The Viewfinder: Discovering Hidden Landscapes in Oregon

When was the last time that you just decided to forget it all and just go for a drive? When I was a boy, I remember frequently getting in the car with my family and just heading out on the weekend for a day of discovery with no destination in mind.
The night before my mom would make chicken and some potato salad and we’d have a meal for the day of exploration. I still love cold chicken and potato salad. We had an old metal one gallon thermos that mom would fill with Kool Aid. I’m sure that we didn’t need a whole lot more.
Our drives were a favorite time for us as a family. They were full of adventure and discovery. We found so many beautiful places on those trips that we would never have seen or heard of if we hadn’t just loaded up in the car and took off to wander around in less wandered areas.
Here on The Mountain, we’re at a unique launching point for adventure. We can drive in most any direction and find beautiful countryside with unique places to stop and view or explore but my favorite direction is east. I’m a huge fan of Central and Eastern Oregon. There’s a lot to explore in the vast areas east of us.
I often tell other landscape photographers or explorers of our state that Oregon has almost everything that nature can provide, especially scenery. Oregon has ocean beaches, hills and valleys, creek and waterfall-filled rain forests, rugged glacial peaks and low-lying deserts such as the mud cracked Alvord Desert. We even have a canyon that’s deeper than the Grand Canyon. Hells Canyon, when measured from the Seven Devils Peaks to the Snake River, is almost 2000 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon. We live in an incredible place.
One of my favorite things to do while wandering around is to discover unique roadside geology. With Instagram being so popular, many of the most unique places have been discovered but every now and then I find something that excites me. My wife Darlene and I took a trip that took us up the road between Mitchell and Spray. It’s not a part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument but it’s close enough to have some of the same unique geology that makes it such a unique and special place.
On this trip we discovered rock formations and ancient blue colored soil strata laid bare from erosion. I photographed it and then, after I returned home, did a little bit of research about this beautiful place. I found that it’s called The Blue Banks. I’m very familiar with the amazing red hued colors of The Painted Hills not far away, but this was a beautiful seafoam green color. It appears to be on private land, so there’s no access to it, but there’s a great view from the road. It is only one place out of so many just waiting to be discovered through wandering our rural roads.
It never really fails that, when I’m on a drive, I discover something new. It’s really no wonder that I enjoy leaving everything behind, including my responsibilities and the stress of living, to simply take a drive through the backroads of our beautiful state. For me it’s a family tradition that has expanded my awareness of the beauty of nature and what Oregon has to offer. I still enjoy packing a lunch, especially cold chicken and potato salad, and hitting the road – and I probably always will.