Trip 04, Day 08 (Day 35):
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007: EAST OF BURNS
Today was the second half of the “close to base camp” sweet spot in the trip. We drove both vehicles to the day’s end point, left one, and drove back to camp, where we started our walk. Joe took a second day off from running, so we were walking in tandem once again.
Starting point: 43.59865 N, 119.04846 W – elevation 4175 feet
Ending point: 43.61367 N, 118.84607 W – elevation 4132 feet
We immediately crossed the Silvies River, a sleepy stream with no visible flow that meanders through the dry landscape, eventually emptying into Malheur Lake about 15 miles southeast of here. After passing a couple of marginal businesses and the decomposing hulk of the now-defunct Nite Owl Truck Stop (“Open 25 Hours”), we passed the junction where Highway 395 splits off to the northeast toward John Day. Here Highway 20 curved to a due east heading and maintained that on a straight line for the rest of the day’s walk. This was all farmland, so we were looking at green or yellow grass and cattle or horse pastures. Far to the south on the horizon was the faint outline of Steens Mountain.
The day warmed quickly to mid-80s, making this the warmest of our walks so far this trip. When we reached the car right at noon, we felt pretty wrung out by the heat and were glad to be finished for the day.
Walk rating: 4.0 (just plain boring)
Money found: Day: $.25 Trip: $0.95 Project: $13.41
Distance: Day: 10.6 miles Trip: 79.0 miles Project: 330.4 miles
Significance: Warmest day this trip.
