campgrounds – Page 5 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

02-09-2014 To Manatee Springs

Current Location: Fort DeSoto Campground Tierra Verde, Florida

Weather today: Highs in the mid 60s and Sunny

Yes, once again it is 3am and I am awake. I saw the huge moon filtering into the campsite and stepped outside into the bright light. Talk about a dark park! The moon is the only light around. Our site here at Fort Desoto is so incredibly long and we are tucked so far back into the jungle-like forest that we didn’t close the blinds or put up any windshield covers last night. But that is another blog post…

We entered the Forgotten Coast at the little town of Port St Joe on our way to St Joseph Peninsula. I have no idea how someone decided the boundaries of these coastal areas of Florida, but I think somewhere between Apalachee Bay and Cedar Key, the coast is no longer forgotten and becomes the Nature Coast. Who knows.

As we approached Tampa yesterday we also saw signs for the Sun Coast, which begins somewhere north of Clearwater and who knows how far south it goes. yah yah, I know…go look it up. Sometimes I just want a general idea and don’t want to have to go find all the details….Good thing I have a Verizon signal at the moment, here is someone who already predicted my dilemma and wrote about the Coastal Areas of Florida.

With only a short driving day of 150 miles or so, we took our time leaving St Joseph Peninsula campground. The kayaking trip the day before had been so delightful, I thought we might like to try some more kayaking on the way to Manatee Springs. Somehow, however, I didn’t properly estimate the actual driving time and it is a good thing we were not tempted by the short 1/4 mile channel between Indian Pass and St Vincent Island.

I crossed this channel a few years ago in a rented canoe. Bel and I camped in a cabin at Indian Pass on one of my many visits to Florida and I had nice memories of the wildness of the island preserve and wanted Mo to see it as well. Once again, however, since the island IS a wildlife preserve, there are no dogs allowed.

Such was not the case on the beach at Indian Pass, however, and we enjoyed walking the beach and campground. We knew there was a strong current in the channel, but a couple of kayakers seemed to have no trouble getting across and around the tip of the island to the Gulf side where they disappeared from sight.

Indian Pass is a great little funky place, and the Indian Pass Trading Post seems to be doing quite well, at least it looks a lot better than it did when I last passed this place. Maybe not quite as picturesque, but from what I hear from fellow bloggers there is great craft beer and oysters now. We didn’t find out, since it was still closed when we visited.

Within a few short miles from Indian Pass, we reached the charming coastal town of Apalachicola. I love saying that name; emphasis on the “lach”. Very nearly the entire town is on the National Historic Register with more than 900 homes and businesses listed. We didn’t have time to explore much more than the downtown area and the waterfront, but with the brilliant sunshine and warmer temperatures walking around was a nice break. Oh…yes…we had only driven about 30 miles or so since leaving the campground. Still a nice break, and a good cappucino and some rather incredible chocolate made a nice addition to our simple breakfast.

There were some rather incredible shops to explore, and neither of us could figure out why shops in a tourist town like this one wouldn’t be open on Sunday. Some were open, but I still managed to get out of town without buying anything but coffee and chocolate.

The town was once a major cotton port, at one time one of the most important cotton ports in the United States. But with the coming of the railroad, the Apalachicola River lost its importance as a shipping channel and the town had to reinvent itself around timber, and then oysters. The river, like many others, is endangered from development and we saw signs proclaiming, “Save Our River”. A sad story that seems to be repeated in many places throughout the world.

Leaving town, we hugged the coastline with beautiful St George Island visible across the bay to the west. I have been to St George as well, but it seemed a bit much to drive the 4 miles causeway and back since the day was getting away from us. Mo will have to see St George the next time I get her to Florida. A blogger mentioned in a previous comment that the beach at St George is dog friendly. I had no idea. When I picked places to stay, I knew that I really wanted to kayak the bay at Cape San Blas, and to stay in Manatee Springs. I would need another month or two in Florida to take in all the wonderful state parks and beaches and rivers, and by then the no seeums would be out!

We didn’t arrive at the park until just before closing time, thanking our lucky stars that we had decided to skip the morning kayak. Somehow the drive took longer than I had estimated, who knows why. Of course, losing that hour to “real” Eastern time had something to do with it as well. At St Joseph, there is no way to know what time it really is. The time lines shift at Port St Joe and are not vertical with the planet. The phone and iPad had a terrible time knowing what time it was, so I finally turned off the auto time feature on both.

I am glad I didn’t need to rely on blogs or reviews to decide on Manatee Springs as a destination worthy of three nights. I visited the park from Ocala for day trips, and looked longingly at the campgrounds, wishing for more time to camp there. I love this spring, love this park, love the quiet, simple, rustic feeling of the campground.

