Zach Urness🏔️
@ZachsORoutdoors
Followers
6,372
Following
1,728
Media
3,523
Statuses
39,061
I cover Oregon's outdoors for @Salem_Statesman and @USATODAY . Environment/recreation/public lands. Explore Oregon Podcast. Best Hikes w/kids Oregon. Girl dad.
Scio, Oregon
Joined February 2011
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Garbage
• 2132006 Tweets
ハロウィン
• 1177937 Tweets
Valencia
• 968461 Tweets
DANA
• 760177 Tweets
Happy Halloween
• 249605 Tweets
ポケポケ
• 162301 Tweets
Trick or Treat
• 122336 Tweets
#週刊ナイナイミュージック
• 118081 Tweets
RTVE
• 110485 Tweets
イタズラ
• 70596 Tweets
SCOTUS
• 47627 Tweets
Rachel Reeves
• 46321 Tweets
#Budget2024
• 42844 Tweets
Arnold
• 40478 Tweets
橋本環奈
• 38390 Tweets
SÃO PAULO TODAY
• 35741 Tweets
ベイスターズ
• 33258 Tweets
トリックオアトリート
• 30708 Tweets
ミュウツー
• 25075 Tweets
Jerez
• 24384 Tweets
OVER THE MOON TEASER 1
• 24351 Tweets
#JO1ANNX
• 21135 Tweets
GALA EN LA MEJOR
• 20212 Tweets
Rishi
• 18816 Tweets
横浜優勝
• 17422 Tweets
Sunak
• 17112 Tweets
ハマスタ
• 17057 Tweets
해피 할로윈
• 16357 Tweets
ウォーターマーク
• 15933 Tweets
La Palma
• 14373 Tweets
ミュージカル組
• 12933 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
Just sent out the latest Explore Oregon Newsletter, our mix of outdoors reporting, features and podcasts. Here's a bit of what's on it.
It's free. To be added, shoot me a DM or email zurness
@statesmanjournal
.com.
3
4
13
Trapped by downed trees and roaring flames of
#BeachieCreekFire
, Don Myron took three critical steps:
1: Find rock in middle of the river to stay overnight
2: Use plastic chair as shield from flames/embers
3: Drink
@Rolling_Rock
you found riverside
31
268
860
The dream of every Oregonian, it seems to me, is to explode whales and find D.B Cooper's treasure. Possibly at the same time.
14
105
668
Oregon’s Central Cascade wilderness areas have reached peak glory. Few mosquitoes. No wildfire smoke. Lakes at wonderful swimming temps. And plenty of fish to be had. Take advantage, my friends, for this blessed season is short.
13
30
515
Sad but not surprising news. It has been confirmed that George Atiyeh, icon that saved Opal Creek and changed Oregon, died in Beachie Creek Fire.
This is a pretty long obit-feature about his fight. If you don't know the history, it remains remarkable.
14
207
444
One place in Oregon that ALWAYS lives up to the hype.
37
15
442
Spent some time up the Santiam Canyon today. Talking to folks that lost everything. Hurts. We've had big fires: Biscuit and Whitewater, Chetco Bar and Silver King. The Canyon Creek Complex and the B&B Complex. Even the great Tillamook Burn. But nothing like this. What a year.
36
171
353
BREAKING: A jury has found
@PacifiCorp
liable for wildfires and damages in all four of the fires. In an almost clean sweep, the jury found
@PacifiCorp
at fault on every question and leveraged massive $$ for victims.
12
128
348
*I'm pretty sure* Oregon's snowpack is the best it's been since 2011. The 2017 year is closest.
12
29
315
This sucks on the highest level. Quite possibly the coolest shop in Portland — and the only great place to buy quality rafting gear in the state. I don't have any details, this was just posted their FB page today without any other context or message.
