All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

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querulous
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by querulous » December 20th, 2021, 5:48 pm

I'm not sure I'd call it an "accomplishment", but rather a cool thing to do. Well done.

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BigBear
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by BigBear » December 20th, 2021, 6:04 pm

Congratulations. I counted along and acme up with 26 of the 48 I have visited over the years.

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bobcat
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by bobcat » December 20th, 2021, 7:16 pm

querulous wrote:
December 20th, 2021, 5:48 pm
I'm not sure I'd call it an "accomplishment", but rather a cool thing to do.
Yes, it was not a terribly difficult project to complete once I'd set my mind to it in a systematic way. You do need the time (although I was in no hurry). It took me to some nooks and crannies of the state that I'd never been and made me appreciate some wild areas that were not just the Instragrammable alpine views and spectacular formations but the more subtle features of the many ecosystems we have in Oregon (and I was inspired to appreciate why they were worth protecting).

querulous
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by querulous » December 21st, 2021, 10:05 am

I can see how it would be a good discipline, motivating one to explore otherwise overlooked areas. When I used to monitor federal timber sales I was often struck by how much interesting natural stuff there was in e.g. the half-mile of second-growth forest between stacked roads, which I would have never explored as a purely recreational choice.

Another benefit of your project would be getting one out of the what I might call the Willamette valley rut. When I moved here from Pugetopolis a few years ago I missed nearby "big wild". There's nothing on the west side of Oregon like, for example, the wild Olympic core (a million acres of statutory and de-facto wilderness) or the ninety-mile east-west roadless extent between Mount Baker on the west and the Okanogan valley on the east. But farther afield in Oregon there are some very grand, very interesting landscapes. NE Oregon is, to a wildland connoisseur, a fine place. Snake river canyon country, Wallowas, the Wenaha-Tucannon, to name some highlights. And the basin-and-range down in Harney county...I also have a soft spot for the Siskiyous in the far south...so much ruggedness and botanical richness in a relatively small package.

One might almost say that the relative intactness and attractiveness of east and west sides in Oregon and Washington is flipped. Eastern (and far southern) Oregon is grand, and empty. Eastern Washington is the Columbia Basin project, Spokane, and Palouse dryland farming. A few scraps of wild country if one looks hard. Just like Western Oregon: a few scraps of wild country if one looks in the right places. I exaggerate for effect, but stick by the overall point.

Here's a quiz:
Oregon's least populous county: Wheeler county, pop 1,332, less than half of what it was in 1930.
Oregon's least densely populated county: Harney county, about .74 residents per square mile, ~7400 people in an area about the size of Massachusetts.

Pretty neat, if you like empty.

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Charley
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by Charley » December 21st, 2021, 2:58 pm

querulous wrote:
December 20th, 2021, 5:48 pm
I'm not sure I'd call it an "accomplishment", but rather a cool thing to do. Well done.
I can tell by your follow up comment that you're not trolling! You're pointing out that the word accomplishment has different meanings, and that's valid.

I'd like to stick up for the word used in this case:

Narrowly speaking, Google suggests "the successful achievement of a task" as a definition for accomplishment, and in the case of bobcat, it looks like he made a goal and achieved it! So I think the term is quite appropriate.

Speaking more grandly, I think people often make outdoor recreation goals for themselves and then, when completed, think of those goals as valuable achievements in the course of their life.

Perhaps these are not accomplishments in the normal use of the term, such as completing a college degree, attaining professional success, or raising a family. But these kinds of accomplishments do require focus, effort, and planning over a long period of time, as well as possibly athletic training, physical risk, and risk of failure.

I think these goals are a valid source of meaning in one's life, and their completion represents an accomplishment!
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

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Waffle Stomper
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by Waffle Stomper » December 22nd, 2021, 8:26 am

That's incredible. Congratulations. I think it's time we add a few wilderness areas for you to explore.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

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dharmabum
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by dharmabum » February 21st, 2022, 8:33 am

Here's my long winded reply :-) I started a treasure hunt for all of the Oregon Wilderness Plaques in 2018. This provided me the chance to research and go visit all of the areas like you have done. I am close to finished and it has been very fun to say the least. All photos are the picture I took of the plaque while I was there. Some don't have one or it has been stolen. I forgot how tedious it is to code a message like this, so I will go back to lurk mode now :-)

