Oregon’s Dry Side: Exploring East of the Cascade Crest
Oregon’s Dry Side: Exploring East of the Cascade Crest
- ISBN13: 9780881928297
- Condition: New
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Come explore the sights, sounds, scents, and stories of Oregon’s dry side, the stunning, vast, arid East, which is the state’s true West. Here are the volcanic mountains and mysterious fossils, vanilla-scented ponderosa pines, painted desert colors, wild creatures large and small, rugged wildflowers, remote outposts, and rich history reaching back to prehistoric times. Your expert guide is Alan D. St. John, naturalist, photographer, native Oregonian, and lifetime dry-side explorer who shares it
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Outstanding guidebook,
The varied wonderlands of Oregon East of the Cascades are largely unknown, even to many Oregonians, who think of it as “the desert”. This book finally offers glimpse after glimpse of the diversity of scenery, ecosystems, and satisfying landscapes that exist here.
The photography is absolutely outstanding, and the images are accompanied by accurate captions. The choices of human history photographs and quotes are great. The natural history sections are readable, unlike a field guide, and there is an excellent balance of “charismatic species” coverage. As one of those who prefers places to people, I found the balance between obsession with our own species and appreciation for the others to be perfect.
As far as I can tell, it is extraordinarily accurate – and I learned a few things even after Skylar and I have been exploring the subtleties of these places for over 20 years. There are some excellent perspectives; for example, St. John probably wins the prize for the best way to frame the Columbia River dam “controversy” (see page 177). He is unafraid of “deep time” to explain modern ecosystems and weaves the fossil record throughout the text.
My only concern is purely selfish = he describes some of our favorite haunts so eloquently, readers are going to flock to them and the desert solitaire he praises will change. Oh, well. Maybe those readers will be moved to protect these special places as a result. I just hope the editors of Outside never get a copy…
I plan to buy a few dozen as gifts for friends who wonder “Why are you guys living out there in the frontier instead of in _____ (insert city, bay, whatever)?”
This is on the top of my list of “Books that Work”.
Ted Fremd
Paleontologist
John Day Basin
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|The Other Oregon,
This book provides, in stunning pictures, as well as words, a picture of Oregon that most people don’t know exists. It is a travel guide that covers small towns and natural areas in good detail. Most people don’t know that these places exist, an a vacation or weekend trip to these areas will get you away from the crowds (unless you choose to attend a local festival, where the crowds are still not exceedingly large).
St John gives listings of wildflowers and wildlife you might see along the route or at your destination and when the best chances of sightings occur. These helpful hints prove to be very useful. Being a desert rat, I find it easy to see the beauty in the remote areas St John describes.
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|Great read,
Having traveled many of these places, this book makes me want to get out and see more. Good history, good recommendations, great photos!!
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