32
33
293
The
#CedarCreekFire
grew to 51,814 acres as of the overnight flight. It's still a good 6-8 miles from Oakridge from what I can tell on maps, but more extreme burning today until winds ease in the evening/tomorrow. Latest update:
9
89
256
This was a fun one to write. "Shred the dunes: Rare major snowfall allows Oregon Coast snowboarding at Cape Kiwanda." Story:
6
30
254
One of Oregon's most beautiful hikes — to a view of where the Columbia meets the ocean — has reopened. Saddle Mountain has reopened after almost three years of frequent closures. Story:
2
23
253
Oregon senators
@RonWyden
and
@SenJeffMerkley
have introduced a bill seeking to protect 4,700 miles of Oregon streams under the W&S Rivers Act.
It's called the "River Democracy Act."
Hoping to have a list of each river included, but can see a lot in bill & on this map.
13
51
248
Oregon's snowpack is now 195% of normal — the median from 1990 to 2020, the most snow we've had in the mountains since 2008.
16
42
226
The ancient forest and turquoise swimming holes of the Opal Creek area were beloved by generations of Oregonians.
In 2020, the Beachie Creek Fire torched the forest, killing 85-95% of its trees and destroying trails & bridges.
We returned to see how it looks and what's next.
15
35
229
How it started v. how it's going. Oregon snowpack on Jan. 1 and Jan. 17.
6
30
231
.
@uoregon
students once again utterly fail to clean up after themselves after partying at Lake Shasta over Memorial Day Weekend, officials said, leaving a huge mess.
It was in contrast to students from
@OregonState
who did clean up earlier this year.
18
51
230
At least when it all burns down we will have stuff like this
2
17
205
The
#BootlegFire
in southern Oregon has absolutely exploded. Klamath County Sheriff is taking rare step to arrest or cite people in evacuation zone firefighters fall back. Story:
10
103
212
I was skeptical but this is pretty strong.
20
35
201
It is unlikely my journalism career will surpass this moment.
We're so glad Don's okay. Help us find him so we can send him some Rocks!
4
22
176
5
11
197
Silver Falls State Park is taking its first steps into a new era. It's been overcrowded for years so is planning ...
-New 40 to 100 site campground
-Visitor's center
-Trailhead & waterfall trail to new viewpoint
-Newish restaurant/cabin rentals
Story:
2
17
187
This is a very difficult story to read. But it's one for our times.
21
117
172
Oh man. Don't like this at all. The Smith River corridor — right next to the Jed Smith Redwoods — is one of the most beautiful places on earth. But there's a lot of fuel out there. Ack.
Here’s a look at the
#SmithRiverComplex
that shut down Highway 199 in Del Norte County, CA. This was taken at about 2:30 pm just before the highway was closed.
📹: Kim Olin
4
30
94
20
35
172
Oregon's
@HighDesertMuse
just got this little guy — a male bobcat kitten, approximately 8 months old. What's your pick for a name? I'm going with sagebrush.
25
10
170
Wow, Cliff Mass is predicting cool and rainy temperatures to return to the Pacific Northwest. This is quite a statement here …
21
25
165
We’re up in Detroit and it’s hard to put into words. But the community is talking about rebuilding.
#OregonFires
13
51
147
OK, so judging by attendance at my kids' school and comments from parent friends, I have to assume roughly 75% of school age children and their parents are sick with some awful plague right now? That sound right?
35
8
164
A level 3 evacuation — meaning GO NOW — has been issued for Oakridge, Westfir and the surrounding area. The
#CedarCreekFire
is absolutely blowing up. Hope it misses the town.
6
87
159
Yeah no complaining about Oregon’s cool weather. There’s extreme flooding in Montana, extreme wildfires in Arizona and deadly heat across the Midwest. We’ve won the weather lottery for now.
8
11
161
BREAKING: Eagle Creek Trail, closed for over three years by the Eagle Creek Fire, has reopened along with other popular waterfall hikes in the Gorge. Details:
5
24
159
Oregon is home to the world’s largest dark sky sanctuary in SE Oregon. What does dark sky mean and how is it measured? How should you visit? What are locals required to do? We got into all of that.
Podcast:
Story:
6
29
158
My goodness. I just published a story about a giant fire in SW Oregon and not 5 minutes later I had to yell at some kids about setting off fireworks (!!!) down at the swimming hole out here at the edge of the Cascade Foothills. I swear this summer is sitting on the edge
7
14
154
Shout out to the fire crews clearly working their asses off to suppress around a bizillion lighting-ignited fires across Oregon before the big ugly gross angry 100s return next week. We appreciate you.
