BECAUSE OF JOE ROCK

Our tour is stopped in the Naxi City of Jiliang which is now a major tourist attraction for one major reason, Joe Rock. This morning, we are introduced to city guide Wu the local expert who will escort us to Yunshangping, the village where Joe Rock lived for many years. He came to Yunshangping in 1926.

His house is similar to this one. Entrance through a courtyard surrounded by buildings on three sides.  It contains garden plants, and hay for the animals.

The animals are housed directly across from the personal residence.

The middle building upstairs is like a granary, where crops are stored. Beneath tools, and other needful items are stored. This is obviously the dwelling of an affluent family. Joe Rock’s house is now owned by a “Dandy” who keeps up the house and a small museum with some pictures of Joe Rock.  He has strict rules about pictures. You pay for each one and he dresses up and poses in them.  I took one picture of him at Joe Rock’s house.

Perhaps in his own way, he is a colorful man for this area, but, Joe Rock was a legend. An American anthropologist/botanist who traveled and studied extensively in Asia.  He was the first Westerner to meet the Naxi. They were not friendly to outsiders but Joe Rock brought and gave them medicine and gained their trust.  He was very fat and he hired Chinese men to carry him on a special chair like some royal Egyptian out of a Hollywood Movie. He wrote several books and lived in this village for many years while he examined, photographed and studied their pictographic language, and translated it into a written language. He preserved the culture of the old-timers before they died and the language became lost. He photographed their rituals and studied their culture extensively as well as local plants, medicinal practices, their music and dance;  their textiles and calligraphy. His character is interesting and so are the Naxi. It is worth a look at this website.  .http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=172&catid=5&subcatid=87#11

Yunshangping sits below the Eastern Himalayan Mountains with a view of the snow capped peaks in the distance. Wu tells us the Naxi in this village do not like to have their picture taken so we try to capture them surreptitiously.

Most of the houses are made from this beautiful volcanic rock and wood. We are walking the main thoroughfare of the village which isn’t very big, guessing that maybe 1000 people live here.

This Naxi man is leading a Chinese tourist on a horse.

The bright blue cap and garb is traditional Naxi clothing worn by everyone.

A Naxi grandma surrounded with her grandchildren enjoyed watching  tourists like Michal, befriending this pony.

We saw many of these small pony’s around town.

A mountain stream runs through the middle of town, their source of fresh water.

We noticed a couple men cooking on outdoor braziers. The dog is very obedient and the Naxi love their  pets according to Wu.

Children play in the streets which see very little vehicle traffic. People walk or ride horses.

Clothing, washed by hand, like cooking, done outside.

We hated to leave this peaceful village, but we pushed on higher up the mountain to Hanzai.

BEARDS HOLLOW AT SEAVIEW WASHINGTON

Overlooking Beards Hollow, a place where William Clark explored  very close to where we are parked. This area must have impressed him as it does me. It’s a northern rain forest. We hiked down to the landing and took pictures up and back.

Spring is evident, though its been cold and wet, even for this area.

Cottonwood seeding, blowing about, covering sections of water like snow flakes.

People here enjoy riding horses and cars on the beach. They are wide, long and easily assessable.

The surf is tinged with a dirty brown from an oil spill. But the air was clean and invigorating.

Rock here is definitely a souvenir of  old volcanic activity.

Harp rock, was named for its shape. Easy to climb about and explore. Lewis and Clark named obvious rocks so they could have reference points to give others and help their own navigation in new territory.

Volcanic Harp rock  plays host to numerous small plants,vines, and trees.

Ferns unfurling resemble plants from the age of dinosaurs.

Without my Western Garden  Book,  with some consultation on the walk with others, we decided this huge leaved plant is angels lace. A new leaf and blossom extrude from the same sheath at the same time.

I spotted this little snake trying to get some sun on a dead tree.

The area we hiked through is also a wetlands. At one time, it was covered by ocean. In this pond full of giant water lilies, a lightweight  bird, didn’t even dent its floating perch.
This plant reminded me of edible greens. We returned home for lunch, refreshed and hungry.

We visited this beach in 2008 without the awful residue of oil. Hopefully we can return someday to find it clean again.
I took 37 pictures if you’d like to see them visit my link:https://picasaweb.google.com/106530979158681190260/2011530BeardSPt#

YAQUINA HEAD LIGHTHOUSE AND TIDE POOLS

Interesting that this small town of Newport  has the tallest remaining lighthouse,  and the smallest remaining lighthouse in Oregon. Yaquina Head Lighthouse is  the tallest, at ninety-three feet, and 114 steps. In fact, if you put a dollar in the tank at the top, you get a pin declaring you survived the climb. The keepers had to be in good shape after working this lighthouse carrying oil cans up those stairs to the lense. This lense is one of the first Fresnel lenses and did not rotate.
The small building next to the lighthouse is the oil house. The keeper’s residences were removed over a period of years when no longer needed.
The oil supply containers remain from the old days. Imagine hauling oil up this steep rocky point with just ruts for a road in the 1800′s. Its not easily accessible even today. It requires a 12 minute walk to get there on a nicely provided even surface. The point is 162 feet above sea level.
The keepers desk remains as well. The keepers were instructed to record everything about them, whether it was windy, raining, foggy, sunny,  the temperature changes and times, ships seen, ships lights seen,  but also such  mundane things as debris on the beach. If there were lightening strikes, an inspection or a ship smashed on the rocks, things got exciting. The logs were kept partly to alleviate boredom. Keepers were provided  a boxed library to encourage them to read and better their education.
Waiting in line to get up to the top, I recognized this woman I know from my neighboring town of Sonora. She is Dr. Ralph Retherford’s secretary, my own family practice physician. What are the odds?
Below the lighthouse the beach is rugged, rocky and attractive to seabirds that feast on the mussels at low tide. The tide pools are available for sightseeing by traversing eighty-six well built, safe steps to the bottom of the hill. Walking across the volcanic cobblestones that make up most of this beach was a bit challenging for those in good physical shape.
The cobblestones were formed when lava hit the cold ocean and made instant stone droplets of all sizes. The tide pools had fat, green sea anenomes some round and some oblong. Kelp strands unfamiliar to me and starfish.

It would have been nice to pick up some mussels for dinner but no harvesting was allowed. Instead, we had lunch in town around the once famous Nye Beach resort area. Lot of neat shops and galleries to look through.
The BLM handles Yaquina Lighthouse site with an excellent interpretive center. Maintaining an old quarry on the grounds for tide pool viewing for people with disabilities is another unique feature of this particular park, which surrounds the working lighthouse. Of course, the lighthouse is only valuable to fishing boats and pleasure craft and people like us who love to dip back in time. If you find yourself near Newport, don’t miss it.

STONE FENCES AND CORRALS

In the 1860's, livestock owners allowed their cattle or sheep to run unfettered anywhere they chose to graze. But, in the 1870s, California passed laws to protect farmer's crops from livestock. Ranchers were held liable for damage from their herds whether the farm had a fence or not. Tuolumne, Amador and Calaveras Counties have an abundance of rock fences and corrals. The native rocky terrain is the result of prehistoric volcanic flows, a material that was plentiful and cheap. These stone fences and corrals are clearly visible on private and public lands from the highways. The barriers kept animals from trespassing and also helped keep fires from spreading. They were built by Chinese laborers, stonemasons, ranchers, prospectors and homesteaders and are still serving as fences today, a testament to the stone workers craftsmanship of long ago since they were built without mortar. Its called "laid dry". Some of the oldest examples are found at the Russell and Twist ranches and the Crimea House near Jamestown on Highway 108 that date back to the 1850s.