FEARFULLY MADE: Notes from the Field

The Fearfully Made presentation went off pretty smoothly. Friends and family, some unexpected, sat through a whole worship service to see this audio visual foray on a beautiful sunny day (which offered lots of other recreational temptations). I was touched and honored by their support. I've incorporated the live recording of Shirley Brendlinger's piano arrangement (from Sunday's presentation) into a video version available now on YouTube.

Curious to know where some of the pictures in the presentation were taken? Unsure of what some of the pictures are? This annotated timeline might prove to be helpful.

Click Me to download a print-it-yourself Timeline booklet! (in .pdf format)

To print in Acrobat:

specify 'actual size'

Check the 'Print-on-both-sides-of-paper' box

specify 'Flip on short end'

Then hit the print icon. After the first side is done, Acrobat will show you how to reload the one-sided print so the second side prints properly.

Fold it

Read it (if desired)

EARTH DAY, APRIL 22nd, 10 AM @ REEDWOOD FRIENDS CHURCH

Beauty from Chaos has been the working title for the presentation of images I’ve assembled over the last month, but the thing that sparked this endeavor in the first place was the night the Eagle Creek Fire sprinted down the Columbia Gorge with the capriciousness of a tornado, obliterating some treasured landmarks while leaving others unscathed. Standing in the smoky darkness atop the Cape Horn Viewpoint, I was awed and horrified all at the same time. While I knew that lives and the works of lifetimes were hanging in jeopardy, I also knew that beauty, whose loss I was mourning, was itself a product of volcanic ‘disasters’, geography altering super floods, tectonic-plate-level seismic events, and countless fires through the eons. Indeed, from a cosmic perspective, life was born from stars and it has contended with fire from the very beginning.

The Reedwood Friends have posted the publicity for FEARFULLY MADE: Notes From the Field on their website:

(Event has occurred, web address is outdated)

FEARFULLY MADE: Notes From The Field is the second audio/video collaboration between photographer Scott Dietz and pianist Shirley Brendlinger. Scheduled to premiere on Earth Day, April 22nd, at Reedwood Friends Church (during the worship service), the presentation utilizes Scott’s images of the Pacific Northwest and Shirley’s classical music arrangements to explore a suspected correlation (albeit a paradoxical one) between chaos and beauty: Does beauty spring from chaos? Is chaos beautiful?

FEARFULLY MADE: Notes from the field

I was sitting at a funeral reading the verses to the Sending Hymn (sung to the tune of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy). “Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea, Chanting bird and flowing fountain, teach us what our praise should be.” And I thought to myself, that’s what I was trying to explain to Dwight, except that with Dwight, I was relating the story of a Catholic nun who was explaining to me that there was another gospel, the testament of nature — the Artist’s brushstrokes (as I’ve said before).

Implicit in my title, I’m suggesting that the pictures I’ve taken are my notes from the field (of study). I began with an assumption that beauty arises from chaos, but after reviewing my notes, I noticed that this does not always seem to be true, especially for some individual trees. So, in an effort to follow where the data leads, I’ve picked a title that I hope allows for the emergence of beauty from chaotic scenarios, but recognize (from my limited perspective) it’s not a sure thing.

I’ve divided the presentation into four segments. The first segment deals with Cosmology. I have to say that, on my budget, it is extraordinarily hard to take pictures of the beginning of the universe. I had to use lentils as stand-ins so technically, some of my ‘notes’ are re-iterations of other people’s notes. My intention, though, was to establish the context of our world by sharing the narrative that stretches from the ‘Big Bang’ to the development of human consciousness. It’s a fascinating story that stretches 13.7 billion years. I had to leave a few parts out.

The second segment deals with geology broadly, and volcanoes in particular. From the lava vents that repeatedly flooded Central Oregon with molten basalt, to our temperamental strato-volcanoes (all fueled by the activity of migrating, earthquake causing, tectonic plates) volcanism has played a significant role in the shaping of the Northwest as well as dictating how our environment works today. The land we stand on, the weather we experience, and the water we drink are all keenly related to the formation of the Cascade Range.

The third segment briefly touches upon evidence of Ice-age floods. After the land was in place, water and ice went to work sculpting its face. The failure of ice dams repeatedly allowed the sudden entirety of vast Missoula Lake to pour across Central Washington creating the scablands, incredible scooped out coulees, and hanging waterfalls. Much of the distinctiveness of the Columbia Gorge is dependent on these episodes when the river’s peak flow-rate was ten times the combined flow of all the rivers in the world.

