No comments about Beaverton, Oregon / Hillsboro / Washington County Street Map.

5 comments about Gem Trails of Oregon.

1. I just made it back from Oregon and a limited visit to several of the many sites listed. The book was copyrighted in 1998 so it's five years old at this writing. I'll take a star off the rating for age. I found several sites listed were now closed. Oregon is growing along with the rest of the west. The author has done a commendable job in detailing locations. If I had two wishes it would be that both the Gem trail guides and the Falcon guides be updated at least every four years. and that the authors include GPS coordinates for the main turn-off and starting collecting point in the site descriptions. If I was traveling a long distance to collect I would call the local rockshops to verify the desired site(s) were still open.



2. I'm afraid I wasn't as impressed as the other reviewers.
   
   I suppose it's inevitable for a book several years old to have some out of date information, so I wasn't too distressed to find sites that are now closed or well picked over. But I found several pages with information that is simply inaccurate and has never been true. For instance, there are no opal beds at Richardson's Ranch only some opal Thundereggs and he mislabels Eagle Rock as Eagle Peak.
   
   In addition, it would be nice if the walking directions were as specific as the driving directions. Before starting a hike, it's nice to know how far you'll be going. I made the mistake of bringing a small child on my back and gave up four miles into an eight and a half mile trail without seeing the landmarks mentioned in the book. Needless to say, I wouldn't have started a possible 17 mile round-trip hike with a toddler in tow if I'd known beforehand how far I would have to go.
   
   The cost of the book would probably be spent more productively in joining a Geology club in the area. Or you could always find your nearest rock shop and ask the people there for ideas.



3. The information in this book is dangerous. It so so poor, out-of-date and just plain wrong you could get yourself in big trouble going to some of the locations. Many of these areas NEVER WERE open to the public OR are in areas it is illegal to pick up anything, ie: National Park Land or trout habitat in streams.
   
   Here is some comments on this book taken from a true rockhound who knows about Oregon:
   Well I am finally fed up with hearing complaints about the book Gem Trails of Oregon by James Mitchell. So I have to stop recommending it to anyone. When I wrote this I had just got back from a week long trip to central Oregon for - you guessed it - rockhounding. I heard three people complain about the inaccuracies and outdated information in Gem Trails, and I prompted none of them. So I am listing all the errors I know of in the 1998 edition (why would anyone revise a book and not even bother to call the phone numbers they list to see if they are still connected? Sheesh!) here. Most of these errors are corrected on my Rock Dig Locations pages and topo maps. Probably the worst thing about the book is that you will waste massive amounts of time at most sites simply because he didn't bother to ASK anybody where the good stuff was. Only the smaller sites and those with big bold signs pointing to the good stuff have adequate directions to the good pits. On all the rest (i.e. McDermitt, Glass Buttes) he found the dug out places and missed the ones where you could fill a bucket with great rock in a half hour.
   
   Many of the same comments apply to The GPS Guide to Western Gem Trails, by David A. Kelty. After buying this worthless book, I compared some of his GPOS waypoints to my own; the results are below. In short, if you ain't been there, don't put a point on a map and say "there it is" and "sites were checked for mineral availability". Yeah right. Just a few of the more egregious errors I found are listed below; there are many more which I won't go into but suffice it to say that your chances are less than 50% of finding the site using that book, for sites I know of in OR/WA/ID.
   