Our site was in the loop adjacent to the spring trail, with the sites fairly open but roomy enough. The other loops do have a bit more privacy, with taller trees, but the accessibility to the spring for repeated checking on the manatees was nice.

First entering the campground, however, can be deceiving with the sandy road all lumpy and bumpy. It looks quite primitive, but the sites are actually level, and with our 30 amp rig, the power was fine. I did see more big rigs in the other loop so perhaps they have 50 amp there. As with other Florida State Parks, you have to log in to Reserve America to see the amenities and the campground map.

Manatee Springs was the perfect place to do exactly what I wanted. Maybe kayak a little bit, read a little bit and sit around doing nothing. Even with three nights and 2 full days, we never really managed the “doing nothing” part. I imagined kayaking the short but lovely spring run, neglecting to pay attention to the fact that the run would be closed during Manatee season.

There is a kayak rental concession at the park, and the proprietor will shuttle folks with their own boats for runs on the Suwannee River for $15. per person. We wanted none of that, however, and found our way to the Usher boat launch, which requires a short drive outside the park south and back toward the river. I found it interesting that the park personnel was very quick to give us the concession information, but much less forthcoming with launch sites to use on our own.

We had no trouble finding the launch, and in spite of my previous misgivings, the wide Suwannee River current wasn’t the least bit daunting. We kayaked upstream for 90 minutes, past the Manatee Springs Run where no watercraft is allowed. The bald cypress are not yet in leaf, and are covered with Spanish moss. With the addition of a large population of both black vultures and turkey vultures, that shoreline looked quite spooky.

About a mile upstream past the run, we saw a very big log on the shoreline, and realized that we were looking at a very very big gator. Let me backtrack a minute…when we left the campground I carefully packed the camera in the Pelican case for the kayak, and carefully left it sitting on the table in the MoHo. No camera. I did have the iPhone, however. Believe me, do NOT depend on an iPhone for a photo of a gator that was more than 10 feet long, at least! Still, I’ll share the photo with you just to prove he was there.

I was fine until that big grandaddy decided to slide into the water toward me. It wasn’t a slow slide, it was incredibly fast, and thank goodness he really wasn’t coming toward me, but was simply slipping into the water with just his nose and eyes exposed so that he knew he was safe from the pesky kayakers. Still, it did take my breath away a bit.

Continuing upriver, we were treated to a truly big mature bald eagle landing in a big cypress surrounded by a flock of ibis, a few great egrets, and a couple of herons. Below the big cypress was a log protruding into the water that was lined up with turtles, a bunch of cormorants, and another gator, not as big as the first one this time. The gator and the turtles and the cormorants were all just sunning themselves within a few feet of each other. Thinking maybe turtle shells were a bit difficult to digest, I was surprised to read later that gators do indeed eat turtles. Everyone seemed to be getting along just fine on this sunny day on the river, however. I have a very fuzzy iPhone photo to prove it. I won’t bother sharing that one with you.

The glide home was faster than we thought, with the current moving along at a fairly good pace. The fisherman was still at the launch site when we returned, and he still hadn’t caught anything.

Of course, Manatee Springs is about the manatees, at least at this time of year, and we were not disappointed. On our first afternoon we saw three at the entrance to the spring run. They were just shadows in the murky water where the river meets the run, but it was still nice to see them.

Later the next day, we walked out the boardwalk in time to see another good sized manatee traveling slowly up the spring run toward the spring, but he also was just a large shadow along the far bank. People get very excited about seeing these big, slow moving, sweet vegetarian animals. I did notice that most folks spoke in low tones, and when walking the boardwalk, if someone had seen a manatee they usually let everyone know where it was.

On our last day at the park, however, we were treated to a special moment on the boardwalk. We thought it might be a bit early to see a manatee, but headed across the park toward the boardwalk. Several folks were walking but none stopped at one of the overlooks, so we wandered out there just in time to see a big sweet manatee slide right toward us under the crystal clear water. We watched him quite some time as he swam purposefully toward the spring, coming over to our side of the run to swim right beneath us.

This time I did have the good camera, and the good lens, but the most important thing when photographing something underwater was sorely missing. I AM going to buy a polarizer for my big lens. I used to use one all the time when photographing skies in B/W but lately with all the editing tools available it seemed an unnecessary expense. Not so, and my beautiful manatee photos show more reflections of beautiful water than the beautiful manatee beneath that water.

I have no idea why “sweet” is the adjective that comes to mind with these animals. Somehow their slow, gentle movements and sweet looking faces trigger all sorts of anthropomorphizing thoughts. No matter, whether they are actually sweet and loving, or just gentle, slow moving creatures who are not predators of anything but veggies, they have a profound gentling effect when you get around them. Or at least that is how they affected me. They aren’t playful like dolphins, or energetic like whales, but they are just slow moving, gentle, “sweet” very big mammals that are very good parents.

