Oregon 2017 – Page 5 – Not Your Average Engineer

August 21, 2017January 3, 2018

Black Hole Sun – The Great American Eclipse

We went out to a ranch outside of Dallas, Oregon to watch the Great Oregon Eclipse with Jesi and Brent. There were about 80 or so people gathered together for a grand time watching the eclipse.

This was easily one of the top five experiences I’ve had with a natural phenomena. The sky progressively became darker, the wind became still, and the air became cold.

Everything began to grow dark. There were several high altitude aircraft circling overhead that started heading east along the path of the eclipse as soon as totality began.

Just prior to totality, we noticed these little half moon suns under the trees. We also witness the shimmering effect on white surfaces around us just as the eclipse reached totality.

Here it comes!

Black hole sun. What an amazing phenomena.

Total eclipse of the heart.

August 12, 2017January 3, 2018

Big 4×4 Trail Day with Ken in the Mount Hood National Forest

My buddy Ken and I went out to do some 4x4ing around the Bennett Pass to Tygh Valley area in the Mount Hood National Forest. We did mapping for Trails Offroad while we were out and about. This is at the top of Bonney Meadows Road.

I always carry 10 gallons of spare fuel with me when I’m away from gas stations just in case we ever run into problems.

We camped out overnight on the trail. We saw some lightning in the distance and had a few spits of rain but nothing too major.

Up on top of Bonney Butte. If there weren’t clouds, there would be a great view of Mount Hood behind the truck.

Playing around in the dust.

At the old Friend School.

There is a piano inside. The old school is now a community center.

We went up to the Flag Point Fire Lookout up on the east flank of Mount Hood. If it hadn’t been so smoky, it would have had some excellent views.

Some of the gear up in the lookout tower. The lookout was very friendly and invited us upstairs to check out his room.

Mount hood through the haze and smoke.

Down in the White River Wildlife Refuge that’s run by the state of Oregon.

All done with adventures for the day!

August 6, 2017January 2, 2018

Mapping Day on Bennett Pass

We started playing around with something new this summer. Now we’re contributing to Trails Offroad. The first couple trails we logged included Bennett Pass Trail. Even though we just ran this trail a few weekends ago, we’re back again and now mapping it.

Plus it gives us a good excuse to take pictures of our truck, the Albino Rhino.

I mean, you never can have too many pictures of your truck, can you?

Coming over the gap. I bet this was blasted open.

Keep on trucking.

This sign tells the story of a French Canadian sheep herder whose name was Jack and who always wore gum shoes camping here. Now the area is named after him.

One of the beautiful alpine meadows at the end of Bennett Pass Road.

Another beautiful meadow heading down Lookout Mountain Road.