   
   Gem Trails of Oregon
   
   Page 11
   Keenig Creek
   There is no "Keenig Creek" sign on highway 6!
   Oregon Coast
   12
   Clear Creek
   It is against the law to dig in the stream, or in any salmon bearing stream in the state, for that matter. The entire area is posted and patrolled by Stimpson Lumber. They rarely give permits to dig and only then to rock clubs. The Mt. Hood club hasn't gotten a permit for at least 4 years...
   Vernonia Area
   22
   Quartzville Creek
   Site C is a waste of time. Maybe there was something there 20 years ago but not anymore.
   Green Peter Area
   24
   Calapooia River
   Site A is a waste of time. There was never any Holley Blue agate in the Calapooia in this stretch and damn little to no wood .
   Calapooia River
   26
   Richardson's Ranch
   There never were opal, moss agate, polka-dot, or rainbow agate beds on the ranch. There are moss agate and opal thundereggs. Don't go expecting to pick rock up off the ground. It's simply not true. Mitchell must have been talking to a tall tale teller that day. He sure didn't bother to ask the RICHARDSONS.
   Ashwood Area
   28
   Ashwood
   Nobody at the Ashwood PO knows anything. Call Darrell Friend - he's listed in the 541 area code. Thorton (sic) ranch was sold and closed to collectors in the mid-90s. Swanson hasn't allowed collectors since before the first edition was published. Most of the materials listed were never there or were dug out in the 70s. There is no rock shop in Ashwood.
   Ashwood Area
   32
   Eagle Peak
   It's Eagle Rock not Eagle Peak. There is nothing in the quarry at the top that can be dug without dynamite and a trackhoe. Trust me I've been there 3 times.
   Post-Paulina Area
   34
   Maury Mountain
   The Prineville Chamber of Commerce dropped all their claims before the first edition was published. Quant's and Elkins' Rock Shops had many of these claims before the C of C and have the best information on collecting them (besides ME).
   Post-Paulina Area
   38
   Biggs
   Isami Tsubota is well over 90 and almost impossible to get on the phone. He never leaves Biggs so go there and ask at the beater motel past the gas station on the right for him. His house is next door; it's the one with 10 tons of Biggs in the backyard. There is no camping at the motel, and there never was any blue agate there.
   Biggs Area
   68
   Graveyard Point Directions are wrong. There are NO bridges across the canal. This is the worst area to collect at Graveyard.
   Owyhee Mountains
   97 Pictures The picture labeled Succor Creek picture jasper is of Owyhee picture jasper which is held under private claim. Did you jump Dale's claim Mitchell?
   98
   Pictures
   Snowflake obsidian from Oregon? What are you taking Mitchell?
   
   
   101
   Pictures
   Oregon Jade isn't jasper - it's serpentinite
   
   
   108
   Lassen Creek Where do I start? The directions are impossible to follow, and take the longest possible route anyway. Most of the "sites" are a waste of time or simply do not exist.
   Lakeview Area
   110
   Davis Creek Same as Lassen Creek. These two sites and Crane Creek were my most frustrating experiences ever with this book. I threw away the old edition of the book somewhere around Fender Flat. If you find it, it's yours!
   Lakeview Area
   146
   Owyhee Five minutes at the rock shop in Nyssa could have gotten him the real name of this site - Haystack Rock
   Negro & Haystack Rocks
   
   150
   Succor Creek North Directions stink. These are the worst collecting sites in the area, IMHO.
   Owyhee Mountains
   172
   Crane Creek Directions are flat out wrong. Don't even try getting there with this map. He was definitely more than a little disoriented that day. The picture is of RICHARDSON RANCH EGGS. Duh.
   Lakeview Area



4. This book is only good for getting the names of places to go rockhounding at. Once you get the place names, then you'll have to look elsewhere to get any other useful information. At first I thought this book would end up being a big help, but when it came down to planning trips and actually going to these places I found that this book is just a bunch of, well, lies. About a fifth of the maps are okay. Better than half of the maps are inaccurate to the point of being useless. There are a couple maps (which I found, at least) that appear to be completely fictitious. The entire value of this book lies in its index of mineral types and location names. Not even close to being worth the price.



5. This book is pretty accurate and has a fun selection of rock hunting locations to visit.

1 comments about Discovering Oregon's Wilderness Areas.

1. This guidebook can used as either a coffee table gift book with its multitudes of beautiful colored photographs or a guide to suggested hikes in Oregon's Wilderness areas. The author, for years a resident of Oregon, gives you one hundred of her favorite hikes to some of the Oregon's wild areas. The pictures in the book, like the two-page layout that shows a hiker on the Cooper Spur Trail in the Mt. Hood Wilderness viewing Mount Adams and Mount Rainier, or the close-up head shot of a common garter snake eating a bullfrog, are stunning. All photographs in the book were taken by the author, a renowned scenic and wildlife photographer. She describes Oregon's 36 wilderness and provides photographs that will entice you to visit them. The author has hiked every trail described in the book and provides the reader with information of the trails length, difficulty, highlights, elevation gain, maps required, best season, if permits are required, management contacts, highway directions, and trail information to the tenth of a mile. The author, who has written several Oregon hiking guides, knows what she is talking about, so if she says these are her favorite hikes you just to believe that they are going to be special. Don't take her word or mine, you will have to see a copy for yourself to appreciate its value.