Some folks around the springs were poo-poohing the few manatees, saying, “Just go to Homosassa Springs, they are all over the place there”. I haven’t been to Homosassa, and won’t get there on this trip. My concept is of a place much more commercial than this quiet and lovely first magnitude spring that draws a few manatees at a time on a February day.

With tons of deer, squirrels, armadillos, a baby alligator in the pond called Catfish Hotel near our campsite, and a striking pileated woodpecker having lunch above our picnic table, we were quite content with our time at Manatee Springs.

Manatee Springs State Park

01-07 to 01-09-2014 From Emerald to Forgotten

Current:Manatee Springs State Park, Sunny with predicted high temp 70 F

The Emerald Coast of Northwestern Florida has many wonders. The sand is probably the whitest I have seen anywhere and the emerald to turquoise colored waters rival anything I have seen in the Caribbean. It also has high rises, and traffic, and requires some skill to manage with a dog. The cool (can you say cold?) temperatures were not a surprise. Southern Florida is warm in winter. I spent enough time in Ocala to know that winter frosty days are not unusual in Northern Florida. And the “dry season” isn’t always that dry.

Still, unless you want to barrel through the state on interstates, the Emerald Coast through Pensacola, Destin, and toward Panama City is the best way to get to another secret of Florida, The Forgotten Coast. We decided to skip 30A and stayed a bit north to travel highway 98 toward Panama City.

A great resource for dog owners is a website called BringFido.com, with listings of dog friendly resources all around the country. In a state famous for No Dog beaches, with that trusty little website I found a surprise. With the exception of St Joe Peninsula State Park (our destination) most of the beaches in Gulf County are dog friendly! Amazing!

The warm sunshine was glorious when we parked the rig at the Pier at Panama City Beach, in a huge empty parking lot next to Margueritaville. There is a small area west of the pier for a few hundred feet that is not only dog friendly, but no leash required. Abby got a dose of playing in the water and we got another dose of pure white sand, this time accompanied by bright sun and balmy breezes. Almost warm enough to take off the jackets!

Still in the morning hours when we arrived, the touristy town with beach shopping and bright colors was fairly quiet, traffic was minimal, and people were scattered. Looking around, I could only imagine what this place might be like just a little bit later in the season. Spring Break is approaching in another couple of weeks and I don’t think I would want to be here then.

After our relaxed respite on the beach, we continued east along the coast toward Panama City, a town that seemed a bit worn for wear. Best find for us was a rig friendly car wash, where we managed to get the salt and sand washed off the MoHo and the Tracker before heading for another salty, sandy beach camp.

Early afternoon arrival at St Joseph Peninsula State Park was perfect. When making all the crazy reservations I worked on last summer, I decided to skip this park, but last week thought better of it and added two nights using ReserveAmerica. Most of the Florida State Parks that I have reserved seem to use this system. On arrival, we were glad to have a reservation since even in early afternoon the park was nearly full.

Ahhh….now this is why I wanted to come to Florida. No high rises, no traffic, slow roads and quiet beaches, bays filled with birds and calm water. Sunshine. Sunrises and Sunsets on the beach.

Our first afternoon and evening were simple, with walks on the boardwalk and through the campgrounds with Abby, and beach walks for me. No dogs on the beaches here, but there are several trails around that do allow dogs on leashes.

Saturday morning we decided the weather was perfect for a bay kayak, and drove around to explore the peninsula a bit before deciding where to launch. The campgrounds are about half way down the long, narrow curve of Cape San Blas, with the northern end of the cape protected as a wildlife preserve. With a simple free pass obtained at the entry station, we were allowed to drive into the reserve. Thinking that the road (showing up on google maps) went all the way to the end, we were surprised to discover that the road was gated, and it was a 6.5 mile walk to the northern tip of the reserve.

Instead, we parked at the beach access parking lot, and with cool temperatures, clouds, and shade, decided to let Abby wait in the car while we walked across the dunes to see the beach. At 12 years old, Abby seems to finally get the idea that we will return, and we didn’t see any evidence of frantic dog after our 45 minute walk. Even a short walk on the beach with the two of us was nice, since sometimes in places like this we need to take turns. I tend to be more the beach walker and Mo will walk Abby on the roads and trails around the campground.

Mid-afternoon, the sun was out in full force and we decided to launch from the Bay Picnic area. What appeared to be a muddy launching beach turned out to be firm sand with no drop off and a few inches of water. It was probably the easiest launch ever for us!

