Oregon – Page 3 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

11-09-2014 Bullards Beach and Bandon

Current Location: Humbug Mountain State Park, 50 degrees F at 5:30 AM and clear starry skies

I have been awake for far too long, deciding that since I couldn’t seem to sleep, I might as well process photos. Great way to spend the early dark hours of the day. One thing about camping on the coast is the constant moisture. Even on sunny days, things don’t dry out much, and at the moment, almost all the clothes that I brought on this trip are in some stage of dampness, including night clothes. Geez. Better to just get up and sit by the cozy space heater with my one completely dry tee shirt and jammie bottoms on and dry out a bit.

After three lovely days at Sunset Bay, it was time to move south toward our next destination along the coast. With only 69 miles to go all the way to Humbug Mountain, we decided instead to drive the short 22 miles to Bullards Beach and spend a night in that very large park, with all the amenities.

Bullards Beach State Park not only has a dump station, which we used on the way in, it has a good Verizon and ATT signal, so we had both internet on the MiFi and iPad and telephone on the ATT iPhone. Like most RV travelers, we have found that having both service providers seems to be the best way to handle the varying availability of different signals. I have been in locations where the ATT phone worked great and there wasn’t a Verizon bar to be found, and the other way around. Seems to be a regional thing, and those coverage maps aren’t necessarily that accurate.

Bullards Beach SP Campground Bullards Beach is a huge state park, with several sites saved for first come first served, but we were surprised when we arrived at 11AM to see how many of those sites were already filled. There is a check-in time of 1PM, but it seems that no one cared that we arrived early. This time of year there are camp hosts, but no one manning the entry check-in booths. Park your rig and do a self check in within half an hour.

Another reason for staying at Bullards Beach was to give ourselves plenty of time to wander off to Bandon without having to continue south on the highway. We could play at leisure, and have plenty of time in the later afternoon for a long walk to the beach. And I do mean long. It is 1.25 miles to the beach from the campground along the new boardwalk trail that traverses the wet lowlands between the campground and the beach dunes. It is a bit longer if you take the easier paved and not sandy trail to the beach parking area south of the campground.

Once settled in, on the C loop space 55, first on the agenda was traveling the short distance south to Bandon to find a grocery store. Stocking up on a very few necessities didn’t take long. The only large grocery in Bandon is Ray’s, a local chain, with the nearest Safeway showing up many miles east at Coquille.

Ambling down the highway south toward the older part of town, we first encountered Face Rock Creamery. If you click on the previous link, you can read the interesting story of how Bandon brought this into being. In the location of the old Bandon Cheese Factory, bought out by Tillamook and then destroyed, Face Rock Creamery has a gorgeous new facility where you can watch cheese making and sample their wares. They specialize in flavored cheddars, with one version of an aged cheddar, a few kinds of pepper jack and cheese curds, which seem to be very popular.

We took advantage of the amazing ice cream, requesting the single scoop child’s version, and getting something that was very close to two big scoops of ice cream for a buck fifty each. Geez. Taking our treats upstairs to the comfy wooden tables overlooking the cheesemaking factory, we watched not only the cheese process, but the many people coming into the store buying cheese and gourmet goodies. I would say this has been great for Bandon.

Just next door to the cheese factory is a nice quilt shop, and I spent some time perusing the goodies but managed to get out of there with nothing more than a great pattern for another project to add to my list of todo’s.

Parking downtown in the Old Town area, we wandered the streets where I had an eagle eye peeled for the Coastal Mist Chocolate Boutique. A year ago, when visiting this town with friends Maryruth and Gerald we experienced their “drinking chocolate” and I didn’t want to miss it this time.

I love being in this little shop, all decorated with chocolate colors and very modern and trendy. I noticed as we sat in the comfy sofas that it was almost entirely women entering the shop and every single one of them left with something yummy.

We continued to explore the little shops, with art galleries, funky souvenir shops, coffee shops and clothiers until I was tired of all the slow walking and we both decided it was time to get back to the campground and walk the beach. Somehow slow walking wears me out much more than walking out in a real stride.

Just before we got back to the car, however, we found the most amazing museum. The Washed Ashore project is one of the most creative and impressive solutions to beach trash that I have seen. Angela Pozzi, an artist and educator at Washed Ashore had said “It’s a project to show the everyday person how much garbage is coming up on the beaches,” she says. “I aim to grab people with the power of the sculptures, which are beautiful and then become horrifying.”

