Last week early in the morning I heard what sounded like off road motor bikes ripping through the BLM area I call Sage Ranch Butte and Canyon. I was Angry…. but have over time learned that trying to turn them in is pointless. I can’t get to the trailhead fast enough to find them, and BLM law enforcement can’t get here from Prineville. A good 45 minutes away or more. The next morning, I heard the sound of small engines again at the same time, and this time I realized that it was not motorbikes but chainsaws. My first thought was who is cutting firewood but just as quickly I remembered that I had found a plan by BLM to clear up this large area in the Cline Buttes BLM recreation area, make a new trail head on Fryrear and in general clean out the excess junipers and brush. Improve the trails and build more horse trails. Return the area to a more natural state. Mostly they have been working along Fryrear road. The Cline buttes recreation area is a huge area. The time to work in the sage ranch canyon and butte area has finally arrived.
About Damn Time ….. What took you all so long…… and then I did a little dance. But curiosity got to me and that afternoon I went out to my favorite parking area with my housemate Susan and the two German Shepherds. I also took photos, but I wasn’t really happy with them figuring I would go back another day. Saturday was my day. It was supposed to be nice; I had been talking to one of my pool /hiking pals arranging another hike and she said why don’t you go on a hike today. What a good idea, I gathered up my German Shepherds and the camera loaded everything in the car and headed out to my trail head parking area. My goal was to hike up to the top of Sage Ranch Butte, and see what they had cleared, hoping that they had not cut some of my favorite sacred trees…..
After 20+ years of hiking this whole area I had photographed many of these old snags and burned-out junipers. Some trees I just called my old friends. They had survived fire, wind, heat, drought, and snow, each has it’s own personality.
when I got to the parking area there were a couple vans for the cutting crew parked there so I chose to park along the road and just hike up the south and east side of the butte.
With a raven flying overhead we started out.
I was glad do see that there had been a lot of cutting around the base of the butte and most of the older snags had been left. The views were better than ever. looking east you could see the southernmost cline buttes
To the West you could see the 3 Sisters mountains
I was impressed that while a lot of the junipers had been cut it was not a clear-cut situation.
Finally after several minutes of hiking up the south side I reached the base of the final rocky summit. I was amazed because I had climbed around this but never saw it because of the heavy growth.
The view looking south towards Bend. Something you could not see before. and there on top was one of my favorite snags that I had photographed many times from the top looking south.
inspired I continued around the butte from the east approach. A lot of much needed work had been done along here.
My quest continued to the top hoping to see the leaning juniper still there. It was
And it was easier to photograph because some of the blocking trees had been removed. From here it was just a few steps to the top
and the view from the top of the 3,300 ft butte always good but now even better
I had planned on going down on the west side of the butte but found there was another hiker coming up that side so I chose to go back down on the southeast side. Photographing along the way.
I particularly like these old burned snags. They have survived many years of weather . 30? 40? 50 years…..
It was a really good hike for myself and both of my German Shepherds.
My plan was to have this posted on my blog page, but it took all afternoon to go through the photos, so I decided to post it Sunday morning, but… As I was working on which photos to use for the blog I got to thinking about hiking down into the canyon, knowing that the workers would not be there …. I went hiking and took more photos for another blog instead ….
Deanne Dements Photography 