design. It was a
nothing to be affi xed to
pretty simple computer and
your rifl e, nor any hoops
seemed to work well as long to shoot through (but not
as the sun wasn’t shining
through as my friend did
directly into the eyes. Basi-
with his .45).
cally it was two high-speed
It produces radar waves
cameras set approximately
which, when fi red through,
24 inches apart, each with a track the heel of your bul-
hoop holding a white plastic let, the speed it is travel-
screen directly over the eyes ing and its ballistic coeffi -
of the cameras.
cient. Although I’ve never
As your bullet traveled
attempted to use it with
over the fi rst screen a timer anything smaller than a .26
was started, and once it
caliber bullet, I’ve heard
crossed the second screen
that they struggle to read
the timer was stopped. A
anything smaller.
display screen would pro-
Chronographs, like any
duce your measured muz-
other computer, are made
zle velocity.
either as simple or as com-
It worked great with rifl e plicated as you need them
and handgun alike until
to be. With the increased
my good buddy Andy Starr
interest in long-range shoot-
shot a hole right through
ing, ballistic information
the middle of it with his .45 becomes more and more
ACP. Slightly crestfallen, I
important. Whether you’re
couldn’t help but laugh bil-
looking to check factory
iously and point in turn to
ammunition, build new
him and the once faithful
loads or just get the dope
chronograph that lay smok- on your old ones, a chrono-
ing on the ground.
graph is indispensable.
My second chronograph
Do you know your muz-
came a few years later in
zle velocity? Write to us at
the form of a new design
shootingthebreezebme@
called “Magnetospeed.”
gmail.com and check us
Rather than using high-
out on Facebook!
speed cameras set a few
Dale Valade is a local
feet downrange, the Mag-
country gent with a love for
netospeed affi xes like a
the outdoors, handloading,
bayonet to the muzzle end
hunting and shooting.
T
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Work with people with disabilities!
OLUMBIA GORGE — I hiked
Falls being a cliché. Many serious nature
to a cliché recently and the experi-
photographers eschew waterfalls as sub-
ence was more compelling than I
jects simply because they are so common.
expected it to be.
How many doctor’s offi ces or motel rooms
But then a 542-foot-high cliff
have you been in that had at least
isn’t apt to be boring, no matter
one waterfall scene, whether a
how many calendars its visage has
photograph or a painting? The set-
graced.
ting is so ubiquitous you no longer
I’m writing here of Multnomah
notice it, the visible equivalent to
Falls.
the background hum of traffi c that
It is Oregon’s highest waterfall
any city dweller quickly adjusts to.
and perennially among the places
Like all types of discrimination,
in the state that attract the most
my
disdain for Multnomah Falls
Jayson
visitors.
was
misguided, the product of lazy
Jacoby
Offi cially, Multnomah Falls is
thinking and the sloppy assump-
measured at 620 feet. That total includes
tions it yields.
the main plunge of 542 feet, the lower falls
I had occasion to not only stop at the
of 69 feet and a 9-foot drop between the
falls, but to hike the trail to the top, while
two.
returning from the state tennis tourna-
The falls is popular and iconic in part
ment with my wife, Lisa, and our daugh-
because of its location.
ter, Olivia.
Multnomah Falls is just 20 miles or so
We had stayed overnight in Troutdale,
east of Portland. And it’s right beside Inter- just a dozen or so miles away, and we got
state 84, so it’s much easier to get to than
to the parking lot early enough — about
other Oregon scenic treasures such as Cra- 7:30 a.m. — that we almost had our pick of
ter Lake or the Wallowas or Leslie Gulch.
spaces although it was a sunny Sunday.
This accessibility can be a curse as well
We walked the paved trail to the Ben-
as a blessing.
son Bridge, the stone structure that spans
The parking lot at Multnomah Falls fi lls Multnomah Creek between the upper and
rapidly on nice days, and not infrequently
lower falls. As I stood on the bridge and
the lot closes because there’s no space left.
felt the chilly spray from the upper falls on
I’ve driven past the falls dozens of
my cheeks, I gained a fresh appreciation
times but I’ve taken the exit on just a few
for the place. Waterfalls might be common-
occasions.
place, but then so are mountains (at least
This is in part due to the crowds.
in the jumbled topography of Oregon). Yet
I’m accustomed to hiking on trails in
outstanding examples of either can hardly
Northeastern Oregon where, with rare
fail to impress. Mount Hood is the volca-
exceptions, encountering another person is nic equivalent to Multnomah Falls, both
so uncommon as to be noteworthy — akin being the subject of countless photographs,
to seeing a rarely glimpsed animal such as
but the view of the mountain from, say,
a bear.
Timberline Lodge inspires a certain awe no
I generally avoid Multnomah Falls
matter how often you see it.
because I fi gure I’d end up dodging hordes
We continued up the steep, but paved,
of cavorting teenagers and the occasional
trail, which makes 11 switchbacks and
small but ill-tempered dog, the latter meet- gains about 800 feet of elevation in a little
ings inevitably happening at a narrow sec-
more than a mile.
tion of trail.
Besides the occasional glimpse of the
But I also have dismissed the falls as
falls, there is an expansive view of the
hardly worthy of my time.
great Columbia River.
It is, after all, just a waterfall, albeit a
We had the obligatory stomach-fl utter-
lengthy example by local standards.
ing look over the railing of the observation
That’s what I meant by Multnomah
platform at the top of the falls. There is
something uniquely compelling, and fright-
ening, about the short reach of a stream just
before it plunges into the abyss. I can’t help
but wonder what it would feel like to be
standing on a slippery rock, knowing that
one slip would be my last.