The final segment centers on fires I’ve seen in the Columbia Gorge with some examples of what occurs in the aftermath.

It’s a conundrum. The world is unbelievably beautiful. And if you aren’t careful, it will kill you.

I have a confession. Sitting at funerals, I sometimes have a suspicion that my dead friends are truly dead — that there may not be a life everlasting.  As one who values the fruits of a scientific worldview, I long for evidence or proof. Out in the field, with my camera, I see hints. The repeating, renewing cycles of the seasons and perhaps even the cleansing, refining work of fire are patterns that suggest Nature is constantly recycled. And though I would like to fit into this pattern personally — to be renewed — I am afraid it is likely to be quite painful.

I have camped on an island that has all at once tried to exhaust, freeze and drown me. Alternately, the same island has cradled me in a warm summer evening while providing me with all the oysters and berries I could eat. It’s the same island — only my experience and understanding change. I guess that’s why, when my loved ones lie in their final repose, I sing (Well, O.K., I don’t really sing – I follow along in the hymnal) those relentlessly optimistic songs. It is an exercise of hope. It is faith that my unbelief will be helped. I latch on to the conviction that, “Brothers! Above the canopy of stars, must dwell a loving Father.”

In the meantime, the world is unbelievably beautiful.

Finally, I’d like to point out that I am not technically a Quaker and I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the synthesis of ideas presented in this article are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of Quakers, real scientists or members of my family.

According to a very old story, God makes a wager with Satan and calamity soon befalls a good man named Job. Abandoned and in considerable pain, Job asks questions that occur to him, like why do the wicked go unpunished? There follows considerable debate among Job and his ‘friends’, but eventually, God speaks from out of a whirlwind and berates Job with a flurry of rhetorical questions.

Where is the home of the east wind?

Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain?

Who laid out the path for the lightning?

Who makes the rain fall on barren land,

in a desert where no one lives?

Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground

and make the tender grass spring up?

God seems displeased that Job has questioned his wisdom. God’s strategy seems to be to direct Job’s attention to His creation. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” He asks.

In Fearfully Made: Notes From the Field, the audience will see the channels cut for the torrents of rain, the barren land where no one lives and the parched ground where tender grass springs up. What do these landscapes shaped by cataclysm reveal about the creator?

When I revealed the title to my presentation, I promptly received two emails from my Mom asserting that it’s, “…fearfully AND WONDERFULLY made.” She didn’t explain why this distinction was so important to her, but I suspect she wants to counter my emphasis on the fearful part and remind me that God is good. So without further ado…

WHAT'S LEFT?

The lodge at Multnomah Falls is open again — and that’s not fake news. But the lodge is about all that’s open. The route to the first viewpoint is screened off with a section of chain-link fence. This is the best shot I could get holding my camera up over my head to clear the fence. You can see the railing of the distant observation area in the lower right corner. Even as I stood behind the barrier, workers brought more fence to make sure that certain ‘gray areas’ of access were no longer open to interpretation.

The wind was hurtling westward down the gorge, and plastic chairs that may have earlier welcomed winter tourists’ butts were now stacked in compact piles, perhaps to avoid the prospect of flying furniture.

Tree limbs combed the sky for litter nits.

Already, it’s hard to be certain if one is looking at fire damage, or autumn’s annual tree stripping.

It’s so windy that some waterfalls stop falling.

The iridescent sheen of charcoal is the tell-tale signature of the fire.

The high ridges exposed to the wind bore the brunt of the flames.

At least some of the railing at the top observation platform appears to be intact.

Fire has rhymes and reasons that I don’t understand.

The same niche that protects the falls from today’s wind must also have provided some degree of aerodynamic shelter during the fire.

Click on images to view larger versions

Some of the burnt trees have been removed, and I suppose park personnel have taken steps to make the area look nice. But enough evidence remains to speculate that the lodge’s survival — is a surprise.

Artist's depiction of Eagle Creek Fire at Multnomah Lodge 09/05/17

Eagle Creek Fire: Out of Sight, out of mind.

