McKenzie Pass Preview

South and Middle Sister
West of McKenzie Pass Summit
August 2008

Some roads have this misfortune of becoming over-traveled, ugly manifestations of all that is wrong with modern American society. McKenzie Pass is not one of those roads. If speed and safety is what you look for in a road, do not take this one. If beautiful scenery and tight turns excite you, this is the road for you. McKenzie Pass is hard to maintain, barely open to cars, and full of nausea inducing turns. But I can tell you, this is the most exciting sign in Oregon this time of year:




My mother and I are driving McKenzie Pass this Saturday in her new truck, and I am eager to 1) take a break from studying for the Oregon Bar, 2) mess around with the camera, and 3) get some good shots to enter in this contest. Contests are always interesting, and while I doubt I will get a good enough shot to win anything, it's only $5 to enter, goes to a good cause, and you never know how good your photos are.

McKenzie Pass presents a number of potential subjects for myself: Upper Proxy Falls, Lower Proxy Falls, virtually every Cascade Mountain in Oregon, lava fields, forests, small animals (chipmunks), and twisty, curvy roads.

My main ambition for this trip is to get a great shot at Dee Wright Observatory through the observation windows. Dee Wright is a lovely FDR era building made out of volcanic rock, and the observatory has windows opening on to specific Cascade peaks with a label.

I tried to get a shot of this with my old point and shoot in 2008, but it didn't turn out well.

You have no idea North Sister is visible through this window. My hope is to get the lighting right and get both the plaque and the mountain in one shoot.....preferably in black and white. I don't think color would add much to a photo like this, and the contrast in a black and white photo would be very cool. Obviously the challenge is lighting.....and I hope to figure something out to get both in frame and lit well.

Hopefully all turns out well.

Peace.......