4 comments about National Geographic Driving Guide to America, Pacific Northwest (NG Driving Guides).

1. Excellent maps , photos and facts. You do not need more details for plannin a trip to Alaska. Is really perfect.



2. This guide is well structured, the chapters on the states are color-coded and make it easy to find trips for the state you're interested in. I liked the classification with stars for locations - the reader knows at a glance which trip offers a lot of "must-sees" and/or interesting places to visit. And because it is a National Geographic guide, it also features lots of beautiful photographs.

   The guide is ideal for people who are on a schedule, and would still like to get the most out of a short trip. However, it does NOT offer tips on accomodation or restaurants. Although the appendix lists 800-numbers for hotel & motel chains, this isn't helpful when you plan to stay overnight in, let's say, Ritzville, WA, because there is no information which, if any hotels/motels are in that town.

   People who are looking for in-depth travel information would be better off with another guide. But if you don't want to carry a heavy book around or spend hours reading up on your destination, and you're just looking for hands-on tips on where to go, I would recommend this guide.




3. This book was disappointing. Although it boasts the, as always, lovely National Geographic photographs, the information and the writing are dated. It needs to be updated, at least.



4. The National Geographic Driving Guides are guides to Blue Highways, i.e., non-freeways. They are perfect for people who want to get back to the "real" America. Since they are written by different authors, they vary in quality.

   Of the ones that I have read, this one is the best. The author, Bob Devine, loves the Northwest, and has done an excellent job of ferreting out a lot of great sights to see and things to do. He also writes clearly.

   I was particularly interested in the sections on Alaska, because I was trying to figure out whether it would be interesting to me (I am not an outdoorsman), and if I do visit it, how to structure the trip. After reading this book, I decided that there were a lot of interesting things to do and see in the Anchorage area and decided to fly directly into there.

   Other good books in this series are the ones for Pennsylvania/New York, and Texas. The only bad one I've come across is the one for California.

1 comments about Civil and Savage Encounters: The Worldly Travel Letters of an Imperial Russian Navy Officer, 1860-1861 (North Pacific Studies Series ; No. 5).

1. I found a copy of CIVIL AND SAVAGE ENCOUNTERS in a little bookstore while vacationing in Alaska. The Alaskan landscape is beautiful and awe inspiring. However, once I started reading this diary, I couldn't stop. It is a treasure! I stress, I became so engrossed in Golovin's exceptional descriptions, I totally lost interest in the beauty of Alaska. I don't understand why this diary did not become a best seller.

   I loved Golovin's comparative descriptions between his beloved Russia and Europe. Americans will be mesmerized by his perception of the American Civil War.

   Golovin has a charming and wonderful vividness in his writing style. Could he have intended for his diary to be published? On the other hand, I have often heard it said that we have lost the art of good writing. We'll never learn the answer. Regardless, CIVIL AND SAVAGE ENCOUNTERS is a wonderful piece of literature.

1 comments about Waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest: 200+ Waterfalls throughout Oregon & Washington.

1. David Anderson is the third author to tackle a guidebook on waterfalls in the Pacific Northwest, and he does it in worthy fashion, but for the particular subject and area covered, this offering lacks the punch it needed to raise the bar. In addition to dozens of clerical and typographical errors, the process by which Anderson selected the waterfalls to include in the book seems odd.
   
   Omitted are many well known, easily accessed locations - such as Washington's Deception Falls along Highway 2, Spray Falls in Mount Rainier National Park and many of the easily accessed in Oregon's Columbia River Gorge and southern Willamette National Forests.
   
   I will give the author props for covering some new territory here - the Wallowa and Strawberry Mountains of north-central Oregon, where the other guidebooks are somewhat lacking, as well as one or two entries here and there which provide new information, but the book lacks a lot of in depth information that had made the other waterfall guidebooks put out by Countryman Press so well done, and I honestly expected more tutelage on how to properly photograph some of the locations when the book was authored by a professional photographer. I was quite disappointed in the lack of pictures as well (about 40 over 185 or so pages).
   
