The waters

by Rain Trueax

Yellowstone is one of those special places with so much to see or take in that a lifetime wouldn't let a person know it all. Most of it is not reached by roads. In this trip, with only five days, we went to places that are, where even the old or handicapped could enjoy. Many of the photos were taken from the truck or a few feet away.

To share some of it in the blog, I decided the only way was to break it into subjects-- first the small geysers. Then the wildflowers. Today, the waters-- not so much the famous ones but ones many miss in their rush to the scenic spots. These are the ones that just are and let us just be.

Yellowstone takes me to a place of beauty and creativity, but it also is a place of violence and abrupt changes. Maybe the latter is part of what makes it so special. It's not just the pretty, innocent kind of beauty but the risky, savage kind, from which each moment could be the last. You know, the kind from which real creativity is born.

Pelican -- early morning on Klamath Lake

A relaxing week-end with family at Klamath Lake. There are a ton of photos and more will follow. Here's an example.

There are so many wonderful photos. -- along with some failures that make me want a better telephoto. I think I will sort through and turn these into a trailer as kind of a contrast to what we are facing as a people politically but what is in nature and must be protected if we want future generations to have a chance for any part of it.

Klamath Lake vacation

Last week I was at Klamath Lake for a few days with our family, where we had rented a house on the lake, had a wonderful time, saw some beautiful places, lots of birds, fished, swam, had no internet or television, but some spirited conversations about life-- not to mention good food and wine.

There are few things I value more than such times with our kids (both biological and by marriage) and grandkids. To see the cousins get this kind of time to play together, to know each other better, to hear them all laughing, well it's at the top of any list of mine and worth working to make it happen-- although usually it's not very expensive as we split the costs of the rentals and rarely eat meals out while on any of these outings.

When I am with the growing children for awhile, I am always amazed at the development of their personalities, their thinking. It's fun to watch them unfold as individuals. There are many examples but one such was a game of pretending to sell food to customers.

Now I had already had a turn at being the customer; so suggested our granddaughter (who turns 12 in September) should be. I rapidly found out what a boring customer I had been as she took on a personality of this extremely difficult woman with a hoity-toity accent who simply could not be pleased. Her cousins took it well, but her brother finally had had enough. He said nothing but after her next such put-down of the servers, with a big smile, simply dumped the pretend food (dry catkins from the pine tree) over her head. He made his point and showed he likely won't be a waiter ever.

In one area, our trip went not quite as we had planned. The first time Farm Boss and I tried to take out our canoe, I had my camera with me but no wet bag. The canoe was rocking and we just turned around as something was out of balance. It wasn't much fun for either of us, and I feared we'd go over or at the least not be able to move forward very well. Farm Boss figured out the problem, but other events got in the way of trying again; so that's for next trip there.

In the afternoons we started getting big thunderstorms which were exciting to watch. It's one thing I miss when not in Tucson for the monsoons. I was soaked several times while trying to get somewhere as the sky opened up while lightning was hitting across the lake (hopefully). Definitely exciting especially the afternoon when hail fell with a few nearly 1/2" in diameter. We watched in awe as the little balls struck the lake (photos of that in next blog). It was one of those things you are happy you got to see but equally glad to watch from under a roof.

The kids gathered bowls of the little balls and our son-in-law cut apart some of the largest so they could see the layers of how they had been made. The whole thing puts you in awe of the power of nature.

I kept waiting to see if I could get a photo of a lightning bolt until I got tired of sitting with the camera to my eye and hoping it would hit where it had the time before. I have heard you have to have a tripod and timed shot to really capture one. The bolts were straight down and thick as they would hit what looked like the opposite ridge or beyond.

After the storm, we saw damselflies on the surface of the lake, possibly their delicate wings damaged by the hail. Did some know to take shelter as there were also many dragonflies in the air seemingly undamaged by the storm. Was this just the end of their life cycle? Interestingly, although the little fish were swimming by in schools, the damselflies were not of interest to them to eat. Maybe too large? Beside the dying damselfly, you can see one of the slowly melting hail balls (the lake was cold this time).

More of Klamath Lake, dragonflies and Wood River in coming blogs.

Crater Lake

Last week, on our way home from Klamath Lake, we decided to drive by Crater Lake National Park. The lake was formed after the catastrophic explosion of Mount Mazama. It was only about 45 miles from where we had stayed on Klamath Lake.

When there, I always forget how awesome Crater Lake is. The high elevation makes for a limited season when it is easily accessible and leaves the sky a pure shade of blue such as matches the lake. It is thought that many of the springs throughout the Cascades have their source from this water.


I have never stayed at Crater Lake Lodge but definitely have to put that on a future agenda. At one of the museums, there were some quotations that add a bit more to the feeling while there-- as words often do.


"Born of chaos, fire and smoke, Turbulent nature did'st invoke Mazama's fall-- that thou should'st be, Silent, mysterious, sapphire sea."

Poet Belle Menefree Meyer 1932

"What a mighty depth is here, Where clouds of pearl drift far below And stars show through; Where sunbeams play with emerald-purple waves And all the Silent Sea is stained with blue."

Author and Poet Stanton C. Lapham, 1931

"I thought I had gazed upon everything beautiful in nature as I have spent my years traveling thousands of miles to visit the beauty spots of the earth, but I have reached the climax. Never again can I gaze upon the beauty spots of the earth and enjoy them as being the finest thing I have ever seen. Crater Lake is above them all."

Author Jack London, 1911

"I expected something remarkable but was not prepared for a scene of such wonder and beauty... It seemed a blue gulf... Nowhere else had I ever seen such a shade of blue... How exquisite, rare, unreal."

