Earth Day Weekend!

Saturday afternoon, Judd and I went on a mini-wine tour 20 min up the road to the Applegate Valley. We started at Cowhorn, one we missed when we camped last summer. It came highly recommended by 2 people I know. It is all fully organic-biodynamic everything and the construction has some virtuous carbon footprint and the wine is 4 times more expensive than anywhere we've been. Most flights are $5--we've balked at a couple that are $10.  I bet Judd this one was going to be $12.  When we got to the bill, it was $15..... EACH,  for only 4 tastes!  (although generously proportioned.) We proceeded 5 minutes down the hill to Longsword Vineyard:  $5 flights, friendlier, sat outside with the two local dogs, chicken noises in the background and watched the paragliders land.  A much better experience. 

On our way to a Sunday hike today, taking a short cut, we came across a road to WoodRat Mountain. It is a  3mile narrow, gravel road up a ridge where it turns out the paraglider pilots launch. In every direction there are still snow capped mountains and below is the lush, vibrant valley with a patchwork quilt of vineyards and cow pastures.  We were able to spot the very vineyard where we were yesterday, quite a steep incline to sail down in only a parachute.






Sterling Mine Ditch Trail is just 22 minutes from us. Someone told us about it our first month here and we hadn't been there yet.  The ditch is a 26.5 mile long man-made ditch, 4 feet deep and 4 feet wide that runs along the ridge of Anderson Butte. In 1877, it was dug by up to 400 workers, mostly Chinese back in the day, to carry water from the Little Applegate River to the Sterling Creek mine for hydraulic mining when simply panning for gold was too inefficient.  Blasting hundreds of yards of rock and soil a day which slid down into the river certainly changed the landscape and animal habitats not to mention the destruction of traditional homelands to the Dakubetede indigenous people. Judd the engineer just kept saying, "this is amazing," marveling at the engineering feat and the amount of physical labor it must have taken to move that much dirt. "And when did they decide to stop digging for gold here and start there?" "What is the declination of the ditch  that allowed the water to continue to flow but end up with enough force at the end to run a hydraulic mine?"   I DON"T KNOW JUDD--I DON'T DO MATH IN MY HEAD.  


https://www.blm.gov/or/resources/recreation/files/brochures/SMDT_Map.pdf

The day was perfect for hiking:  sunny, not too cold or too hot. The well kept trail was bordered with buttercups and little purple flowers. We finally saw a Gentner's fritillary, tiny red flower named right in Jacksonville (see their blog below.)  Bugs were buzzing but not biting.  We'd brought a lunch to eat at the top of Bear Creek before descending to our car. We did have to pass a vineyard on our 20 min drive  home and had never visited Valley View.  Their vines were chunkier and thicker than we'd seen and it turns out it is because of their age.  Very tasty and economical wines. If you purchase a few bottles, the flight-tasting cost is waived.  We're smart shoppers. 










http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/shared/Documents/Publications/PlantConservation/FritillariaGentneriProfile.pdf
"Did you know? This unusual fritillary was first noticed in a flower arrangement by Jacksonville resident Katherine Gentner in the early 1940’s. Katherine’s father, an entomologist at the Southern Oregon Experiment Station, recognized the uniqueness of this beautiful wildflower, and sent a specimen to his friend and associate, Oregon State University botanist Helen Gilkey. Dr. Gilkey subsequently published the description of this new species in the scientific journal Madroño, naming the plant after the Gentner family. Jacksonville’s continuing fondness for Gentner’s fritillary is exemplified by the city’s annual Fritillary Festival, held in late March and early April. "