Kayaking the bay was perfect, with glassy water much of the time, and now and then a slight breeze bringing up a few gorgeous ripples reflecting on the sandy bottom. After a mile or so, we passed the rental cabins in the preserve, and the sand dunes and scrub forest were empty of anything but birds and an occasional hiker. (Judy, this photo is for you! Abby rides in front of Mo and her life jacket is orange, so that is why you may not see her in the photos all the time, but she is there.)

The water was never more than a few feet deep, and several times we saw huge conch shells. At first, thinking it was a great find, I tried to pick the heavy shell up with my paddle. Even with two of us trying to get to the shell, we couldn’t get it up. A bit later, I found another one and managed to pick it up, only to discover a very disgruntled black critter inside. We saw several more, and figured out that it wasn’t worth trying to get one because they were probably all inhabited.

Cape San Blas curves back around St Joseph Bay to the north and east, with the tip of the cape very close to the mainland. We wanted a simple kayak, not a marathon, so we spent about two hours on the water and traveled only halfway toward the end of the cape before turning back.

After supper, I decided to take another walk over the boardwalk to the beach to catch the sunset. I think about half the campground population was out there, many of them with a drink in their hands and their beach chairs, ready to toast the sunset. The previous night had been beautiful as well, but with some clouds and cool winds there hadn’t been nearly as many people.

The night skies were dark and brilliant with stars after the quarter moon went down. There were cardinals and mockingbirds everywhere, egrets and herons in the pond behind our site, pelicans and stilts on the beach, and even a bald eagle just east of the campground. This is the Florida I wanted, the Florida I imagined when I said to Mo, “Let’s spend a winter in Florida!”. I think the sunny day kayaking on St Joseph Bay may have won her over.

There are many many photos in my google photo albums, and in the interest of bandwidth I have only put a few of them here. If you have the time, check them out here

1-13 and 1-14 2014 Big Bend to Seminole Canyon to Corpus Christi

I guess it is time for a reminder. Mo had forgotten this little trick and she reads the blog often. Hover over the photos for the caption, and if you click on them you will get a larger image.

Seems as though Big Bend struck a popular note for blog readers. Lots of folks have either visited or wished that they could and I have enjoyed reading the comments about the different ways of visiting the park. Some have immersed for a much longer time than we did, doing many of the hikes we couldn’t. Others traveled through for just a day-long road trip, and still managed to see the Scenic route, Santa Elena Canyon, and the Chisos Basin. Many expressed a desire to return for more time. That is my desire as well, and it was with a bit of nostalgia that we packed up on Monday morning getting ready for the long drive across south Texas to our next destination.

After last night’s sunset, with all the clouds milling about, it was surprising to wake to perfectly clear skies and a LOT of wind. The previous day driving through the park, the winds had been up to 35 MPH, and on the high exposed ridges, sometimes it felt as though the kayaks would just lift us, car and all, and dump us into the desert. Didn’t happen, of course, but we were a bit worried about those winds, so Mo double checked all the rigging for the bikes and kayaks before we left on our next leg of the journey.

From point A at Rio Grande Village in Big Bend, to point F at the NAS Corpus Christi is 557 miles, more than we wanted to do in a day. I spent some time last summer trying to figure out this route and where to stay, but it was again with the great letter from MBZ that I found Seminole Canyon State Park, (Point B). At first I thought I wouldn’t bother to make a reservation, but thought again and did so. I was glad I had when we arrived Monday afternoon and discovered the park nearly full.

The drive was uneventful, the Panther Junction highway north to Marathon travels through large alluvial desert landscapes that were a bit less than spectacular. There was dust in the air from the winds, but thankfully those winds died down a bit during the day and we had no problems.

In Marathon we filled up the MoHo at 3.53 per gallon, a mistake since we could have continued a few miles farther to Sanderson where fuel was back to the going price of 3.07. I tried to look up gas prices with Gas Buddy, but somehow missed the opportunity at Sanderson. The only station at Marathon was quite small, and I asked the owner if it was the only station in town. He replied, “Now it is, that burned down building next door was a Shell station owned by my brother. We think it was lightning or something and it burned down a couple of weeks ago”. That seemed a bit interesting, I thought. Two gas stations owned by brothers in a little town and one burns down?

The route was uneventful, with large spaces filled with emptiness punctuated by an occasional ranch gate and somewhat dull wide landscapes. This part of Texas was as empty as Big Bend, but instead of being really empty, there were fences and telephone poles, and garbage on the roadsides.

Once we again approached the Rio Grande River to the east, the landscape shifted a bit, with shallow canyons and rolling hills covered with brush giving a reprieve from the boredom. We arrived at Seminole Canyon around 2 in the afternoon, checking in at the visitor center for our reserved campsite. What a surprise!!

