[pct-l] Sky Lakes Wilderness (Deems)

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, Patchwork,



Below is a quote in reference to the naming of Ramona Falls.  Like most
word-of-mouth sources it may, or may not, be true.  If it isn’t true – it
ought to be:



*Oregon Geographic Names, Seventh Edition*

By McArthur & McArthur

Page 798



“Ramona Falls, Clackamas.   Ramona Falls is a heavily visited spot where the
Pacific Crest national Scenic Trail crosses the upper reaches of Sandy
River.  The *Sunday Oregonian*, September 16, 1973 p. 4m (sic), has an
interesting article by Leverett Richards on the Civilian Conservation Corp
or the CCC’s.  He recounts an interview with John E. Mills, a USFS employee
who supervised a great deal of trail and bridge building by the
enrollees.  Mills
stated that he discovered and named the falls on August 8, 1933, while
locating trail.  He further said he was courting his wife-to-be and his head
was full of the romantic song “Ramona”.  The compiler remembers as a young
man a popular movie and song of that time based on the novel by Helen Hunt
Jackson.”



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT -- 1965

 http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

 http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 11:45 AM, Alan Artman <alanartman at msn.com> wrote:

> Great pictures, Deems, as always.
>
> In a 1997 hike of the Oregon PCT, I camped at Stuart Falls (about halfway,
> as I recall, between Devil's Peak and Crater Lake, but a short detour off
> the PCT).   Stuart Falls was beautiful, a little sister to Mt. Hood's
> Ramona
> Falls, the same sort of sparkling cascade.  I took a picture,  which I
> later
> showed in a presentation I made about the PCT.  After my talk, a woman in
> her late 70s I'd guess, came up and told me that the Falls were named after
> her father-in-law, who had had heart attack and died while camping there in
> the 1920s.  She thanked me because she had never actually seen the Falls.
>  I
> asked Eric Valentine to make a copy of his excellent photo of the Falls,
> and
> I sent it to her.
>
> This little story is of course all I need to segue into my annual plea to
> the next year's PCT class (2010, are you there yet?) to be sure to make the
> tiny detour off the "official" PCT to see Ramona Falls, with its amazing
> show of the dappled light coming through the trees on a sunny day.  Then
> continue down beautiful Ramona Creek (which has a couple of wonderful
> campsites just barely visible on the right about a mile down), and pick up
> the official PCT again at the junction of the "temporary" reroute, about
> two
> miles down from the falls.  Check out Erik the Black's PCT Atlas for the
> route.
>
> Wait, there's more! Blame it on the changing weather, I suppose, as well as
> Deems' pictures, but now I've gone all reflective.
>
> I went to a reading the other night from a new book, "Timberline Lodge: The
> History, Art, and Craft of an American Icon", by Sarah Baker Munro.  (2009,
> Timber Press)  Sarah is a good friend; her office was across the hall from
> mine in the law firm we worked for during the past 15 years.  Many were the
> nights and weekends she burned the midnight oil in the creation of this
> book, which came about from her involvement in Friends of Timberline since
> the 1970s.  Although I've been to Timberline A LOT over the past 40
> years--including partaking in the famous buffet breakfast during my
> attempted thru-hike in 2008--I've learned a lot from Sarah's book that I
> did
> not know, or knew only superficially.   Timberline Lodge is an amazing
> story--actually two amazing stories:  first, the building of the Lodge
> itself in the 1930s as a WPA project, and second, the restoration of the
> Lodge in the 1950s by Richard Kohnstamm, who obtained the permit to operate
> the Lodge and rescued it from the deterioration and abuse it had suffered
> during the 40s and early 50s.  Now, especially now in these difficult
> times,
> I find inspiration in the story of Timberline as the ongoing fulfillment of
> the dreams of a number of people, over many years, against great odds.
>
> So here's my second suggestion to the Class of 2010 (of which I hope to be
> a
> member!):  after you've had your fill at the amazing Timberline buffet
> breakfast, resolve to spend an hour or so looking around the Lodge.  Watch
> the 10-minute documentary downstairs on the building of the lodge, maybe
> catch the Ranger's tour, check out the small museum.  It's worth your
> while.
>
> Hope to see you on the Trail next year!
>
> Alan Artman (Patchwork)
>
> PS:  And if I ever learn who Ramona was, I'll be sure to pass that along to
> you!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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