26 continued Sun setting over the Cascade Mountains from the Three Sisters Wilderness. Walking in White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Most walks in Portland these days might be noted as “interesting,” but seldom would they be noted as rewarding. Most walks in my career mirror the ones you may have taken in yours. Three hundred feet through the blackberries; a quarter mile down the hill only to have to go back to the truck to get whatever tidbit of forgotten gear; a mile over hill and dale to find that blown angle in a traverse and much more. And then there are those other walks. Those walks where it may be work, but it’s what fulfills us for what we do. You know the ones...where the sun is breaking through on a foggy morning to reveal some special scene, or the ones where you find yourself alone on line watching some amazing wildlife close up and undisturbed. Those walks are the ones we all cherish as a small part of the reward for the work we do. Have you ever gone walking in the wilderness? Some of the most rewarding walks I’ve taken were the 50-mile backpack trips through the Three Sisters Wilderness with the Boy Scouts. Wilderness can transform you. There’s a special spot I frequented on those hikes where you can watch the sunset and the layers of mountains in various shades of blue disappearing into that sunset. Where it was so quiet you could The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 2 The Lost Surveyor
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