We wandered the museum, mesmerized by the gorgeous colors and beautiful sculptures that were created entirely from beach garbage. In addition to the work in the museum, there were extensive photo exhibits showing the scope of the project. I know from personal experience that many of our beaches are horribly littered with trash, and I know there are efforts to encourage people to carry a trash bag and attempt to clean up what they see.

This, however, is a huge effort that might actually make a difference. Plastic. It is all about plastic. I know I have a life filled with plastic as we all do, and while I have been aware of the issues to some extent, seeing this project made it much more real to me. We are killing our oceans and our animals with plastic. It is sobering. I hope to pay more attention in the future and do my part.

After visiting the museum, we traveled the short distance south of town along the coast and found a public beach on the South Jetty just across the the Coquille Lighthouse. With the huge recent rain storm and low tide, the beach was thick with people carrying buckets picking up something. Mo said, “They are getting something, we had better go check it out”.

Spending a bit of time wandering and picking up stones, we found some of the famous Oregon beach agates to add to our rock stash. It was nice to see dogs playing on the beach, and of course it brought back sweet memories of the many beaches we have shared with Abby.

This trip has been a bit different. No dog, no kitty, and in case you noticed, no bikes and no kayaks. Even without the extra toys along, we have certainly managed to stay busy and active.

Back to our campsite, we had enough time for a late afternoon walk to the beach. As I mentioned previously, it is more than a mile to the beach from the campsite, and even with the new boardwalk, much of the trail is deep sand.

There is a large horse camp near the beach, and after walking along the surf for a distance, we found that roadway leading south, with hopes that we could walk back via the paved road. The route home was easier but much longer, and with all that sand walking, I felt like I had trudged many more miles than the 3.5 or so that showed up on the GPS!

The next morning, before we continued south toward Cape Blanco, I walked again to the beach, this time avoiding the sandy trails and taking the nice partly paved bike trail leading from the campground to the beach. It is a simple 2.5 mile round trip, and I learned something new about the beach grasses along the Oregon Coast.

Planted in the 30’s in an attempt to control the constant blowing sand, European beach grass is terribly invasive and has taken over most of the dune landscapes on the coast. Unlike the native sea oats on the southeast beaches, this grass isn’t native and isn’t protected, but it still does the trick of stabilizing the dunes. Like rabbits in Australia, we sometimes change our environment without understanding the full extent of what we are changing. Unlike the rabbits, maybe it isn’t always a negative thing.

Tomorrow we move south again toward Cape Blanco and the lighthouse, Port Orford, and Humbug Mountain State Park.

November 5 to 8 2014 Sunset Bay State Park

Current Location: Sunset Bay Oregon: clear skies and 43 degrees F at 7am

I know I promised more on the wedding, but that will just have to wait a bit. We are camped on the Oregon Coast, and it is time to write about what is happening right now.

When November rolls around, our thoughts often turn to the Oregon Coast. With an unwritten rule that we get out in the MoHo at least once each month, a trip to the coast is easy. A quick jaunt over the mountain to visit the cottage in Grants Pass, do a few little cottage chores, and then we are close enough to be at the ocean in a couple of hours.

This time of year, weather on the Oregon coast can be anything from balmy sunshine to driving rain and wind with everything in between. About the only thing I didn’t pack for this trip was shorts. Not long ago I succumbed to Laurie’s (Laurie and Odel from Semi True Tales of our Life on the Road) inspiration and bought a tiny little pink thingy, the Fit Bit. I have committed to the 10,000 steps a day routine that is supposedly the key to staying reasonably fit.

Knowing that it could be wet and cold for my daily hikes, I brought an extra bin full of coats and poly fleece stuff that hopefully would keep me warm. One thing about camping in a motorhome in a lovely state park nowhere near a laundry is the wet stuff draped all around the rig in an attempt to dry it out a bit.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

As long time readers know, our park of choice is often Harris Beach State Park. It is the closest to Grants Pass, and we love so many things about staying there. Sometimes driving up the coast we have checked out other parks and thought, “Oh, let’s try this one someday”, but nope…back to Harris Beach we go. It has cable TV, good wifi and cell phone reception, a gorgeous walking beach, and is just minutes from town and shopping.