   All in all, its worth picking this book up if you enjoy visiting these locations, even sporadically - some of the directions are much more helpful than other books, and the maps are superb - but the selection and depth of the information presented is rather disappointing.

2 comments about Hiking the Bigfoot Country(A Sierra Club Totebook).

1. This little (fits in a jacket pocket. Handy!) book is a masterpiece and worth every penny. Not only do you get detailed maps and descriptions of trails in the Kalmiopsis wildland, Red Buttes and High Siskiyous, but you are also given good advice: walk it(don't ride, bike or drive). Pack everything out with you (rather than burying it. The bears *will* dig it up). John Hart tells you how to access some very obscure and little-known trails, how to follow trails which are faint, neglected and devastated by natural or human-inflicted disaster(s), gives you a "heads up" about areas where you might otherwise unwittingly trample salamanders and/or rare plants and speaks about wilderness areas that were (and still are) threatened by the activities of loggers and miners in Northern California and Southern Oregon. He gives potentially life-saving information, pinpointing locations of clean drinking water and shelter, weather conditions and recommendations for clothing and gear. Even if you never get off the sofa and go for a hike, this book is a terrific read!



2. I bought this book in Northern California at a Ranger station. I asked what book to buy and was directed to this one. The descriptions of nature - the flowers, trees, animal life - is a pleasure to read. If you can't actually be there, just reading about the beautiful places is satisfying. Also the author's love for this natural country and his awareness of how precious it is, and how endangered, is moving. All of the places he describes are in danger of being logged or abused by grazing cattle, and in fact I noticed both in some of the hikes I did based upon his book. The most beautiful place I visited was Young's Valley. I highly recommend visiting there if you can. It is 17 miles into the wilderness on a dirt road which can be traversed by auto, though the last couple of miles are very rough and have to be taken extremely slowly. You'll come to a large pond before the final stretch. Stop and take a look. There are flowers around but what you'll be struck by the most is the absolute quiet. Look in the water. It is filled with Western newts! Then drive the last couple of miles, park and hike down into deeply forested country below. You'll find abundant meadows on all sides, fragrant white Azaleas wherever you see water running, flowers of all kinds....Once you come to Young's meadow you'll find a huge expanse of grass and wildflowers with many smaller meadows around and snow-topped mountains ranging around. At the bottom end of the meadow you'll find a trail which follows a creek, ranging through deeply forested country with mossy rocks along side the creek. Red monkey flower adornes the creek and other flowers grow along the banks where there is some sun or opening in the forest. All I can say is it is beautiful country and I hope to God it is not destroyed. The author has done his best to insure that these beautiful places are kept that way for posterity.

No comments about Steens Mountain in Oregon's High Desert Country..

3 comments about Oregon's Best Wildflower Hikes: Northwest Region.

1. Filled cover to cover with 115 beautiful color photography of flowers, trails, and natural splendor, Oregon's Best Wildflower Hikes: Northwest Region is an amazing and informative guide showcasing 51 day hikes for prime wildflower viewing of such stunning visual beauty that it is a wonder for both avid hikers and armchair travelers alike. Specific hiking paths through Columbia Gorge, Cascade Ranger, Willamette Valley and more are presented with 52 "user friendly" maps and 52 plant life profiles in this superbly presented guidebook which is especially recommended for flower and nature lovers who yearn to enjoy all that Oregon's Northwest Region has to offer. If you are planning a field trip or outdoor vacation in the northwest region of Oregon, begin with browsing the pages of George Wuerthner's Oregon's Best Wildflower Hikes!



2. This guide has good maps, accurate trail ratings (at least for the several places I've visited and know of), beautiful pictures, and a good guide for blooming season. It covers hikes that will take most of the day to ones that are little more than a rest stop with scenic walking paths.

   For some of the sights listed in the gorge I've been there both when things are in bloom and when it is the height of summer and things are dry and arid. Both times have their beauty.

   This guide is well-written and easy to use.




3. I bought this book and its companion Washington guide at the same time and have not been disappointed by either. The layout of the two books is similar and have all the info necessary to get to the trailhead, follow the trail, and enjoy the hikes. The maps are good and easy to follow, although elevation contours are not shown.
   
