Wild Outdoor Studio 9/2020 (Oregon Wildfire Edition Part I)

We love our adventure time away from work and daily routine (who doesn’t?) so the scheduling for this particular trip was decidedly auspicious. An eerie red fog had crept into Newport that carried a campfire note to the nose. What looked like a typical ‘socked in’ evening view wasn’t fog at all, that was purely wildfire smoke and it was bone dry. Not much attention was paid as we were supposed to leave the next day anyhow.

Seemingly normal evening view from the deck…

Tuesday at 9:30 am. No Filter, straight out of the phone, no kidding.

Nobody has ever had to tell me to ‘get out of Dodge’ twice though this morning seemed like a particularly enthusiastic kick out the door. That air burned the nostrils. To double down on doom, over night we’d had such a ferocious wind storm that potted plants on our balcony were thoroughly sifted through the deck and what resembled packaged salad makings and soil littered the ground below. We loaded up and got out.

Getting it down the I5 freeway was creepy as headlights loomed at 4pm like night and emergency evacuation texts were pinging our phones. We were bent on safely getting through the Cascades and East before the day was done. Our hearts were going out to the folks in serious danger, we were just getting out of the smoke.

Almost 5pm, sun doesn’t go down until after 7pm, super dark.

Thank goodness, Superman!

We were so relieved to see superman. The air was better by Crescent on the 97, so we breathed a welcome sigh of relief. I’ll take this moment to thank all the real superhero firefighters out there battling the fires so we could continue on down the road. Last order of the day; a place to bed down out of the way.

We woke in the morning to relatively clear skies and Ponderosas shading our camp. It was stark contrast to all the visions of the day before. We weren’t that far from Fort Rock so it was time to enjoy some of the time off we took well before we knew everything was going to be on fire.

Our minds were blown the first time of many on this trip by the unique features of Fort Rock’s pioneer, native, and volcanic history. As a fire ignited in the very county where we live, we never felt so lucky to be on the move and seeing the beauty of the land. This journey continues with more about Fort Rock and forging Eastward to avoid smoke and fires that seem to pop up on our route! Part 2 coming very soon.