However, this time we had to come up with an alternative. Harris Beach State Park is temporarily closed for a few weeks while they repave the park roads. We looked at our maps and at last made plans to camp at a park we have long eyed, Humbug Mountain State Park, just south of Port Orford. We then thought it would be nice to get to the coast a different way, and decided to drive north to Roseburg, travel west along Highway 42 toward Coos Bay, and camp once again at Sunset Bay State Park for a few days before continuing south to Humbug Mountain.

Neither of us could remember when we camped at Sunset Beach, but we both remembered the scary waves when we kayaked the bay! A quick review of the blog revealed that our last trip here was back in 2009, when I still lived in California. I traveled north for a visit in July and we spent three days here before traveling east along the Umpqua River for some waterfall hikes. Definitely a good thing I write the blog or we would have had no clue when we were last here.

I did notice that my blog writing style has definitely shifted. So many details of that visit were omitted on the previous blog post, including our space number, and all I know for sure is that we had a full hookup site. With a bit of sleuthing, I did find a photo of our site number, A-10.

Sunset Beach lists an RV dump in the brochure amenities, but what they don’t say is that the dump is miles south at Bullard Beach State Park! In spite of the on site sewer, they also ask that you don’t actually dump in that spot due to possible overflow. Excuse me? Why pay for a sewer site if they don’t want you to use it? Makes no sense to me.

Last Wednesday afternoon, the skies were bright and sunny as we settled into our spot on the A loop. The park was very nearly empty, and we had our choice of several sites. I got out the compass and searched for an opening in the southern skies, thinking we had it nailed for the satellite. We settled in to A-24, hooked up all the goodies and started up the satellite finder. No go. With not much else to do on this quiet afternoon, we decided to move a couple of sites down to see if we could get a better signal.

No laughing here! With three days planned in predicted 100 percent rain, and no internet, TV would be a nice diversion, and was definitely worth the move! Before long we were settled once again, this time in A-28, with a clear view of the southern skies and no trees at that critical 145 degree angle where the satellites hide. Perfect.

One of the nicest things about this park are the trails. There are over 12 miles of developed trails, including portions of the Oregon Coast Trail that lead south toward Shore Acres State park and then beyond toward Cape Arago State Park, both day use areas without camping.

That afternoon, with the fitbit logging steps, and the GPS app on the phone logging time, Mo and I set off south for a hike toward Shore Acres. The map for the trails is less than optimal, and with no cell signal we had no clue how far we traveled. I kept thinking we should have arrived at the park, but after an hour and a half, we decided to turn around. It was getting late and with more than my 10,000 steps logged, I decided that the park destination could wait till the next day.

All night long we were serenaded by heavy rain, just as predicted, and we spent a lovely morning with a full breakfast, coffee, and the news, while I wrote some more on the Vermont visit for the blog. Mo read and I sewed bindings on quilts for a time and then finally I decided it was time to brave the rain and get in those steps. It is amazing how that little pink thing keeps one motivated.

My raincoat turned out to be less than optimal and it was soaking wet on the inside when I returned, along with my clothes which were soaking wet from the inside. Geez…all that walking in all that humidity really makes things wet everywhere, inside and out.

As the afternoon cleared, Mo and I took off with the car and our camp receipt so that we could park at Shore Acres State Park without paying the $5. fee. We enjoyed the beautiful gardens on our last visit, but this time we wanted to hike the Oregon Coast Trail from Shore Acres to the viewpoint at Cape Arago.

Again, the maps are less than optimal, and the trails are not well marked. Instead of staying on the main trail, we found ourselves on the Group Site trail, which follows the deep gorges and hills east of the Cape Arago Road. In addition to the steps, we got a good deal of steep ups and downs before arriving at the nearly empty Cape Arago park.

The viewpoint is magnificent, overlooking the ocean and wild surf directly below and views for miles to the north and to the south.

The hike home was a bit more simple, since we chose to follow the trail directly adjacent to the road and skipped all the ups and downs of the group trail. I haven’t had any trouble getting in my 10,000 steps per day, and more often than not on this trip, I seem to be going over 15,000 per day. I plan to keep up the pace, and hopefully the coming winter weather at home won’t stop me. Motion X GPS app on my phone had a hard time finding the signal on the hike, since we didn’t have cell service, but when I arrived tonight in an area with internet, I could see our path on google maps. Good job, iPhone!