It seems that Seminole Canyon is home to one of the more fascinating rock art sites in the southwest. Unlike the Fremont and Anasazi rock art in the Utah and New Mexico canyons, the pictographs in Seminole Canyon are from a separate group of indigenous people and are referred to as Pecos Style. There are no petroglyphs (carved images in stone) but the pictographs (painted images) are beautiful.

The visitor center had some wonderful imagery of what we could see in the canyon below, but we discovered that the only way to hike to the Fate Bell Shelter was on a tour. Tours are conducted by volunteers at 10AM and 3PM. Hmm…it was 2:30. Could we get set up and back down to the center in time for the tour? Were we really UP for a tour after driving all day?? Yup, of course. You do it when you can. Rest is not an option if there is something cool to see that we might never see again.

Our guide, Kevin, was incredibly informed, and wonderfully talkative. He explained in detail about the different plants, showing us which yucca worked best for making rope, and which plant had the most saponin, used as an emulsifier with pounded rock to make the paint used in the pictographs.

The path to the shelter was in good shape, with paved rocky steps and guardrails where it was steep. It was only a mile or so down into the canyon. Even though Seminole Canyon drains into the Rio Grande, it isn’t an actual river, just a big “wash” that fills with water from overland flow after rains.

We enjoyed all the detail of the tour, and since we were the only two people on the tour we had Kevin’s undivided attention. Forgot to mention, the tour costs $5. per person, and we had no idea, so didn’t bring wallets. The park staff said, “Fine, just drop it by in the morning before you leave”. Pretty nice.

Kevin took us into the shelter, explaining the various pictographs and discussed the saddest aspect of all. The limestone walls, after 4,000 years, are degrading, and the pictographs so visible for that time are disappearing. In the 1930’s, an artist/historian Forrest Kirkland painted detailed watercolors of the images, and there are displays of those paintings at the site. Comparing what they saw in the 30’s with what is seen now, the expectation is that the rock art will only be visible for another 25 years or so.

Questioning why there hasn’t been similar deterioration in Colorado Plateau rock art, he suggested that the humidity form the giant Amistad Reservoir has shifted the climate and the limestone is susceptible to degrading as a result. Interesting theory. Another interesting theory links the Pecos Style rock art to the Huichol Indians of Mexico. A new book by a recognized authority on rock art will be coming out soon that discusses this possible relationship.

By the time we got back to the campground, the sun was getting low in the sky. The campground sits high on the mesa above the canyon, and we were asked if we wanted a pull through site with no view or a back in site with a better view. We were directed to site number 1, and had no idea what she meant by a view. The only view we had was from the step of the MoHo of the flat, brushy mesa and our very nice shade shelter.

Best thing about this park was the number of trails that follow the perimeter of the canyon. The trails are all dog friendly, although prickly things abound and Mo spent some time picking stickers from Abby’s paws even in the area around our camp. It was too late to take the six mile trail to the Panther Cave overlook at the junction of the canyon with the Rio Grande, and even too late for the 3 mile hike along the edge of the canyon. Darkness was falling quickly and we were ready to relax.

Still, I was surprised at this great little park, with electric and water, a good dump station that was actually angled the right way, and a wonderful visitor center with nice trails. A good spot to spend some time. As usual, this trip is an exploratory one for us, covering new ground and finding places that we may want to see again and give a bit more time. Not sure if this would be a destination, but if we were passing this way, I might stay two nights at least to give us a full day of hiking and exploring.

On Tuesday morning we continued east toward Corpus Christi, following a route farther south than Google Maps suggested. I didn’t want to go up to San Antonio and through Pleasanton, wanted to see parts I hadn’t seen before so we drove south to get fuel at the HEB in Eagle Pass. Daughter Deb discovered HEB stores when she lived in San Antonio and says they are even better than our beloved Fred Meyer stores in the northwest. Sure enough, I found some guacamole, fresh made and fantastic, a couple of bottles of wine and a few supplies that we needed while Mo fueled up the rig at the big station with the best price around.

The rest of the day, through Carizzo Springs, and east toward Alice, we were somewhat appalled at the level of ugliness. Oil is king here, and the highway I chose was heavy with big truck traffic, and where the traffic was less along highway 44, the road was bumpy like a roller coaster. The views were of what is called “Texas Brush Country” and it was definitely brushy. It was also flat, but the brush made it seem really claustrophobic compared to some of the flat country we have been farther north.

There are huge wild game reserves in this area, with gates so big we sometimes wondered why someone would build a house so close to the road. Oops, nope, it is a gate. We saw some Orricks and some other wild animals behind the fences, lined up ready for someone to shoot them. I once worked for someone who came down here to shoot a wild boar, and I had to dust that dang thing down in the game room. Haunted me.

