Getting out there in the wild

I thought I'd show ya'll a few photos of my hike last week in the Wallowas of eastern Oregon, where a friend and I went to look at plants and get some time off grid to collect our thoughts about the coming year. The Wallowas are a mountain range that traditionally is Nez Perce territory, also important to other native folks in the area. They are super rugged and remote and if you see anyone out there, they are likely on horseback or packing with goats. I used an app called HUJI on my phone to capture the trip from the lens of an 'old throw away camera,' hence the random light leaks and sometimes interesting colors.

me! out there.

(rabbitbrush, mugwort, yarrow)

Our walking sticks by a bridge over Eagle Creek. We followed the Main Eagle trail up about 4 miles or so for the first night and camped by a creek in an open meadow surrounded by Spruce trees.

The next day, we walked up a more rugged side trail to get to a high elevation lake, and camp. The view kept getting more epic as we went up, as did the plant life. The bottom part of the valley actually felt colder, even though it was more protected, from the dew settling down there. The area up to the lake was more exposed and more alpine-like, but actually was a perfect temperature during the day and night. We didn't get any rain, either. I went swimming in the creek and the lake.

Blue Spruce by our first campsite. I collected some and then made a cordial with brown sugar and vodka back at camp. I love conifer medicine!

View across the lake where we camped the second night. It was amazing. I camped here last year when I did a walking artist residency with an organization called "Signal Fire." It was nice to go back in a slightly different season.

Erin at camp with our cooking gear out. We had so many dehydrated vegetables, fruits and even meats that we could have been out there a week!

Gentian, the plant used in a lot of traditional bitters recipes, was in full bloom up at the high elevation meadow, by the alpine lake we camped along. They are so beautiful.

Wild onions going to seed. We ate some with our dinner one night. I collected seeds from plants that had gone to seed and sent some to my land capsule patrons on patreon ( http://www.patreon.com/ofsedgeandsalt ) where I send some packages every month from the road.

taking in a place by drawing and painting- i do this sometimes. It really helps me focus on observing plants, the land and place.

some kind of plant in the heath (blueberry) family from up by the lake, not sure which!

When I get a chance, I'll be posting a more extensive photo log of our trip on my blog ( http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com) where I'll put together a plant list, too. I have over 75 photos from the hike. I usually like to use my fancy DSLR camera but I didn't want to carry it into the woods with me this time. It weighs a lot! I have also worked with film in the past, and a lot this summer, but didn't feel compelled to carry that heavy thing out there. I carried art supplies and books, and extra food instead..