Friday, November 5, 2010

Great Migrations

I always enjoy seeing non-Oregon news sources find web-worthy stuff from Oregon. Today's example is Great Migrations at Boston.com's Big Picture, and containing at least one, maybe two, pictures of pronghorns in Oregon.
Dusk silhouettes a pronghorn at the Heart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in Oregon. (© National Geographic/Michael Durham/Minden Pictures)
That's actually Hart, you know, like a male deer. But whatever. Another gorgeous Oregon location. This whole quadrant of Oregon doesn't see much use, and it's not all unusual to arrive at a well-known location and find you have the whole thing to yourself. In this FlashEarth link, I've placed the crosshairs over the regional headquarters of the Charles Sheldon National Antelope Refuge- you'll have to zoom in a little more to see the compound; I backed out so you could see the rim as well. A couple of miles south from the headquarters, following the gravel road, you can see a little white patchy area. This is tufa and siliceous sinter surrounding the Hart Mountain hotsprings. Very nice.

3 comments:

SkinnyDennis said...

Ah, so that's just east of Lake Albert, a very beautiful spot. First time I drove thru there I felt I could drive right thru the lake into another mirrored dimension. And the angle of the sun of the escarpment made the rocks iridescent. Another mental note, to stop at the antelope refuge.

Thanks, Lockwood, you post such cool stuff!

Silver Fox said...

Is that the headquarters of the Hart Mountain Antelope Range? I thought the Sheldon was entirely in Nevada - or maybe they join?

I've been up in that country somewehere, not sure where, though. Maybe up near Rock Creek Res or Blitzen.

Lockwood said...

Silver- I think you're right, basically. Here's what the wiki page says: "The Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a management unit of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It comprises two wildlife refuges, the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in Oregon and the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada, that are managed as a single unit from an office in Lakeview, Oregon" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon-Hart_Mountain_National_Wildlife_Refuge_Complex
Though the Sheldon Antelope preserve does have land in Oregon, The Hart Mt. area is a separate unit- my mistake. I think I knew they were co-managed and came to the belief they were the same thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_National_Wildlife_Refuge