The landscape just seem to get flatter and flatter as we approached Corpus Christi, a wide coastal plain without much to see right up to the point when we entered the Naval Air Station gate and could finally see Corpus Christi Bay to the…north?? east?? south?? I make maps, remember? I have a great sense of direction, remember? Well here on this flat coastal plain where the water is everywhere and the big water is in the wrong direction, half the time I have no idea which direction I am facing.

We checked in at the marina as directed, and decided on one of the available water front sites with a large cement pad and full hookups. We were warned that it could be windy and that there was a lot of sea spray. Still, we wanted the site because it seems as if it is all alone our here on the peninsula, even though the campground is full. Sure glad I had a reservation here!

The laundry is just across the way from our site, so I trundled off with soiled rugs and blankets to discover a huge, clean beautiful laundry with home style machines and they were all free! Yippee!! I just love having the chance to freshen everything up without having to pay a huge ransom to do it.

We watched the sun set and the moon rise at the same time, tried to figure out which way was east and which way was west…oh yeah…that sun thing, but it still didn’t help much when looking at the maps and trying to figure out which way we were traveling the next day. Everything, I mean everything is at an angle of some sort and is surrounded by water. It is fun, and after a few days here I am beginning to get my bearings, but I was surely glad for all the map aids I had in the baby car when we went exploring.

We have been here for a few days now, with some fun adventures in Port Aransas, on North Padre Island and the National Seashore still to write about, and a great time meeting up with friends. More to come soon!

Home again, Gone again, Home again

Rocky Point, Oregon partly cloudy and 51 degrees F

I think anyone who travels knows about the “getting ready to leave” feeling. Energy is high, plans are coming together, dates filling in with routes, new roads are calling, or old roads are waiting. Since we don’t full-time travel, there is also the energy of “coming home”. Like a horse to the barn, I am, and that going home thing sometimes gets in the way of seeing all I might see on the route.

But not this time. On our way home from Magical Joseph, we took a long meandering route through parts of Oregon not yet traveled. Once back in Rocky Point, I caught up on the blog (almost), whipped up a quilt top for my sister, had a great visit with a fellow retired soil scientist, was treated to a fabulous dinner at Wes and Gayle’s next door, and then in only 10 days we were on the road again. And this time I didn’t even take a computer with me! Oh dear…thank goodness for the photos.

I guess it really IS a good thing that I am no longer employed, since I would have been off work anyway with the government shutdown, and who has time to work anyway.

But back to the beginning, the route home from Joseph. I am sitting here at my desk looking out on the dusky evening light, trying very hard to slip back in time so I can actually feel what I am writing about, because as often happens, on that last run home, I didn’t have a moment to even keep a note. I keep thinking of Erin, who is posting little teasers from her Greenland and Iceland adventures, and I just hope that she has time to write while traveling. How in the world can anyone keep track of such adventures?!

Then of course there is Sherry, who posts such beautifully illustrated stories of their hikes and kayak adventures, and like me, is usually posting about what happened a week or so in the past. And Nina, fabulous Nina of Wheeling It, who writes so eloquently about their travels, does superb campground reviews, and posts well researched blogs about all sorts of pertinent subjects.

So…what was I saying? Oh yes….back to the photos….and the map.

Leaving Joseph in early afternoon, with only a little over 80 miles to our next destination, we weren’t in any big hurry. Back near the interstate at La Grande, we found a WalMart for some groceries and were amazed at how hot it was at 5PM. Sure wouldn’t want to be boondocking in THAT parking lot, although it is a place where overnight parking is allowed.

Instead we traveled a few miles northwest on I-84 to Hilgard Junction State Park. We knew there would be no hookups, but the tall cottonwoods were shady and the evening was cooling off, so with the windows open and the fan going, everything was just perfect.

Covered wagons on the Oregon Trail were hoisted down the nearby hill, and there is a nice little kiosk at the park with stories of the pioneer travelers. It was a restful stop, with the Grande Ronde River flowing adjacent to the campground. The water wasn’t deep enough for Abby to even get over her knees, but she still enjoyed splashing around a bit. There are 18 primitive sites at the campground, right off the freeway, but the noise didn’t bother us much since the freeway is elevated and the sound didn’t come down much. It wouldn’t be a destination campsite for sure, but it was a great overnight for just 9 bucks.

We took our time the next morning, and continued west along highway 244, a very winding but lovely road with no traffic at all. Even after we intersected with Highway 395 the traffic was light, with truck length limits keeping the truck traffic level low. Not a problem for the MoHo at all, all the way to John Day and Clyde Holiday State Park where we thought we might spend the night. Just off 395 is a narrow side road to Ritter and the site of Ritter Hot Springs, but it was a bummer to find the springs closed for the “season” and a gate across the old road. We were just glad we had managed to find a place to turn the MoHo around at least.