Ready for an early afternoon supper, we decided to return three miles to Charleston and search out a restaurant to have something fishy. There are several small restaurants in town, including one that we tried on our previous visit that was excellent, and another one that I tried many years ago with another friend. Wanting something new, we settled on the High Tides Cafe, right on the main road on the west side of South Slough.

While a bit spendy, it was a great choice, with tables overlooking the slough, a delightful waiter who gave excellent service, and very good food. I had the special Cajun Tuna steaks with some kind of risotto garnished with tomato and avocado. Mo also had tuna, fish and chips, but she had the option to pick a lightly breaded and grilled style rather than the heavy beer battered fish that can sometimes be so greasy. Both of our meals were perfect, and when our waiter brought out the dessert tray we couldn’t resist the amazing pumpkin nutty pie topped with whipped cream to share with our coffee. Yum!

Friday morning dawned clear and bright as predicted, not a cloud in the sky. Even with the clear skies, however, things were pretty damp, including all my clothes hanging about the rig.

After a relaxing morning, I decided to attempt to find the trail from here to Shore Acres and then to backtrack and find out where Mo and I turned around. I succeeded in finding the easy trail to Shore Acres, but skipped the long way out on the bluffs and returned via the simple trail to camp.

Later in the afternoon, Mo and I took off walking north toward the Bay, and searched for a trail on the northern bluff that would allow a better view of the Cape Arago Lighthouse. The trail was very nearly vertical, and darn slippery with all the previous rain, but we managed to get to the top. Once there, however, the trail leveled off, and the going got a bit crazy, with a jungle of thick salal and other vegetation making the narrow trail a bit difficult to navigate.

Finally emerging from the forest into a large grassy area, we saw the lovely lighthouse against the sky. The building is on an island, and we could see old bridge abutments below the bluff, where once it may have been possible to get to the island. In the late afternoon sun, the view was beautiful.

Returning along the grassy area, we discovered a chained off area that contained gravestone, and then another memorial stating that we were in a Native American cemetery. UhOh. Then as we returned toward the forest, we discovered the “No Trespassing” sign. Hmmm. Remembering that I had read somewhere that this lighthouse was now owned and operated by the local tribes, I realized that we were probably somewhere we were not supposed to be.

As we walked out the main entrance road, we came to a locked gate, and we were on the wrong side! Ok then…back into the woods, searching through the brush to find a trail and get past the gate, we finally wound our way around to a small trail that led us out to the main highway.

I guess seeing the Cape Arago lighthouse from this viewpoint isn’t something that can be done without some kind of special permission. Be aware that if you hike up from Sunset Bay through the brush, you will have no way of knowing that you are in a restricted area. Here is a link to the history of this beautiful light on what is called Chiefs Island.

Last night we had supper at our picnic table, enjoying the big hot fire that Mo built with wood we brought from home. The parks often have firewood available, but it is often not very dry and hard to burn. Since we didn’t have to enter California on this trip to the coast, we were able to bring our own nicely dried and split firewood.

Today again we have sunshine, and our plans will take us south along the Seven Devils Road toward Bandon, where we plan to camp at Bullard Beach and spend an afternoon searching out delicacies, including Face Rock cheese and little pots of hot drinking chocolate.

Meandering Quickly to Puget Sound

Current Location: Whidbey Island NAS Cliffside RV Park 55 degrees F and raining

The MoHo parked alone in the center of Shady Firs RV Park Randle WA

We had a good reason for taking a short trip to Seattle. Thinking that a single day in the busy part of Puget Sound would be plenty to do our business, it seemed that we should make the trip count with an additional few days in the San Juan Islands. I am fully aware that a short week isn’t nearly enough to really experience this magical place, but it is better than nothing. We figured it would give us a chance to dip our paddles and check out the area for possible future trips.

Then the business part of the Seattle day shifted and we actually didn’t really need to go to Seattle at all. By then, however, reservations were made, and a day in Seattle is always fun, right? Hmmmm.

When I say meandering quickly, I know that is an oxymoron. The meander part has to do with the route we chose, avoiding any freeways and enjoying some side roads we haven’t traveled previously. The quickly part has to do with traveling almost 400 miles on our first day.

Mo asked once as the day lengthened why we had planned it this way. I actually had forgotten, but then remembered, oh yes, it had to do with getting to Seattle for the business meeting and then still having time to play.

