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Dead Tree Chronicles

This is the story of Rob's Tree and the Oregon Star Party as told by Rob Brown.

The tree was discovered by Gary and Carolyn Strong in the Ochoco National Forest in Central Oregon in the summer of 1991. I visited there that October with the OSP committee to conduct a site survey. The site survey was being conducted by the Oregon Star Party planning committee, because a new location was needed for the Oregon Star Party after several years in the too-remote Steens Mountains. I was on the lookout for a landmark that would make a good OSP logo. We had used Kiger Gorge from Steens, and I thought it was a great image. I don't remember everyone who was on the trip, but I do remember Chuck and Judy Dethloff of course, Candace Pratt and her son Garrett, Bruce Johnson, Howard Banich, and Gary and Carolyn Strong.

I found the site to be a nearly barren hilltop, just red dirt and dammit bushes (sage), lined by tall pines, and this unusual looking dead tree. At first I was dismayed by the lack of stunning visual landmarks, but then after sunset, while the sky was still very bright in the west, I was impressed by the dead tree and took a couple pictures. Here's what I got:

When we re-convened at the Strong's house a few weeks later, the committee brought up the subject of needing a new logo for the OSP. I brought out the photo of the tree, which was passed around and soon became known as "Rob's tree picture." There was very little else in contention, and the photo was chosen because it had high contrast and would easily be transferable to silk-screen for T-shirts and the like. Globular cluster M13 was added by Gary Strong along with the rest of the artwork, and behold, the new logo:

It didn't take long for the committee members to start calling the tree Rob's Tree. Although I took the photo, I never felt comfortable having it named after me, until quite some years later. Now I sure miss it.

The tree proved to be a nice central focal point for the observing site in the first few years. It was the location of the group photograph and the meeting site for evening guided tours of the night sky. Many people saw in it the potential for great astrophotographs, not the least of whom was Mark Seibold, who took the image below, and was awarded "Astrophoto of the Month" by Astronomy Magazine. (He got published twice! September and December, 1994)

My wife-to-be, Julie, went on our first campout together in summer 1994, and visited the site. I had to show her "my tree." We had a little fun with it:

Julie has  "thing" about ballet in the woods. This one was taken in California, near Big Bear.

Unfortunately, dead trees do not stand forever. Between 1995 and 1996 the tree was cut down. There are two legends about this, one practical and logical explanation, and one conspiracy theory. The practical story relies on the fact that the tree was right next to the USFS 800 road, and posed a potential hazard. Sure, but 800 is not exactly the Banfield Expressway. The conspiracy theory is rooted in a dispute between an individual who hunts elk in the area every fall and the OSP committee. The theory would have this individual cutting down the tree out of spite. The USFS never claimed cutting it, and they're a fairly up-front bunch of folks so they probably would have fessed up by now. One thing is certain: The tree was cut expertly, it fell exactly 90 degrees to the road, with a very clean, efficient cut.

The following image shows the fallen tree in 2001, much of it has been removed. The image also illustrates the new status of the landmark!

In 1996 Julie and I wrote and performed "the Grinch Who Stole the OSP" just prior to the door prize drawing at the OSP. Perhaps this fueled the conspiracy theory, but it was silly and enjoyed by all.

Epilogue:
The second annual OSP, in 1993, made us all wonder why we left the Steens and the unpredictable extreme weather. We had increasing clouds on Weds night, and by Thursday morning it was starting to rain. Things rapidly deteriorated, and by about noon we were experiencing a severe thunderstorm with hail. The electrical storm increased through the day and into the evening. By 4pm I was afraid for my life as I huddled in a car with Rich Poletti, Candace Pratt, and Carol Cole (Huston). The telescope field was being hit! Direct ground strikes were happening all around us at a rate of several per minute, and the thunder never stopped.

There was a brief break before nightfall, then it started again in earnest. I put my life in the hands of God, and retreated to my tent, which was located irresponsibly close to the trees. (IN the trees, actually, but I wasn't the only fool.) The bombs kept exploding for hours. Sometime after midnight I think, one particularly powerful one struck, on the North edge of the site. The next morning, we slogged through the mud to discover a very large ponderosa with a gaping spiral scar running its full length, the bark freshly peeled, and a small crater in the earth at the base. Bits of bark were strewn for quite some distance from the tree. Over the years the life has drained from the tree, producing yet another dead tree landmark:


Photo taken at 2001 OSP (Rob Brown)

Soon after the blast people were calling it Chuck's Tree, in (dis)honor of the OSP founder and chief organizer Chuck Dethloff. (Mainly as a way to vent their frustration and blame Chuck for the weather!) The spiral scar is still easy to see. Eventually the small branches will fall away and it will start to resemble Rob's Tree. It is the largest dead tree at the site, far larger than Rob's Tree before it fell.

Amazingly, we observed the night following the storm, and two nights later, Saturday, we were rewarded with possibly the best night of transparency and steadiness ever seen at an OSP. (There are other contenders...but none are as memorable to me, especially in contrast to the previous events that weekend.) I was personally rewarded with the grand prize of the OSP drawing that afternoon: A 12.5" scope built and donated by Chuck himself!

I can't think of a better symbol of the Indian Trail Spring observing site, except for maybe the clear, steady, and dark skies that make it one of the top-notch locations in the US for amateur observing.


OSP Group Photographer Bruce Johnson tells this story:

"I had located my tent in a picturesque grove on the far NE side of the site, just 120 yards from Chuck's Tree. I was crouched awake on a pile of electrically-insulating things to protect me from possible ground currents, but a greater danger occurred when the Tree was hit, and the thunder boom and blinding light instantly followed by a tremendous crash and the sounds of heavy objects crashing through the trees to the ground. In the morning, a survey revealed the cause of at least one crash, that being a stout spear-like tree splinter about 2 feet long, impaled in the ground not 50 feet from my tent.

The following year, my father, a retired forester, visited the site and heard the story of the tree. At that time, the tree's needles were still largely green, and popular  talk was 'Wow, what a powerful totem tree we have here, it took a strike like that and is going to pull through.' Well, my father, in his years of experience, said, 'Not gonna be, it'll take a few years, but it's a goner.'  And he was right. Year by year the green left, and in another decade of the [long] life of trees, it'll be a skeleton."