   The photography in the Oregon guide is very good, but not nearly on the level of the Washington guide. Being confined to Northwest Oregon, all the hikes can be reached easily from any location in the Willamette Valley as wel as elsewhere. State-wide guides (such as the Washingtom companion) have hikes you may never visit because of the distance to the trailheads from where you live, but this regional Oregon guide has 52 hikes that you will want to visit.
   
   Wildflowers (common and scientific names) you should expect to see are described in the discussion of each hike, although spring and summer bloomers are mixed with no mention made of which is likely to be blooming when.
   
   A small quibble is that five of the hikes are not even in Oregon, but rather on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. Still, these hikes are as easy to reach for much of Willamette Valley's population as some of those in central Oregon.

2 comments about The Portland Red Guide: Sites & Stories of Our Radical Past.

1. 
   Portland's lively left-of-center history is brought back to life in 'Red Guide'
   The Oregonian
   June 17, 2007
   
   By John Terry
   
   
   
   
   Interesting, the things found in the closets of Portland's radical past:
   
   The founder of the exclusive Catlin Gabel School was accused of being a communist.
   
   Two Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame were from Portland; 12 in all were from Oregon.
   
   The principal of Kenton Elementary School allied herself with social reformer Jane Addams, played host to muckraker Upton Sinclair and hobnobbed with Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House.
   
   All this and much more thanks to the closet-cleaning work of intrepid Portland radical Michael Munk, whose new book, "The Portland Red Guide, Sites and Stories of our Radical Past," is new from Portland State University's Ooligan Press.
   
   Munk is a native of Prague, Czechoslovakia, whose family fled the Nazis and came to Portland in 1939. He's a graduate of Lincoln High School and Reed College, has a master's degree from the University of Oregon and doctorate from New York University. For 25 years Munk taught political science at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, Chicago's Roosevelt University and Rutgers before retiring in Portland.
   
   Munk -- Internet moniker "lastmarx" -- freely admits he's about as far to the political left as one can get without straying into the lunatic fringe. He's also an engaging personality with a delicious sense of irony evident throughout "Red Guide."
   
   The book is divided into six political eras from the 19th century to the present, each entry in each section numbered and cross-referenced to maps and photographs.
   
   Here is where radical writer John Reed grew up unfettered by Portland's upper-upper crust. There is where the Marine Workers Industrial Union headquartered during the 1934 Maritime Strike. Here is where Dr. Marie Equi in 1918 railed against war and was rewarded with three years in San Quentin.
   
   Much of Munk's material understandably deals with the social, labor and political conflicts that roiled local waters throughout the city's history, events old-guard conservatives would just as soon see black-lined from its history. It also memorializes many who added richly to the city's fabric and heritage -- racial minorities, social reformers, religious leaders.
   
   Ruth Catlin opened Miss Catlin's School for Girls in 1911 on Northwest Irving Street. She dedicated it to the "independence and freedom of action for women" and drew students "largely from Portland's wealthy elite," Munk says. She turned the school over to a board of directors in 1928 to become Catlin Gabel School.
   
   The late 1930s found her on the infamous Portland Police Red Squad's list of communist sympathizers because she was active in a group "devoted to defending the elected Spanish government against a fascist invasion," says Munk.
   
   Brothers Robert (Ruby) and Carl Deiz, graduates of Franklin High School, were Portland's contribution to the Tuskegee Airmen. Robert flew 93 missions with the segregated 332nd Fighter Group in Europe and was featured on a 1943 War Bond poster, "one of few depicting a black person," Munk says. Another Tuskegee airman, Charles Duke, was the first African American member of the Portland Police Department.
   
   Grace De Graff, Kenton Elementary principal, was among the founders of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, organized to urge women worldwide to "refuse to do the work men cannot do because they are busy murdering other men."
   
   Munk quotes a De Graff niece as recalling her thinking "what the Russians were doing was a desirable state of affairs," but also "Aaron Frank (of the department store Meier & Frank) was the nicest man" for helping out needy Kenton families.
   
   You can reach John Terry, a retired copy editor for The Oregonian and member of the Oregon Geographic Names Board, at terryjohnf@cs.com



2. It's a wonderful book and it's so well organized I can't believe it... delighted that my May Day toast is part of it. Gary Snyder