The meandering route took us north on 97, incredibly familiar, but north of Madras we turned west to follow Highway 197 through Maupin toward The Dalles. In all our years of traveling around Oregon, neither of us could remember taking this route. Even with smoky skies the views of the canyon of the Deschutes River with Mt Hood in the distance were breathtaking. Maupin (pronounced MOPin) seemed to be a cute little place, but we didn’t stop. Remember, we were meandering quickly. So quickly that I didn’t even manage any photos through the windshield.

At The Dalles, intersecting with Interstate 84, we decided to cross the river to the Washington side to Highway 14. As we approached Hood River on the other side of the Columbia, the winds picked up as usual and the famous wind surfers looked like so many wild dragonflies darting across the choppy water. Always fun to watch, I can’t really imagine how they stay upright at. As we watched, several didn’t stay upright in the strong winds.

Crossing at The Dalles turned out to be a great choice, because the bridge north across the river from Hood River is a toll bridge. Nice. We have traveled I-84 many times so it was a completely different view of the Columbia Gorge than we were used to seeing. At the tiny town of Carson we turned north toward Mt St Helens and the rest of the trip to our camp spot in Randle was narrow and winding.

After spending a large part of late summer in drought and smoke from forest fires, it was a treat to drive through rain and moist forests. The views were less than spectacular, however, because this part of the Cascades is thick with trees, lots of them, and most of the views are completely obscured by timber.

Along the southern part of the route especially, we were treated to the mosaic of timber grown and harvested as a crop. It isn’t a forest, not really, it is a timber farm, and I love that these timber farms exist. The private companies manage them much better than they did during the rape and run heydays of the 60’s, and as far as I am concerned it is wonderful to have highly managed productive timber lands that don’t tap into our wild old growth forests. We drove through huge even aged stands of Douglas-fir, and many patches of clear cuts that had regenerated naturally into thick young stands.

As we approached the St Helens Monument on the east side, we found a small roadside rest but only a couple of places where the Mountain was actually visible. We visited the mountain back in 2004 while it was in an eruptive stage. From the viewpoint I compared some of our previous photos and was amazed at how much the forest has regenerated on the blast devastated slopes in the last ten years.

We arrived at the Shady Firs RV Park in Randle just after five. A 400 mile day is an accomplishment on freeways but even more so on the winding side roads. Daughter Deanna passed on a Rand McNally trucker’s GPS to us (she has three types and didn’t need this one) and I spent the day trying to figure it out and by the time we stopped I was worn out and hadn’t driven a mile!

I learned to pay attention to Deanna’s advice: use the GPS, the Atlas, Google Maps, and some common sense. I discovered that the Rand McNally worked great if I knew exactly where I wanted to go and how to get there and programmed it accordingly. I did have to change the settings from “truck” to “car” because it kept trying to route me around things and send me a few hundred miles out of the way. So glad I am not a truck and our full 46 feet of rig and towed length isn’t hard to manage.

Shady Firs was exactly what it claimed to be; a quiet park under shady firs with hookups for fifteen bucks cash Passport America. I didn’t care at all about the rest rooms or the amenities because we only planned to stop for a night. The sites are on grass, the hookups were fine and the dump was free. There were just two sites with sewer, right next to the older trailer that housed a young caretaker. We opted instead for a site out in the middle of the park, without a single camper joining us that night.

It rained all night, a steady patter on the roof that was soft and soothing. The morning dawned with beautiful sunshine streaming through the clouds but within a short time the rain took over once again.

Our second destination was a mere 77 miles away. Mo asked again why it worked out this way and I could only reply that it had to do with finding a Passport America park on our route? Who knows. By noon we were settled into our new site.

Next up: Fort Lewis Military Family Camp and the joys of driving Puget Sound

August 5 Heading North for Mo’s Family Reunion

Current Location: Rocky Point, OR Breezy and Pleasant at 69F

It was just over two weeks ago when we headed north toward Spokane for Mo’s reunion. Her family manages to get together every two years and with five siblings, Mo’s turn hasn’t rolled around for almost a decade. Our last reunion in 2012 was north of Denver in Colorado and we added on a great extended trip that time to visit South Dakota and Wyoming. Loved that trip that we shared with Mo’s brother Roger and his wife Nancy! If you want to check out our travels through the Black Hills and the Big Horn Mountains, the posts start here.

This time we decided to take advantage of the Inland Northwest location and travel north into British Columbia and do the beautiful circle route along Kootenay Lake. I was really looking forward to the trip. When I lived in Coeur D Alene, I would make the trip north every once in awhile and have a special place in my heart for Kaslo.