1
19
157
Today longtime Statesman Journal editor and good pal
@DonCurrieSJ
was laid off in the Gannett cuts. He worked here for 27 years. He’s been a steady hand, voice of wisdom and mentor to countless reporters, including me, for decades. It’s a MASSIVE loss.
15
24
150
Here, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, is a picture of one of my favorite chilly swimming holes in Oregon. This picture just feels like summer.
8
3
141
NEW: Super fun story about the guy who just set the speed records for climbing Mount Hood and coming down: 1 hour and 31 minutes! And he did so half-naked in naught but a pair of tight-fitting shorts. Story:
9
29
142
Oregon Gov.
@TinaKotek
has thrown her support behind a movement pressuring
@POTUS
to establish a national monument in SE Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands:
6
19
142
I returned to write about the Oregon Outback, where the mountains are steeper, history deeper, night skies darker and cuts of steak thicker than anyone has a right to expect in remote southcentral Oregon. Story:
5
10
135
It's the most beautiful range of mountains the vast majority of Oregonians have never visited — the mighty Elkhorns.
It's also a great family-friendly or backpacking destination. I broke it all down in latest Explore Oregon Podcast:
4
7
135
Here's video from Mike Ferris, my fishing buddy, who escaped from Mill City, Oregon, around 2 a.m.
As soon as he left town, he saw flames on both sides of Highway 22, including houses and trees burning.
SJ story:
6
85
130
We started this day out with semi-good news - some positive signs in Opal Creek.
We end it less happy. Shellburg Falls was hit hard by
#BeachieCreekFire
. When it reopens is anyone's guess. The trails are in awful shape.
#OregonFires2020
Story:
14
57
118
I never get tired of watching kayakers run what’s arguably Oregon’s most beautiful waterfall -Toketee. Check out James Shimizuon IG. First decent of it was by Grants Pass’ Chris Korbulic.
10
15
118
I know a lot of gloomy news about Oregon’s outdoors right now, but the W&S Rogue River is absolutely perfect right now. Was 90% smoke free and basically empty by July standards.
2
5
123
On Jan. 25, 12-year-old Haley Pollman of Salem died of Batten disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder.
Two weeks later, Haley’s family was shocked to read that, according to
@OHAOregon
, a 12-year-old Marion County girl died Jan. 25 of COVID.
17
59
115
Good morning snowy world but especially to our snowy creek.
1
9
118
Happy first Cascade Pass snow day to all who celebrate
0
17
116
#OregonWildfires
are starting to get legit. We've now got the
#PotterFire
(~60 acres),
#ToloFire
(~50 acres),
#WindigoFire
(~100 acres) and the
#McKinneyFire
monster on the border. All lightning-ignited in the Southern Cascades and Siskiyou. Latest:
3
44
111
We've lost another gem. The historic Bull of the Woods Fire Lookout burned down in the Bull Complex on Sunday. The Sand Mountain Society worked tirelessly to keep it standing. Story:
7
39
113
Well I just got off a depressing interview. Short version: we've got an incoming lightning storm, then record heat, then another lighting storm (maybe), then the Fourth of July. "This year is going to be pretty active, and we do thing it's about to start in earnest."
10
33
114
The Gingerbread House in Mehama! It lives! I get coffee there before I go rafting on the North Santiam. Will have to eat there more.
1
3
108
The Forest Service is planning to reopen some iconic places burned in the Labor Day Fires this spring and summer. They're "cautiously optimistic" about opening Opal Creek Wilderness, Jefferson Park, the Pacific Crest Trail and places to gather glorious "fire morel" mushrooms.
2
18
108
Great start to Cascade backpacking season. The Pamelia-Hunts-Shale-PCT loop in the Jeff Wilderness was stunning. Alpine lakes. So many wildflowers. Huckleberries. Very small fish. A few misadventures but my giant dog carried my beer so that made up for it.
