I feel like my body is made out of beef jerky. The desert, and its arid hot air have sapped me of all my strength and liquids. Everything we have with us to drink is close to boiling. And then as I make the first turn west I see the first clouds I have seen all day. They are 2.5 hours away, over Portland but I see them and know. Portland will be moist when we return.

maybe the heat is starting to get to me, or maybe its the feeling like I have been here before, but I start to feel a little queasy

the severe desolation of this place begins to make me edgy, time to press on

now we seam to have strayed into some strange desert/prairie complete with the occasional tumbleweeds crossing our path

another fifteen minutes east, and I am urged to pull over to have a look at this strange new turn the landscape has taken

caitlyn investigates a bizzare outcropping of rock on the side of the road. looks to me like this whole area used to be under water, but i am no geologist. any clues about this type of formation would be appreciated!

after another fifteen minutes' drive we wind our way up out of the canyon we are in, judging from the size of mount hood in the distance, i would say that we are as far away from mount hood now as we are when in portland although this time to the east. we are all amazed that the land can change this much over such a short distance.

we decided it was time for the mechanical archeology class to end so we got into our truck and headed farther east.

this beautiful destroyed place, what is it about destruction, and decay that arouses so many thoughts in my head? i guess only time will answer that.

to me this is a beautiful place inspiring of so much thought, like an archeologist sifting through the remains of an ancient culture, i piece together the story of this masive machines' life. Based soley on my understanding of mechanics, and the forensic clues that are left behind, i feel i have a reasonable picture of what this place might have been like at one time. Though there are no tourist signs here to let me know if my hypothesis is correct or close, i feel certain that it is. I found myself explaining this place and its function in a frenzied excitement to both caitlyn and matt, who just nodded their heads making me feel like the universe's biggest dork. making my brain feel even more alone that normal. i felt an expresion spread across my face that reminded me of expressions i have seen my father wear

the magnets for this generator must have been masive based on the size of those keyways in the shaft mounted wheel, and there must have been miles of copper wire spun around the fingers of those winding plates. all the small and valuable pieces have been picked away, and now as i come to see this strange and dead place it occures to me that it is like coming upon a whale's carcass on the beach. like those sunbleached huge bones picked clean by scavangers, this power mill is a reminder of how little i know.

a drive wheel that must have spun tens of thousands of times per day, now won't spin at all.

old clamps holding back massive ammounts of pressure! they are nothing but skeletons now

inside the shack are the remnants of water turbines that used to provide power for the nearby towns. this place has soo many layers it is difficult to speculate what it must have been like. 75 years ago, more than a lifetime for some, these great big monsters would be running non-stop, creating one hell of a din!

by following the carcass pipes one will be lead to the entrance to the shack

behind a forground of rust covered turn of the century pipes, resides a handsome and abandon old hydro electric mill

these are the falls at the white river, there used to be a power station here. this dry unstable earth erodes quickly, and the river changes it's course with frequency.

we turn from the main highway and drive for a little while to get to the park we are headed, it is so dry here the ground crackles underfoot. you can feel the water being wicked out of your skin, and it is hard to believe that one hour ago you we're driving through lush green old growth

another half hour, and there are no longer any trees

driving east on rt.84 only an hour or so away from portland and the landscape begins to change

twin water falls in the columbia river gorge area