Photo Gallery


Dave and I returned to the Klamath Basin in 2001, as we were so awed by it the year before. The Klamath Basin has suffered this year from drought and fire, but that hasn't reduced its appeal. We spent a week based in Merrill, Oregon, photographing the area and looking for potential retirement locations. All photos were taken with an Olympus C-3000 digital camera. Click on any image to view a larger version.
This year, Dave and I stayed at the Wild Goose Motel, a quaint place in Merrill. The owners are very friendly, and the cost was far less than renting an RV. The photo at right was taken at dusk; conditions were far darker than they look!
		Merrill is a beautiful small town just over the Oregon border. They have a lot of civic pride and welcome visitors. This is the town water tower.
Unfortunately, many wildfires were started by lightning during our visit. The one positive aspect of this is that sunsets became spectacular from the smoke in the air. This view is from the hotel one evening.
		The weather in the Basin was near record highs, so we traveled to Crater Lake National Park, at about 8,000 feet altitude to escape. Unfortunately, so did many other people, but I still managed to get some decent photos. This picture is of the small island known as Phantom Ship.
Crater Lake is renown for its intense blue color, the result of its extreme depth (nearly 2,000 feet) and purity. I contrasted the blue of the lake with the green of the rim trees for this photo.
		Crater Lake is the result of the eruption of Mt. Mazama many thousands of years ago. In the southeast portion of the park are these pinnacles, which are solidified ash from escaping hot gas as new ash covered the region.
While driving near Ft. Klamath on our way back from Crater Lake, we spied this nest on top of a power line. In it were a couple of young ospreys, probably waiting for the mother to get back.
		On our way back to Merrill, we stopped at the Klamath Falls airport, which was bustling with fire bomber activity. There were quite a few fires in the region, and some of the planes used for bombers were quite interesting, such as this one, which appears to be a converted DC-6.
In the evenings, Dave would usually attempt to see what was happening on the shortwave bands. We had brought along a Sony ICF-2010, and Dave rigged up a short piece of wire to a convenient tree. We call this photo, "Fishing for DX".
		The entire Klamath Basin appears to be volcanic in origin. As you drive by the Klamath Wildlife Refuge, you'll see plenty of rounded cones to the north.
This year, there were a lot of pelicans in the refuge, although the water level was very low.
		Although the weather remained quite warm, Dave and I decided to hike to the Three Sisters cinder cones in Lava Beds National Monument. The trailhead is near Sconchin Butte. One side of the butte is nearly devoid of plant life, as shown here.
The Three Sisters are small cinder cones out on the plain. You'll want to take plenty of water when hiking in the summer!
		During the hike, we passed numerous lava tubes. They make great respites from the heat, although you can't go very far into them without a flashlight.
This particular lave tube had writing on the wall from the famous J.D. Howard, who discovered and explored many of the lava tubes in the early 20th-Century. We didn't get to see the "frozen river", if it still existed, because we didn't have flashlights.
		Desert Paintbrush was in bloom along the trail, and is a brilliant sight in the desert.
Other flowers seen on the hike included this small purple flower, only about 1/2-inch across, which I think is a type of aster.
		Buckwheat plants are common in this area, but this one, the Northern Desert Buckwheat, has a nice contrast of red leaves against the yellow flowers.
Some of the Rabbitbrush was in full bloom, and I discovered that the main pollinators of these plants appear to be wasps, rather than bees. This plant was covered with wasps when I took the photo.
		As the weather was inching into the high 90s, we decided not to climb the Three Sisters after all. Next time, when it is cooler!

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