Earlier this month, I did a four day float of the John Day River for to run camera for Oregon Public Broadcasting’s beloved program Oregon Field Guide with Ian Madin, Ouzel Outfitters, and an awesome group of geology enthusiasts.
Ian is a world class geologist, artist, river rat and teacher. Just don't call him a rock hound! 😉
He's called Oregon home since moving here from California decades ago, and knows that Oregon is special for a lot of reasons, but geologically—its in a league of its own.
As we all settled into the cadence of river life, Ian explained the millions of years of geologic history that shaped this landscape, this state, this continent, and the planet. It was a fascinating trip to document, with all the challenges of filming in aquatic environments, and I left with a much greater appreciation for how unique our volcanic backyard is, and how somebody like Ian can look out in the distance and read the landscape like a book, pointing out catalysmic plot shifts here, poetic flourishes there, with an elegant sense of Earth's greater narrative and our place in it.
Time is tricky thing to grok... with our fleeting existence, we get such a small window to understand and appreciate the sheer, unthinkable scale of space and time. As a climber, I've always studied rocky landscapes looking for good cracks to climb or the illusive "path of least resistance." It was a special opportunity to see it for something so much more than that, something primal and primordial, something that was here long before humans drew their first breath, and will be here long after we are gone.
I look forward to seeing the film that OPB puts together, and as always, gratitude for the opportunity to make films about Oregon's natural wonders in the world of Public Media. It needs more help now than ever, and stories like this are what keep it alive!
