Momentary Light at Cottonwood Canyon

I’ve had my eye on Cottonwood Canyon for some time.

One of Oregon’s newest state parks, Cottonwood Canyon sits on the John Day River in the north-central part of the state.

There is something really special about Oregon’s high desert areas and the rivers that run through them. Perhaps it’s a bit of nostalgia for having grown up camping in the Bend, Oregon area virtually every single year of my life.

I had come across Cottonwood Canyon by perusing the online map of Oregon State Parks and looking for any park that seemed to be somewhat remote. This particular park certainly fit that bill and when I noticed it was on the John Day River I was even more excited for the potential.

Back in 2019, my wife and I camped along the John Day River a bit further south after spending the day in the Painted Hills, a beautiful geologic site that is part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Camping next to a river and being lulled to sleep by its soft sounds is always a regenerative experience.

I had been monitoring weather conditions for more than two months and after a long stretch of winter storms, rainy days, and crazy winds, it looked like there was finally going to be a break with some potential for good photography conditions. So I loaded up the truck with food, water, firewood, and the necessary camping gear and made the ~3-hour drive from western Oregon out to Cottonwood Canyon.

I arrived at the park around 3pm to partly-cloudy skies and a brisk wind. It looked like sunset might be good.

I quickly set about getting camp set up and then prepared my camera bag. On the drive in, I had seen an area near the park entrance that looked like a good spot to try to find a composition for sunset. With a bit of time still before golden hour, I decided to go ahead and make the mile back to the park entrance on foot.

I took the trail that parallels the river, meandering in and out amongst the tall desert grasses and the occasional bunch of trees. As I walked, the cloud formations above changed frequently with the blowing wind as the sun played hide and seek. With luck, the sun would eventually drop underneath the clouds and light them up from below.

When I arrived back at the park entrance I took a few moments to look out across the scene before and simply enjoy it.

The soft ripple of the water flowing downstream.

The song of birds.

The fresh air.

The setting sun cascading back across the valley and bathing everything in warm light.

These are the moments I need. The moments that wash away negative thoughts and energy, renew my spirit and lift me up to see the beauty all around me.

After a few deep breaths, I set about exploring the area for compositions. What I had in mind was using the river as a leading line to bring the viewer’s eye down the valley towards the setting sun. After hiking about a quarter mile down a trail on the right side of the river, it became clear that this particular trail wasn’t going to get me close enough to the water’s edge to get the composition I wanted, so I headed back.

After re-analyzing my options, it looked like my best bet was to try the other side of the river. This meant hiking up to and crossing the bridge for the main road… not particularly ideal as there wasn’t much of a shoulder on the bridge itself. I’d have to move quickly.

Once I was up on the bridge, I realized that the only way to achieve the composition I was hoping for would be to set up my tripod and camera smack dab in the middle of the bridge. Unfortunately, there was just no way to safely do so. There was a surprising amount of cars utilizing the road and I would basically be standing right in one of the lanes. So I continued across the bridge and set up just on the other side.

As I feared, this meant I wasn’t able to utilize the river as a leading line as I had hoped. In fact, from this new vantage point, the river was barely visible in the frame. But, it would have to do.

With my camera set up, it was now a waiting game. I watched the sun and the clouds do their thing, occasionally firing off a shot to try and capture a moment of light.

Suddenly, the sun broke through and the entire valley was lit up with its warm glow. A huge starburst appeared on my camera screen and I began to furiously take exposures to try and capture the light.

In a moment, it was gone.

In many ways, this is photography in a nutshell. Hours spent finding and getting to a location, then hours waiting, and then just a few moments of magical light to make it all worth it. Or just as easily, no light at all.

With the sun beginning to fade and the temperature dropping fast, I decided to make my way back to camp.

After a quick dinner, I crawled into my tent and tried to sleep early so I would feel rested enough to brave the cold at sunrise. Unfortunately, the wind had other ideas, and sleep proved to be elusive.

Still, I managed to wake up a couple of hours before sunrise and poke my head out of the tent. My heart sank a bit as I saw 100% clear skies and the stars shining bright. While absolutely beautiful, I knew this meant that it was likely sunrise would not be too interesting. I went back to sleep, and then repeated this process an hour before sunrise, then right at sunrise. Blue skies.

Exhausted from the lack of sleep, I made the decision to stay in the tent and try to steal back a couple of hours of rest given that conditions weren’t going to be conducive to a great photo.

That day ended up being a beautiful, bluebird day. I packed up my camera back and hiked about 4 miles of trail, scouting for potential sunset photo locations. While I found a couple of possibilities, without a single cloud in the sky I knew that sunset wouldn’t create the conditions I was looking for. So, I decided to just enjoy my day-hike and head back to camp a bit early to prep dinner; a tomahawk ribeye.

Dinner was extremely tasty. There is nothing quite like cooking a steak over the campfire.

I got to bed early and this time managed a bit more sleep. In the morning, I woke up about an hour before sunrise and again poked my head outside the time.

Shut out again. This time it was solid clouds blocking out the sunrise completely.

Disappointed, I packed up camp and got an early start heading back west.

While I only got one sunset with great light, this trip was a lot of fun. It was a reminder to me that, no matter what, I just need to keep getting out there into nature and giving myself opportunities to get images. I may not have amazing light every time, that’s just how it goes, but I only get better by being out there doing the thing… finding interesting scenes, framing a composition, taking the shot.