Elk Camp

Elk Camp is one of those places that calls you back, time and time again. It is an absurd place to camp: high up on a cut, away from the rigs, on the outside of the sharpest curve of Union Pacific's 2.2% Blue Mountain grade. All of the camping gear has to be lugged to the top, tent, stove, water, chairs, etc. But it's fabulous. The ground vibrates, the exhaust from the struggling locomotives is thundering.

I've camped at Elk Camp, or nearby because my 2wd pickup stalled out in the creek crossing (an inadequate substitute for my Landcruiser), at least once for each of the past 14 years. After not staying up on the cut for the past two years, this spring I decided to spend the full-moon weekend at Elk Camp proper. The weather was great, warm enough in the day, but still cold enough to sit close by the fire in the evening. Camp fire talk drifted from catching up with Jon, a long-time partner of 4-wheeling and camping trips, to the struggle of the Oregon Trail emigrants, who strained to move their wagons across the rough terrain that we now effortlessly crawl over in our low-geared 4x4s. We toss another log on the fire, watch as the moon darts in and out of the cloudy sky, occasionally silhoutting a big ponderosa pine and backlighting the fleecy clouds. The creek below tumbles over the rocks, high with spring runoff.



After a while the signal lights up, green over red, time for an eastbound. Jon watches from his seat by the fire as the big drag freight drifts downgrade, dynamic brakes whining.



A few mintues later the scanner crackles to life, "good on the rollby, you guys have a great night." Then we hear 4 big motors come to life as a westbound grinds out of the siding at Hilgard, at the base of the grade. A few minutes later, Amanda and Jon watch as an emtpy mixed-manifest labors upgrade.

After the trains pass, more logs are tossed on the fire and conversation continues. I was wishing for more trains, to photograph under that big full moon, but it was a slow night on the railroad. After a couple more hours uninterrupted by trains, we crawled in our sleeping bags. There'll be more long evenings by the fire at Elk Camp.