When we reached Clyde Holiday, it was too early in the day to really want to stop, and with plenty of water and charged batteries we thought it would be better to boondock somewhere. Turning south from John Day, we visited the little town of Canyon City, another gold story of course, and then meandered up the hill to the west of Strawberry Mountain to the Starr National Forest Campground. (good thing the government wasn’t closed back then!)

Starr was interesting, with several sites and no one at all in the campground. You know how that is when there are too many choices, we drove around a bunch trying to decide which one before settling in to the most level spot. The campground is near the road, but road noise was again not a problem. I guess 395 isn’t too busy this time of year, at least on this section.

I have heard of the Strawberry Mountains for years, and looking at the map, we found a road that circled the wilderness. It was just long enough for a good drive in the baby car with views of the mountains, and the headwaters of the John Day River. We even found a beautiful campground that would be a nice place to stay to hike the wilderness and bike some very nice mountain biking trails nearby. So many places, so many hikes. I would love to go back someday and hike into the beautiful lakes in these mountains.

The next day we continued south along the 395 corridor, and discovered more little towns and one amazing huge ranch. The highway bisects the ranch, and once I had internet I had to look it up. What a story! The Silvies Valley was beautiful and reading about the history of the ranch, how it started with an old Oregon family more than 100 years ago, was lost to California developers and went bankrupt twice, and is now back in the loving care of an Oregon family made my heart sing. Check out the Silvies Valley Ranch website! circling the Strawberry Wilderness

Once we passed Burns and turned south toward Lakeview, the landscape was oh so familiar. This is the part of 395 we both have traveled many times, separately and together, and still the desert views are incredibly gorgeous. Even with the overhanging clouds, briny Lake Abert was beautiful.

Then in Lakeview we did something almost unheard of. Just 2.5 hours from home, we decided to camp overnight. A bit north of town is the Hunter Hot Spring Resort, once home to the only active geyser in Oregon. Right next to the resort is the Hunters RV Park. Do NOT make the mistake of thinking the two places are related! If you call the resort they won’t even give the phone number of the RV park, saying instead, “I have a room I could rent for you”

I wasn’t interested in a room, but I did want to try out the springs. We settled in with the evening rain at the RV park with full hookups and cable tv while I walked across the field to the hot spring resort. For $8. you can relax in the pool, but as the RV park owner said to me, check it out first. Sometimes it is clean, other times not so much. It was clean enough for me, though, and while not a natural spring pool, at least there aren’t any chemicals in the water and it is refreshed often by the spring.

Nicest experience for me at the spring was enjoying the company of a young geologist working in the area and staying at the resort. We talked for a long time while soaking, and I learned of the problems with all the hot springs and pools in Lakeview, and about the threat to the springs from the proposed geothermal plants in the area. I know geothermal energy is supposed to be a good thing, but I have no idea how to resolve the environmental issues that come with the big geothermal plants.

Save Hunter Hot Springs

It was a great idea to stop for the night and relax rather than rushing home. When we arrived late morning the next day we were rested and refreshed and ready to tackle the unloading and laundry chores that always seem to be a big part of coming home.

Next up: We go camping with friends AND I get to meet Nina at Harris Beach State Park!

September 10 to 12 Baker City to Wallowa Lake State Park

Currently in Rocky Point, Oregon, partly cloudy at 55 degrees F, predicted high of 64F

Don’t forget to click on the photos if you want a bigger version

Sometimes when we are traveling, our tendency is to go fairly long distances between locations. This time, however, we took our own sweet time getting from place to place, and then settled in to really enjoy the countryside. After the morning in Baker City, we thought it might be fun to wander off on some back roads instead of sticking to the Interstate. We could see the curvy road ambling northeast rising on the southern foothills of the Wallowa Mountains.

How bad could it be anyway?! Sure, the road was narrow, there were curves, but no real spooky drop-offs like the ones back in John Day Country, and we were rewarded with beautiful vistas of the Wallowas and the Eagle Cap Wilderness shining in the late summer sunlight.

It is amazing to me how many tiny little towns are scattered across this part of Oregon. Of course I knew of Baker City, La Grande, Pendleton, Joseph, and Enterprise. I do actually live in this state. But I had never heard of Cove, or Union, or Medical Springs, and as we continued our travels for the rest of the trip, many little towns appeared that were just blips on the map, and a blink of the eye.

People lived in these little towns, there were city halls, and fire departments, police stations, antique stores advertising “used antiques”. Hmmm. There were old barns, and beautiful ranches, and miles and miles of open space. It was lovely to wander through the countryside and imagine what it must be like to be born and raised in places like these, or to live there now. Did these people grow up here or did they somehow choose to come to a tiny town in the far reaches of Northeastern Oregon. Lots of fodder for the imagination as I rode along, for sure.