When we were packing up to leave, conditions around the compound here were hot and smoky from so many fires that were burning. Some are still smoking, but at least the worst of the fires are out. It was a bit disconcerting to drive off early in the morning accompanied by the strong smell of smoke and a red sun. We looked at each other and said, “Well, fire could come whether we are here or not, so I guess we will just have to trust that it will be OK”.

There is such a mixture of delight and frustration when I know we are heading out for an extended trip. Although two weeks isn’t anything like the three month sojourn last winter, I still hate to leave the gardens, the sewing machine, all the myriad life things that keep things interesting around here. Blooming at home (14 of 28) Everything was looking fresh and the tomatoes were just beginning to ripen. Still, the road calls, and I was excited that we were actually getting on the road again, with some great plans waiting.

Once again we traveled north on Highway 97, though Bend, to the COE campground at the mouth of the John Day River at LePage adjacent to I-84. We could make the 529 miles to Spokane in a long day, but there is no reason to do that. LePage waits, with half price using our senior pass, and hookups to manage the hot temperatures that always seem to accompany our trips in that direction. I think the last time we camped here was on our way to Alaska in 2011, and it was something like 105F.

Of course the heat gave us the excuse to stop at the ice cream shop in Shaniko (Where the West Still Lives) for a cool tasty treat. I think that is some of the best home made ice cream I have ever tasted. I’ll have to be sure and remind Sherry and David to try it out if they ever get to Oregon.

When we arrived at LePage in late afternoon, it was only 104. Sure do like having hookups for the air conditioner! Dinner was simple, and indoors, since the hot wind that was whirling around outside made putting out the BBQ too much trouble. Time for quesadillas, my go-to meal when I want something quick and good. The hot wind was a great white noise and with the cool air blowing over us I slept very well.

The next morning we took Abby for an early swim, walked around the park after breakfast, and readied the rig to meet Mo’s brother Dan and wife Chere at the entrance to the campground. They were right on time and we caravanned north toward Spokane without incident except for a minor miss in Dan’s engine. Dan’s Class A is 30 some feet and being a great mechanic he takes care of it himself. He figured out the problem eventually, but in the mean time we stopped a couple of times to check it out.

Traveling north on 84 to 82, and then 395, crossing the river in Kennewick, and then continuing north towards Spokane is a bit of a puzzle if you aren’t used to the route. Having done the road a bazillion times, I still have to watch the GPS to remember which lane to be in to make the proper turns. Mo was sure there had to be a more direct way north, but there isn’t. Gotta get across the river and across a few interstates before 395 continues toward Spokane.

tricities We never seem to spend much time in Tri Cities, just passing through. Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland are all clustered along the Columbia and Snake Rivers and are famous for the big jet boat races every year. The area has grown exponentially, with huge housing developments, lots of big shopping, and lots of traffic. Good wineries abound, and it can be hot in the summer. I know there is a lot to see and do in the area, but I have never had the inclination to do so. Deanna and Keith (trucker daughter and her husband) stay there when they are on home time, with Keith’s brother who has a beautiful house in Kennewick along the river.

We arrived at Riverside State Park in Spokane around 3, and it was 99 degrees F. There always is a bit of confusion about exactly how to get to the campground area of the state park, and if you use a GPS, don’t count on it. If you put in Bowl and Pitcher, you might have better luck, but either way the GPS will try to take you down through the golf course parking lot, down a very narrow street, around a very sharp right turn onto another narrow street to get to the campground. After being there a few days we discovered it was a LOT easier to go north to Rifle Range road and out Francis Blvd no matter where we wanted to go in town.

Brother Don and his wife Wynn were in charge of the festivities this year, and they came down to the park as folks began to arrive to make sure we were all settled in comfortably before bringing in something like 20 pizzas for everyone to share. It was great fun seeing more than 30 Oukrops all together in one place. First night at Riverside Oukrop Reunion (4 of 15)

Next: The Oukrops descend on Silverwood and Boulder Beach Theme Park in Northern Idaho

Out the Back Door Kayaking Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge

Current location: Rocky Point, Oregon Sunny and 50F at 6am, predicted high today 79F

Ah yes, finally. We managed to walk away from yard and house chores for a day and loaded up the kayaks. I was appalled when I realized that the last time we had the boats in the water was back in Florida in March. Sheesh. As I wrote in the title, some of the very best kayaking in the country is right out our back door. The Rocky Point boat launch is just a mile from our house, but yesterday we decided to travel a few miles north on Westside Road to launch at Malone Springs.