10
3
113
Giovanni Mountain Pizza in Mill City! It lives! Best pizza in Oregon. That’s right I said it come at me haters! I get pizza there once a week. Great crust. Amazing Breadsticks. Does take a while. I place order in Detroit so it’s ready when I get there. Can’t wait to go back!
5
4
111
Oregon snowpack looking pretty darn good for this time o the year.
7
10
111
How about some good news? Threatened western snowy plovers have made major gains in Oregon, from near extinction to 483 birds in the most recent count. They've been aided by beach closures that allow them to nest in peace. Story:
1
18
109
Believe it or not, but there's a major highway in this picture.
4
20
105
The legendary chair - and its two brothers - have been found! Friend of a woman with a cabin up Little North Fork sent me this. Don said he came across three chairs and grabbed one. They look happy. Didn't know what was coming.
1
11
107
Valley of the Giants, home to some of Oregon's oldest and largest trees, has been closed by a massive debris flow. It'll likely to take years to reopen its access road.
I reported what comes next, what happened and the fascinating backstory of the VOG.
6
40
105
Fourth annual John Day River multi day raft trip in the books. Daughters are now rapid running kayakers and anglers and campers. My favorite trip of every year and this one was no exception.
7
2
103
Pro tip: If you're worried "will the media find out that I'm doing X." You should probably not do X.
Brett Favre: Will the media find out that we're using welfare funds intended to help the poorest residents of America's poorest state to build a volleyball center?
Nancy New: Nah. Oh yeah, the governor is fully on board!
@ayewolfe
five years later:
850
8K
20K
1
9
102
Some pretty wild pictures of Silver Falls State Park from photographer Erik McCarthy here. Added it to the flood watch story that you can read here:
2
14
102
I've long thought this wilderness proposal by
@SenJeffMerkley
was among the most interesting in Oregon.
Why? Because it includes a little give-and-take. Create a new wilderness area while freeing up land for economic development in the closest town.
9
19
96
Is Mark Knopfler wildly underrated? Such a unique sound. Dire Straits slaps so good.
There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones
#DireStraits
#BrothersInArms
66
438
2K
12
9
103
“The fire behavior we are seeing on the Bootleg Fire is among the most extreme you can find and firefighters are seeing conditions they have never seen before," fire incident commander Al Lawson said.
1
31
97
Been feeling the loss of Opal Creek hard this hot snap. One boiling day a few years back I "creekwhacked" from Opal Lake down to Jawbone. No trails. No people. Real wilderness among titanic trees & emerald pools. So rare in Oregon, or anywhere. Sigh. RIP.
2
9
96
Made it out to Old Salmon River Trail. Came across this absolute unit of a western red cedar. Think the top was blown off but dang, was almost redwoodian at the base.
10
7
98
Willamette Valley grass pollen counts have reached their seasonal high period. It's not last year's historically rough counts that went over 1,000, but it's still about as bad as you can find worldwide.
9
15
92
OMG I just worked on a totally normal, non end-of-the-world story about a landfill being turned into a park and MY GOD it felt so wholesome and filled with rainbows and puppy dogs, even with some angry neighbors sprinkled in.
5
0
94
Man, I've talked to a lot of people with crazy stories about escaping from the flames. Not everyone is OK with their story being printed or posted online. And that's OK - important to respect privacy. But the stories are just beyond anything right now.
8
7
93
Just some peaceful pictures of Oregon for no particular reason. Five points to anyone who can name all four places.
Two of these aren't too hard, a third might be tough to pinpoint, but if anyone gets all four I'll be impressed.
18
8
90
🚨New podcast🚨
Momentum is growing for the reintroduction of sea otters on the Oregon Coast. I talked to the
@ElakhaA
about:
1: How otters could help the marine environment
2: Why they were wiped out
3: How returning them might work
Listen:
2
20
92
My house! It lives! At least I’m pretty sure. It was originally built in 1900 as a general store. No lie. I took this today while we were evacuating on a level 2. And yes, when it’s level 2 you get time to hook up your raft, which many didn’t get the chance to do.
6
2
89
Ok I’m taking the day off, maybe even part of weekend. Peace and many thanks for all the kind words about the
@Salem_Statesman
reporting during a historic time for our community.
