By Laura Swanson Photos & Video By Don Backman There have been videos of a young man playing the bagpipes at sunset at the Rockaway Beach Wayside, and then a notice appeared…
Category: Don Backman Photos
OUTBACK WITH BACKMAN: Earth Day Edition 2021 – A Visit with Big Trees
Photos and Video by Don Backman From Laura Swanson: As an editor, when there are significant days or times, I’ll send out a prompt to the Pioneer’s contributors and ask them to…
POETRY: RESTORATION
– Virginia Carrell Prowell (3-30-2021) (PHOTOS BY Don Backman) The signs of Winter are disappearing and being replaced with a renewed application. Barren branches of the Alder and Oak, the Red Maple,…
Backman’s Blooms: Photographer Pivots during Pandemic to Find Bright Spots of Color in Neighbor’s Yards
EDITOR’S NOTE: What’s a photographer to do when access to your “usual” subjects is restricted? You start shooting in your own backyard, and your neighbor’s backyards. That’s exactly what Pioneer photographer Don…
OUTBACK WITH BACKMAN: Giveout Mountain, Snow, and a swerve to South Sister Ascent
EDITOR’S NOTE: Don Backman pivots here when the weather didn’t cooperate for a hike in late January … and takes us on a spectacular hike in Central Oregon. Where are your favorite…
POEM: THE SILENT TRUMPETERS
My sweet neighbor, Rosy Pyle brought me a beautiful vase full of lovely daffodils on my birthday. For some unknown reason this little poem began forming in my noggin in the middle…
ONE YEAR LATER … Local Racial & Social Equity Tillamook Group Organizes Memorial to COVID-19
By Don Backman, Photos by Don Backman A field of flags west of 101 at Hoquarten slough memorialized COVID 19’s impact on Tillamook County and Oregon. On Saturday, March 13, 2021, Racial…
Tillamook Habitat for Humanity Celebrates Many Firsts with Hebo Home Groundbreaking
By Mallory Gruben Photos by Don Backman Tillamook Habitat for Humanity’s latest housing project fulfills a number of firsts for the organization and its partner families. The build in Hebo is Habitat’s…
OUTBACK WITH BACKMAN: Sitka Sedge – a wintertime hike well worth doing
By Don Backman Sitka Sedge State Natural Area is a relatively new State day-use area located between Sandlake and Whalen Island to the north, and Tierra Del Mar, Cape Kiwanda, and Pacific…
OUTBACK WITH BACKMAN: Rogers Peak and Blue Lake Loop hike (December 3rd, 2020)
By Don Backman My hiking buddy is into peak bagging, a fun sport that involves climbing to the top of the tallest hill around just so you can say you did it….