Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

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adamschneider
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Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

Post by adamschneider » June 21st, 2022, 3:44 pm

20220609-104620.jpg

A couple weeks ago, I spent a day in the Pueblo Mountains (between Steens Mountain and the Nevada border). I was hoping for wildflowers, and I think I timed it just about perfectly. Far-southeastern Oregon seems to be having a more or less "normal" year, in contrast to the cold wet spring in NW Oregon and the persistent drought in the Deschutes area.

If you're here for the wildflower photos, there are a handful below, but I also posted a bunch of them to the Oregon Wildflowers FB group and to iNaturalist.

Anyway... I went up Arizona Creek Road the evening before and slept in my car where the creek crosses the road that leads up to Ten Cent Meadows (5180'). The mosquitoes were terrible. (I'd heard this road gets bad shortly after the creek, but it turns out I could have driven up another 2/3 of a mile to a flattish area where another tiny road comes in from the southeast. Maybe there'd have been fewer bugs there.)

In the morning I started up the road on my bicycle. Then I pushed my bike up a steep slope to save about a mile. Back on the road, it got pretty rocky, so riding uphill wasn't easy. I ended up basically walking my bike up another 2 miles or so, riding it only when it was flat enough. It was a lot of work, but I hoped I'd be glad about it at the end of the day.

I left my bike at a corner of the fence around Stergen Meadows (about 6300') and kept walking south. The trail/road went up and down a bit, across a decent stream where I was able to top off my water bottles, and then went up the crest of a gravelly ridge to about 7100', which was the high point for the day. Then I went down again, and up a little, to Ten Cent Meadows (6820'). TCM, despite being the named "destination" for the day, was pretty unremarkable; it looked like it had been a cow pasture in the not-so-distant past.

I turned north on the road through 10¢M, which went downhill roughly parallel to a stream on the right; it crossed a few springs/seeps. When I got down to near creek-level, I went off-trail to the east through some aspens, and then crossed a few ridges and gullies and climbed a grassy slope to get back over to where I'd left my bike.

The trip down was bone-jarring but uneventful. In a couple of spots the "road" was so rough that I had to put my feet down and walk it, but mostly I just rode the brakes and kept an eye out for big rocks. The last mile, at least, was enjoyable. I slept in my car again that night.

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My car is tucked behind the bottom of the slope to the left of the aspens.
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Really interesting paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia var. flavescens)
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If you look closely, you can see my red car down below.
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Doublet (Dimeresia howellii)
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Looking southwest
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Crazy crystals in a rock
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Many tiny gravel-dwellers
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Shooting stars, so you don't think it was all rocks and gravel
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Pueblo Mountain is the high point of the range, but it looks less interesting than the western crest.
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View to the north toward Steens Mountain and the Alvord Desert
map.jpg
About 11 or 12 miles total.
Last edited by adamschneider on June 23rd, 2022, 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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BurnsideBob
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Re: Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

Post by BurnsideBob » June 23rd, 2022, 8:20 am

Thanks, Adam, for this report. I drove thru in May on my way from Plush to Frenchglen--yep, wussed out and went the paved way thru Denio and Fields instead of the gravel shortcut from Hart Mountain to Frenchglen.

I wondered what was up those Pueblo Mountains side canyons and thanks to your report, now I know.

I was intrigued by your mystery rock. To my untrained eye that looks like some kind of conglomerate or debris deposit that contained both round pebbles and woody plant debris, all concreted together.

I did check out the free Virgin Valley Campground on the Sheldon Antelope Refuge, which has a lukewarm swimming pond and some shade. This area attracts rock hounders looking for Fire Opal at nearby fee dig opal mines.

Someday I would like to visit Bog Hot Spring which has a free boondocking camping area here: N 41.92380 W 118.80495 and Thousand Creek Gorge, the overlook for which is here: N 41.87675 W 118.97790.

Who would guess there are so many attractions in such a desolate area? And black fire opal, oh my!!

Burnside
I keep making protein shakes but they always turn out like margaritas.

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dirtman
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Re: Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

Post by dirtman » June 23rd, 2022, 10:53 am

BurnsideBob wrote:
June 23rd, 2022, 8:20 am
Who would guess there are so many attractions in such a desolate area? And black fire opal, oh my!!
Be careful in Bog Hot as it has red spider mites along the edges...

https://hotspringsguy.com/resources/hot ... s-listing/

I've hiked the top and bottom of Thousand Creek Gorge. The top is much easier. The bottom is not really a trail, but there is a lot of rock scrambling.

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adamschneider
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Re: Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

Post by adamschneider » June 23rd, 2022, 10:03 pm

BurnsideBob wrote:
June 23rd, 2022, 8:20 am
I was intrigued by your mystery rock. To my untrained eye that looks like some kind of conglomerate or debris deposit that contained both round pebbles and woody plant debris, all concreted together.

Here's some bedrock with the same weirdness:

20220609-161020.jpg

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bobcat
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Re: Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

Post by bobcat » June 25th, 2022, 1:59 pm

Thanks for a report on the Pueblos. Good to see something from that area.

I'm not a geologist but one term for that kind of rock is vesicular amygdaloidal lava rock. The cavities are caused by bubbles forming when the lava erupted. Later on, over a process of millions of years, water seeping through the porous lava deposits minerals, usually quartzite or calcite, but sometimes something more precious (the amygdules). You can also see small zeolites in the example.

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adamschneider
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Re: Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

Post by adamschneider » June 25th, 2022, 4:38 pm

I know about vesicular igneous rocks, but usually the vesicles are more or less round. These are mostly linear -- and not even remotely parallel, so it can't be the result of stretching the rock after it formed. They're more likely phenocrysts.

Check out "Photo B" on this page: https://geologictimepics.com/2015/01/31 ... utrageous/ -- "And much of the Steens basalt consists of this really distinctive porphyry with outrageously big plagioclase crystals!"

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bobcat
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Re: Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

Post by bobcat » June 25th, 2022, 8:01 pm

You're right, but it looks like that rock has both (phenocrysts and amygdules, as well as some empty vesicles). Apparently, they do occur together.

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adamschneider
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Re: Pueblo Mountains (Arizona Creek & Ten Cent Meadows), 6/9/22

Post by adamschneider » June 25th, 2022, 10:56 pm

bobcat wrote:
June 25th, 2022, 8:01 pm
it looks like that rock has both (phenocrysts and amygdules, as well as some empty vesicles).
Funny, I didn't even notice the bubbles because I was distracted by the crystals.

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