My Oregon trail began and ended in the Willamette valley just south of Portland. Our friends were kind enough to offer camper parking at the edge of the tree farm where they live. In normal years, this is the rich green farmland that pioneers braved the Oregon trail to reach.
This year brought record heat and drought. Combined with haze of wildfire smoke from fires all across the West, golden hour the day I arrived looked a little less promised land and a little more American gothic.