As you can see from the map, there is really no way to get to Joseph without skirting the amazing Wallowa Mountains. Home to the Eagle Cap Wilderness, these mountains are sometimes called the “Little Alps of Oregon” with good reason. Formed dominantly from granite from the Wallowa Batholith, the peaks are glaciated and dotted more than 50 apline glacial lakes. They reminded me a bit of the Sierras, only a bit more open like the Big Horns. The Wallowas are one of the premier backpacking destinations in Oregon, not nearly so well known as the Cascades with their volcanoes, but much more enticing to me.

The meandering route gave us just a taste of what was to come in the far corner of our home state. Somehow I was reminded a lot more of the Idaho I lived in for more than 30 years than the Oregon that is now my home. Everything felt so familiar, the forests even smelled different, familiar somehow. I recognized the plants, the geology, all of it was like coming home somehow.

Just like a lot of other folks, I thought, “I could easily live in this place”. The winters are long, the population of Wallowa County is a mere 7,500 or so, and shopping is far away in La Grande or Pendleton. But the towns are lovely, well cared for, the vistas are magnificent, the land open and spacious. Beautiful.

When we arrived at the Wallowa lake State Park in early afternoon, we were a day early for our reservation, but in spite of the crowded park, there was a site open for us until our space was ready the next day. We originally planned to stay longer in Baker City, but continuing to the lake and taking our chances for a spot was a good plan. When we first planned this trip, I didn’t think we would need reservations, but checking the State Park website was a good hunch, since we just barely snagged a spot for the four nights we wanted to stay.

Wallowa Lake is home to one of the best examples of glacial topography in the West, and images of the huge lateral moraines are used often in textbooks on geology and geomorphology. The lake is deep and blue and incredibly clear. Often the mountains still have a bit of snow in late summer, but none was left this year, a low snow year for the entire area. The lake was really quite low as well, surprising since it is a natural lake and not a reservoir, but I guess drought is drought, and lake levels will go down.

After settling into our one night spot, we took the Tracker for a visit to the Forest Service Information Center on the edge of the little town of Joseph. The woman at the desk was incredibly helpful, and there were a ton of brochures about the area. She suggested we try the Lostine Creek Scenic Route, maybe hike up Hurricane Creek, or go check out the Zumwalt Prairie to look for wildlife. All good ideas, but we settled on Lostine Creek, a deep glacially cut valley that climbed back into the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

We hoped for some close-up views of the mountains, but the creek is so deep in the canyon that it is hard to see much without actually doing some of the 12 mile hikes into the back country that boast elevation rises of 3 to 5 thousand feet. Maybe not today. Let’s go back to the campground and check out the local nature trail and let Abby swim in the lake.

It was good to be settled in and to know that we had at least one day of doing not much of anything. Mo had surprised me with the idea of a special birthday treat, and in a couple of days we were going to drive the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway to Hells Canyon Dam and a big adventure on the Snake River in the wild and scenic part of Hells Canyon.

After a great sleep, we took our time enjoying the campground, went to town to do some laundry and actually check in on the internet for a bit, and were back in camp in time to move to our more permanent site for the next few days. This is a very popular park, even in late September, and on this Wednesday morning as we tucked into a rather short space, I was again really glad I had made reservations the previous month before everything was completely gone.

As I picked up the new tag for the new site number, I overheard a very sad RV driver complaining to the park ranger in the kiosk, “I NEVER make reservations this time of year! What do you mean there is NOTHING?!” Blue lake, big mountains, cute town….a very popular place.

Finally in late afternoon we wet out on the lake in the kayaks to enjoy that gorgeous clear water. The mountains are so high that the sun disappears fairly quickly on the tucked away part of the lake, but it was still beautiful. There are lakeside homes all along the western shore, most of them very big and spendy looking, and only a few of them with folks hanging around on the decks and porches. Even so, the lake was reasonably quiet, and the kayak time was nice.

We never did see a lot of birds around. I suppose the shoreline is too rocky, the lake is too low, and the water too clear for bird food in any quantity. As lovely as the lake was, and even with that gorgeous clear water, I think I would rather meander around in an estuary somewhere that has a bit more complexity. Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful kayak and it felt great to finally get our boats out on the water. We originally planned to try doing some kayaking on the John Day River, but the drought wasn’t about to let that happen. I hate it when we haul the boats for miles and miles and never get them on the water!

Mo had packed up a good amount of wood for the trip, so we had another huge campfire after supper and enjoyed all the activity of a very busy campground with kids on bikes, lots of dogs (well behave and leashed) and giving Jeremy a chance to play around outside unhindered. We even put up the chili pepper lights on the MoHo awning, something we haven’t done in a very long time. There are some more photos of the state park linked here