Rather than hike straight back to
the parking lot we walked up the Larch
Mountain trail for half a mile or so.
The trail followed Multnomah Creek
upstream. It’s a fetching stream, one that
would be a major waterway in arid East-
ern Oregon but is merely one of many
that have carved channels in the immense
fl ows of basalt that make up the Colum-
bia River Gorge.
That basalt, interestingly, is not local.
Rather than erupting from the volca-
noes that comprise the Cascade Moun-
tains, the basalts in the Gorge poured from
vents in Northeastern Oregon and fl owed
west, a molten river. The remnants of
those vents remain as dikes and sills —
swathes of brown stone conspicuous as
they slice through the white limestone and
granitic rocks of the Wallowas.
The trail was considerably more
crowded on the way down than it had
been less than an hour earlier.
But it wasn’t unpleasant. There were
teenagers, and a few dogs, but they all
behaved themselves.
It struck me that the factors which
have convinced me to avoid Multnomah
Falls — the teeming masses, the wide,
blacktopped trail that is a freeway com-
pared with the typical mountain path, the
familiar vista of plunging water — ought
to be celebrated rather than demeaned.
I’m glad there are places of great natu-
ral beauty that attract people who in most
cases have no interest in exploring untram-
meled wilderness but merely want to see a
big waterfall and don’t mind hiking in fl ip-
fl ops to get there.
I doubt I’ll ever make Multnomah
Falls a regular stop. But I think I’ll be
more inclined to pull off the freeway,
to take advantage of what is in eff ect a
rest area that happens to have a 620-foot
waterfall, rather than a copse of trees or a
fi eld of grass, as its main attraction.
EOU sends 19 to nationals
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Eleven
individuals athletes and two
relay teams from Eastern Ore-
gon University Track and Field
are in Gulf Shores, Alabama,
for this year’s NAIA National
Championships.
Running for the 4x100 team
are DJ Wilson, Bryce Peters,
TJ Davis and Cody Milmine.
Mason Nichols and Allexan-
der Kosel have been listed as
alternatives.
Qualifying as individuals
from the Mountaineer men’s
team are Justin Ash (5,000),
Davis (decathlon), Kosel (long
jump and triple jump), Judson
Mansfi eld (decathlon), Moses
McAninch (javelin), Hunter
Nichols (1,500), Darrian Walker
(pole vault) and Jonathan Wind
(1,500).
Davis enters the outdoor
championship as the high-
est ranked athlete from EOU.
He qualifi ed for the decathlon
at rank two with 7,101 points.
Davis is coming off a hot season
as the reigning indoor national
champion and repeat champion
at the CCC multi-event cham-
pionship. Mansfi eld, also partic-
ipating in the decathlon, enters at
rank 14 with 6,154 points.
Walker is the second high-
est ranked Mountaineer at the
championship, ranking fourth
for the pole vault. Kosel is the
third highest ranking male ath-
lete, coming in at rank nine for
the triple jump at 14.8 meters.
He also checks in just outside the
top 10 for the long jump, qualify-
ing at rank 11 with 7.27 meters.
Kosel earned individual confer-
ence championships in both the
long jump and triple jump.
Participating in javelin is
McAninch, who qualifi ed at
22 with a 55.7-meter throw.
McAninch earned all-confer-
ence honors and fi nished on the
podium with a third-place fi nish
at the Cascade Collegiate Con-
ference Championships.
Ash is running in the 5,000-
meter race and ranked as 17 with
a time of 14:45.28 seconds —
Ledbetter qualifi ed for three
throwing events: shot put, ham-
mer throw and discus. She is
ranked eighth in shot put with a
mark of 13.95 meters. Ledbetter
is ranked 24 in hammer throw
and 29 in discus. Also participat-
ing in hammer throw is Wood-
ward, who is ranked 21 with a
distance of 50.36 meters.
Bayes ranked near the top 10
for the 400-meter hurdles, com-
ing in at rank 11 with a time of
1:02.47.
Eastern is fresh off a men’s
team title at the Cascade Col-
legiate Conference Champion-
ships, while the women’s team
placed fi fth overall. The victory
was the second consecutive year
the men’s team took the confer-
ence title. For the second straight
year, Kosel was honored as the
conference’s men’s fi eld athlete
of the year. The Mountaineers
kicked off the NAIA outdoor
championship Wednesday, May
25, at the Mickey Miller Black-
well Stadium at the Gulf Shores
Sportsplex in Alabama. Final
results will be available May 27.
the former Powder Valley stand-
out runner is competing in his
fi rst career national champion-
ships at the closure of his fresh-
man season. Hunter Nichols and
Wind also are participating in
the 1,500-meter race, qualify-
ing as 16 at 3:53.04 and 17 at
3:53.11, respectively.
Making up the women’s
4x800 relay team for the Moun-
taineer women are Lauryn
Mitchell, Jaimee Baxter, Katie
Jo Gebhardt and Michelle Her-
bes — the 4x800 relay team
is ranked sixth in the country
with a time of 9:16.5. The sin-
gle alternative is Morgan Bayes,
who is also headed to the out-
door nationals for the 400-
meter hurdles. Eastern last saw
an All-American 4x800 relay
team at the 2019 NAIA National
Championships.
Also making it to nationals
as individuals are throwers Mag-
gie Ledbetter and Kenna Wood-
ward. Ledbetter is coming off
top-eight fi nishes in both the
shot put and discus in last year’s
national championships.
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