Several days of rain have driven parts of the Eagle Creek Fire into quiet bouts of seething resentment. But here and there unexpectedly — absent any ventilating breeze — tell-tale plumes of smoke reveal hiding places where glowing embers yet lurk under blankets of ash. According to wildfiretoday.com, the fire is only 46% contained, but one would never suspect it while traveling the gorge corridor confined to SR-14.

I took a picture of this sign, wondering where my balls went. Meanwhile half a dozen bicyclists pulled down the orange safety barrier and pedaled out to the end of the viewpoint.

Curiosity about the state of the gorge after wildfire ran rampant across its vertical faces inspired me to seek access to the trails and viewpoints along I-84 along the Oregon side of the gorge, but the eastbound lanes were still closed on Friday. I drove the back way into Corbett, hoping to find some unguarded route into the post-fire scenery, but every road I tried, sooner or later, ended in a roadblock or fence.  

The road to the Vista House was blocked off.  Even the Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint was fenced off, so I had to hike along the guardrail at the edge of the rural thoroughfare, looking for vantage points through the ‘shrubberies’ to catch glimpses of the iconic landmark (that looked distinctly untouched by fire) all the while listening for the approach of monster pickup trucks careening around corners at speeds possible only for locals intimately familiar with the route and the likely location of speed traps.

From this viewpoint, the gorge looks largely pristine, save for the singed trees on Archer Mountain on the Washington side (Upper left), the one spot where the fire was able to jump the Columbia.

Crown Point (Vista House) as it appears from Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Washington.

Sunday, the weather was warm and sunny and the air was fairly clear. 

Landscape obscured by rain and clouds

I took yet another trip up SR-14 to survey the gorge since last week’s trip in the rain wasn’t very informative.

Once again, I’m including this picture from 2010 for comparison purposes.

Click on image to view larger version

This is how the gorge looks as of Sunday the 24^th. The pictures were taken closer to the middle of the day instead of toward evening, so I was better able to see where the fire had left its marks. Even though the smoke was minimal, there was still a haze in the air which kept my images from being their sharpest. 

Using the long lens to shoot across the gorge often resulted in a bluish tint to my pictures which sometimes made it difficult to distinguish between burnt and un-burnt trees, so I’ve taken steps to compensate for this — sometimes at the cost of color fidelity.

Straight across from my Cape Horn vantage point is the feature known as Angel’s Rest. It is one of the few places I was able to easily identify, partly because I’m familiar with the Angel’s Rest trail. Video from news helicopters has caused local news anchors to describe Angel’s Rest as 'toast', and the video footage shows sobering images of the trail’s switchbacks climbing through what looks like an apocalyptic landscape.

I don’t have a helicopter.

In this image, you can make out the switchbacks at lower middle(ish).

To be fair, this picture of Angels Rest that I took from my kayak back in August of 2009 shows that this isn’t the first time that the area has been subjected to fire

Another view taken in April, 2010

It looks like maybe Bridal Veil Falls fared well.

But the fire may have had some impact at Bridal Veil Falls State Park. It’s hard to tell whether I’m looking at singed trees or hints of autumn.

Looking upriver, Archer Mountain’s singed trees stick out at upper left.

A closer view of Archer Mountain from St. Cloud Recreation Area.

The St. Cloud Day-Use Area was formerly somebody's apple orchard. Those who require insights into the nature of gravity would do well to slumber beneath the fruit laden branches here.

As inviting as some of the apples appear, apple maggot quarantine signs trigger my suspicions.

I made my way down to the edge of the river at the St. Cloud Recreation Area. The following pictures show the sometimes surprising mix of burnt and unburnt trees across the river, a pattern that fire officials have been describing as a mosaic.

It seems like the folks at Cascade Locks were pretty lucky.

Homeward bound, I chose not to cross the bridge at Hood River (because I didn’t have any change for the toll) even though I-84 W had been open for several days. Instead, I followed SR-14 back the way I came…

…beneath a waxing moon…

Last Sunday, in the rain, fire was burning all the way down to I-84 somewhere in between Wyeth and Starvation Creek State Park.  Today, however, from my Washington vantage point, I was unable to see any evidence of fire. The landscape beneath Starvation Ridge formed a striking triangle shape, something I hadn’t ever appreciated before. 

Westbound traffic was lined up and at a standstill, perhaps the result of weekend adventurers postponing their return to the working week—until the very last minute.