Diamond Peak Wilderness
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Eagle Cap Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

Gearhart Mountain Wilderness - Took me 3 trips to finally get this one.
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Kalmiopsis Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

Mount Hood Wilderness
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Mount Washington Wilderness
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Mountain Lakes Wilderness - This was my first Wilderness trip and the first sign I got, so it's special for me. I actually have 2 from this area as I lived in Klamath Falls at the time and it was my "Home" Wilderness and the closest to visit.
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Strawberry Mountain Wilderness
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Three Sisters Wilderness
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Mount Jefferson Wilderness
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Oregon Islands Wilderness - Can't Visit This One

Three Arch Rocks Wilderness - Can't Visit This One

Hells Canyon Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

Wild Rogue Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

Badger Creek Wilderness
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Black Canyon Wilderness
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Boulder Creek Wilderness
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Bridge Creek Wilderness
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Bull of the Woods Wilderness
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Cummins Creek Wilderness
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Drift Creek Wilderness
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Grassy Knob Wilderness - Pretty sure no sign here from a trip report I read.

Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness
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Menagerie Wilderness - I'm pretty sure there were 2 signs here at one time, but they were gone when I went there. The posts were there, but no sign.

Middle Santiam Wilderness
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Mill Creek Wilderness - My favorite sign of all of them.
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Monument Rock Wilderness - No sign here.

Mount Thielsen Wilderness
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North Fork John Day Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

North Fork Umatilla Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

Red Buttes Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

Rock Creek Wilderness - No sign here

Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness
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Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness
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Sky Lakes Wilderness - I have 3 signs from this one as it was pretty close to home when I lived in Klamath Falls
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Table Rock Wilderness - No sign here, but I have visited

Waldo Lake Wilderness
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Opal Creek Wilderness
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Steens Mountain Wilderness - Maybe I will go here someday. Best steak I ever had in my life was in Burns, Oregon at The Pine Room.

Clackamas Wilderness
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Copper Salmon Wilderness - Hoping to make it here in 2022 Summer

Lower White River Wilderness - No sign here as far as I can tell.

Oregon Badlands Wilderness - Doesn't have a Wilderness plaque, but I have been there

Roaring River Wilderness
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Soda Mountain Wilderness
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Spring Basin Wilderness - I don't think there is a sign here

Devils Staircase Wilderness - No trails and I assume no signs either.
Last edited by dharmabum on February 24th, 2022, 7:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

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retired jerry
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by retired jerry » February 21st, 2022, 9:41 am

nice collection of pictures

I notice the Wilderness signs are identical except some are right handed, others left handed, no consistency :)

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bobcat
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by bobcat » February 21st, 2022, 10:39 am

The wood signs are the Forest Service design. BLM usually doesn't have formal wilderness signs (except Soda Mountain).

Congratulations on Bridge Creek. As far as I know, there's only one sign, and it's not at the usual place you would enter the wilderness.

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Charley
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Re: All of Oregon’s Wildernesses

Post by Charley » February 21st, 2022, 10:56 am

dharmabum wrote:
February 21st, 2022, 8:33 am
Here's my long winded reply :-) I started a treasure hunt for the all of the Oregon Wilderness Plaques in 2018. This provided me the chance to research and go visit all of the areas like you have done. I am close to finished and it has been very fun to say the least. All photos are the picture I took of the plaque while I was there. Some don't have one or it has been stolen. I forgot how tedious it is to code a message like this, so I will go back to lurk mode now :-)
Congratulations!

I've been interested to notice that a lot of the wooden signage I've seen up in the mountains in the last few years, especially the new signage, is made from white oak. I don't know if it's Oregon white oak (native in OR and WA), or another species.

Either way, it's not a particularly common species in local National Forests, but it is a really hard wood (it would hold crisp edges in the routed lettering, and stand up to banging around better than our plentiful softwoods), and I've heard that it's a relatively rot-resistant wood. On the other hand, I'm always suspicious when I hear that- apparently, many species were "rot-resistant" back in the day, when old-growth heart wood was more readily available. I've even heard that old-growth Douglas Fir was about as rot resistant as "modern" cedar; of course if one were to log and and saw up heart wood from old-growth DF for ground contact purposes, that might be true, but it'd be a damn waste.

I looked through the USDA FS Signage Guideline and it doesn't specify a particular species for Wilderness signage, just wood. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 810021.pdf
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

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