7
1
89
Shout out to anyone camping in the upper elevations of the Cascades this holiday weekend …
6
5
91
About to write one of those modern love essays for NYT about my feelings for Oregon summer temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s
5
3
90
Oregon got a whopping 5,473 lightning strikes from Tuesday evening into Wednesday. That ignited 124 fires accounting for 123 acres, via
@NWCCInfo
.
Most got rain and stayed small. Largest is 57 acre Dog House Gulch Fire in C. Oregon. Holdovers will be a big thing in coming days.
7
34
86
Lot of memories about the Labor Day Fires today. A surreal, confusing, tragic time.
On a lighter note, and not sure why, one thing I remember really well was evacuating and not being sure what to do with my pet ducks. So I just tossed them in a tote and put them in front seat.
3
2
91
If you’ve ever traveled south of Cannon Beach, chances are good you’ve wondered about the hulking range of mountains that rise above the beach. It's a place of unique geology, ecology and scenery. Now, 3,500 acres of it is known as the Rainforest Reserve:
2
18
88
Hey Oregon, I am going to go fall asleep for a minute please be cool and relax a little if possible thanks, zach
4
4
89
Poppa Al’s! It lives! They do indeed have a very tasty burger. Only ate there once cause I tend to need pizza from next door but the homemade bun is legit. I will eat there more!
2
6
90
This really is not what I wanted to report, IN APRIL, seven months after the worst wildfires in state history. But here we are.
4
49
88
Oregon has released a new map showing that 57% of the state's landmass is at high or extreme wildfire danger (not 57% of population). Around 80,000 tax lots are likely to have new fire-resistant construction and defensible space codes/rules. Story coming.
5
32
87
This morning my wife got level 3 evacuated from her small school near Sweet Home.
This afternoon I talked to people in Mill City who lost their homes
Then my house was out on level 2.
Now I’m driving with my raft hooked up and ducks in the back.
This one I’ll remember.
4
18
85
NEW: The Pacific Crest Trail has reopened in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness, finally providing access to return to beloved Jefferson Park! You'll need a Central Cascades permit from one of the trailheads to get there, but it's finally official after an almost 2 year closure.
2
13
87
Weather news: Oregon's extreme fire danger should start to moderate by this afternoon as east winds die down and Pacific air (slowly) returns.
Air quality will stay pretty rough through the weekend, with improvements Sunday night and big improvements Monday.
#CedarCreekFire
4
23
88
I wrote about three ways to hike the Salmon River's titanic old-growth forests — and get an underwater view of a creek. It's some of Oregon's best temperate rainforest trails. Story:
2
10
86
It was just a side thing when we started the Explore Oregon Podcast. An extra place to put our stories on traveling and reporting on Oregon's outdoors.
Now, we've now finished 121 episodes and, though sponsors, have paid the salary of 7 reporting interns.
5
8
84
Well this is about the most insane crazy ass story I've read in a good long while.
8
17
84
Word is that rumors are spreading about how
#OregonFires
started. For the biggest and most deadly,
#BeachieCreekFire
, we actually have a pretty good idea of what happened. Because we were expecting it.
3
50
82
How about about some (mostly) GOOD NEWS on Oregon's salmon runs?
Upper Willamette coho smashed records this year, as 40k fish returned. Once known as the "ghost fish" of the UW, coho are a legit target for anglers.
But it's complicated.
Story & 🧵:
4
18
83
The firefighters of the Idanha-Detroit Rural Fire Protection District made a dramatic escape trapped by two wildfires last night.
0
25
81
What’s the point of being a journalist if you can’t occasionally write about an ancient ghost wagon that rises from the mud to remind us of the broken dreams of a flooded timber town?
6
14
76
Snuck outta work early today, picked up kids from school and we are offffffff
6
0
83
Holy cow is Wahclella Falls spectacular on a rainy day. It never gets old. Was one of my first Gorge hikes ever and it never dulls.
3
5
80
Just got back from a 24 hour wilderness escape in the Jeff. This new permit system really pushes you to go midweek. Nobody else camped at this gem. Caught a few fish. Felt a few raindrops. Much good, say I.
3
1
81