Author Zane Grey, 1919

Our son, daughter-in-law, and their boys had stopped there the day before (part of why we thought of doing it), on their way home, with their children similar in age to ours from a visit there in 1971.

The lake hadn't changed. We sure have. The cycle of life has to be one part of the joy of visiting a place like Crater Lake where you are reminded of how nature changes everything and yet stays the same.


Above photos from summer of 1971. All the pictures from our recent stop at Crater Lake on Picasa: Crater Lake National Park July 23

Klamath Basin

Klamath Lake was naturally a marsh area with some lake but became bigger in order to allow irrigation on farm and ranch land. This has led to turf wars when southern Oregon goes through droughts. The question of droughts must always be-- which amount of yearly precipitation is normal?
There is still controversy over which is most important, family farms and ranches, recreation, or salmon fisheries. Several years ago that led to heated exchanges and a few midnight releases of water. The problem is when you fool with Mother Nature, you often have no clue where it's going to end up; but man just can't quit improving on things... sort of.


These photos are all of the area above Klamath Lake and Fort Klamath. This is still big cattle country. It is about 33 miles south of Crater Lake.

I know it's amazing to me also that I live with cattle all year but that when I go on vacation, I just have to stop every chance I get for photographs of other people's cattle. Maybe there is something wrong here or maybe I just like the world in which I live.

Pelicans on Klamath Lake

I am not sure what the appeal of pelicans is. True, they are elegant, graceful birds, seeming to see themselves as superior to others. Whatever the reason I find myself watching them anywhere I see them in the air or on the water.

These three came to a certain part of the lake several times and we assumed because a school of small fish were there.

Fishermen in boats passed them, generally respecting each other's territory.


Once in awhile a bit too close but the pelicans were soon back to their zone. They weren't to be distracted from their task which was the same as fishermen on the docks or in boats-- getting fish.For anyone who is a fan of birds, likes more scenery, or more dragonfly pictures (a lot more), I had put most of them onto a Picasa site: Creatures and Scenery of Klamath Lake.

Birds on Klamath Lake

One of the things we most enjoyed on this trip was watching the birds. They didn't have to do anything to make it pleasurable. Just be there, just be going about their business which was generally surviving but not looking like they were struggling to do it.

We'd watch the little duck come up past the house with her ducklings and when she didn't have all three, we'd wonder what happened and feel relief when one would come swimming fast as it could to catch up.

Other than photos of the kids and grandkids, I took the most photos of birds and realized they deserved a blog of their own (two actually). There isn't much to say about them other than how enjoyable it is from a canoe or sitting on a beach and watching birds doing anything.


The fireweed was almost finished blooming, but the hummingbirds kept flitting to it and leaving. I only got one photo that even came close to clicking before the hummer had gone.

A swallow's mud nest was above the garage.


Six geese swam ahead of the canoe down one of the channels until first one and then the rest decided they had had enough of the interlopers and took off. It isn't like I want to be a bird. I know they can have a hard life but they do add something special to my life wherever I am.

Klamath Lake vacation

First of all, the Klamath Lake vacation was not about roughing it. It was about family, nature, water, fun, good food, comfortable beds, and simply being. For four nights, we all rented a two bedroom, two bath, two story house on the shore of Klamath Lake which had what they called a bunkhouse or studio above it with a third bedroom space (you can see it to the left and above the house in the photo). That meant for sleeping our kids got the main house while Farm Boss and I took the studio. That meant a climb up the driveway every night to go to bed which was only a factor to me once.

The house is charming with windows in every room overlooking the lake. It has a big stone fireplace at one end of the living room and lots of sofas and places for cousins to play. Considering the grandchildren range in age from almost 2 to almost 11, the space was welcome. It has decks all the way around it with steps leading to the gravel beach and a safe swimming area (although in those reeds were leeches which means no dallying as you wade out to where it was deep enough to swim), a dock, good fishing spots, and an easy place to launch canoes (we brought four).

Sitting on the gravel beach, there was that the kind of peacefulness you suck into yourself. There were other people out there on their boats, but our beach was very private. I watched the children playing, swimming, swam myself, enjoyed the air, the way the day had a rhythm to it that was so relaxing.

Sitting there, maybe talking, watching the birds out on the lake, enjoying the breezes, the changing light, seeing my children and grandchildren interacting with each other, was my kind of vacation. I expected it would be good before we went, and it didn't disappoint at all.

We did not plan a lot of activities. I had two unexpected additions. The first one involved a lack of good judgment on my part. After the first full day, I began to feel terrible right after dinner. I helped clean up but literally had to convince myself I wasn't dying as I walked up the gravel driveway to where we were sleeping.

My arms ached so much that I thought at first it was from the exercise of paddling in the canoe. Couldn't be the swimming as it's not like I swam that much. It took me a little while to realize that I had not been drinking much/hardly any water. It was hot and I had been exercising in different ways. As soon as I began to drink a lot of water my body could deal with the dehydration. You can bet I didn't let that happen a second time, but there was another surprise ahead which will be in a future blog.

When I was younger I always thought I'd like to learn to canoe, but I wasn't sure about it. I mean it's not the same as boating. There are things you have to learn. You use your body more, your balance. Learning it at my age, I wondered about that balance part; then came the opportunity to try it on Klamath Lake two years ago. Last year we bought our own canoe and every time I am out on the water, I love it.

It changes my whole perspective when I see the shore from out there, when I float along so quietly, helping to move and guide the canoe. Canoeing down a little arm of the lake , seeing geese or other waterbirds gliding ahead of me, it makes me feel one with the lake in a way I don't even when swimming myself.

All photos from Klamath Lake. Next set of photos will be of the birds of Klamath Lake.