Yes, some of you know my last name is Malone, but no, the springs were named long before I arrived in the Klamath Basin in 2002.

We were on the water by 9:40 AM, and a big surprise was the lack of mosquitoes at Malone Springs. The Forest Service boat launch site has two free campsites, but the mosquitoes can often be daunting during the early summer. In fact, most of the east side of the Cascade range in Oregon is plagued with a heavy mosquito population, including some of the more lovely lakeside campgrounds. Maybe not as bad as Minnesota or Alaska, but definitely something that requires planning. Don’t forget the mosquito spray for shoreline activities! However, once out on the water, mosquitoes and bugs are almost never a problem.

Skies were perfect and the temperature was cool enough that we wouldn’t get overheated out on the water. Winds were light, coming from the north, so we had a bit of a breeze and a very little bit of current to paddle against on our way north to Crystal Spring.

One of the great pleasures of working soil survey in the Klamath Basin was the opportunity to map the soils in the Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. With more than 14,000 acres of organic soils supporting wetland plants, the marsh is directly adjacent to the forested lands of the Cascades. The complex vegetation patterns provided endless riddles of soil and vegetation patterns to decipher. Crystal Spring_032

Looking north as we paddle along the creek, we are treated to a view of the Crater Lake Caldera, still covered in snow.

Unlike the spring runs in Florida, the waterway we travel here is fed by hundreds of springs that come from the pumice soils all along the eastern slope of the Cascades. The water is cold, and there are a few large springs that are named, but many others feed the creek that flows through the marsh, as well as the thousands of acres of natural wetlands that are on the northern side of Klamath Lake.

The refuge canoe trail is famous for fly fishing. These 3 guys were the only folks we saw on this day on the refuge.

Different kinds of soils support different kinds of vegetation, and this is true of subaqueous organic soils as well. One of my major accomplishments mapping these wetlands was figuring out the complex relationships between different types of organic soil and vegetation patterns.

Remember that old saying, “out in the toolies”? These are the real tules, bigstem bulrush, that dominate the marsh.

They provide amazing cover for the many birds that we heard but did not see as we paddled along, When the tules get tall, they hide the sandhill cranes, great egrets, and blue herons that we heard calling throughout our paddle.

sedges Other major native plants that occur in the marsh are several species of sedge (carex).

The sedges seem to like the organic soils that are less weathered, more fibrous, and the willows occur in areas where the fibers are the least weathered, soils that are peaty rather than mucky. You have no idea how many holes I bored in this marsh to finally figure this out. As they say “What difference does it make?” Maybe none to the casual kayaker, but for the refuge managers it is helpful to know how to manage the refuge, and soil information has a big influence on refuge management decisions.

Other plants have colonized in some parts of the refuge, such as cattails and Canary Reedgrass, beautiful to look at, but not natural to the environment and detrimental to the existing plant communities.

Beaver dams are plentiful along the route.

No houses along the route except for this vacation property where our fishermen were staying.

Just a bit more than 4 miles of paddling brings us to beautiful Crystal Springs.

Traveling along Westside Road by car will lead to a roadside rest area with a trail down to the spring, but launching from this spot would be a bit of a pain.

North of Crystal Spring is a well known bed and breakfast called Crystalwood Lodge, visible from the channel north of the spring that I am reasonably certain was dredged for spring access.

We turn around for the paddle down the creek, with current in our favor and no southern wind coming toward us from the lake. The winds often come up about 2 in the afternoon and on this day we beat them.

There aren’t many places along the route that are conducive to landing, but back at the area where we saw the teepee, there is a rocky point that provides a place to get out of the boats and give both Abby and Mo and me a bit of a break before we continue back along the meandering route to return to Malone Springs.

The snow is still deep on Pelican Butte. Our home is at the base of that long slope below the mountain at the left side of the photo. The reflections on the return route are always mesmerizing to me, and I can’t tell you how many photos I have from this spot.

I paddle slowly, sometimes simply drifting along with the current, taking time to photograph the beautiful wocus, sacred and important plant to the local tribes for centuries.We slide into Malone Spring once again, still quiet with no other campers or paddlers around on this Wednesday afternoon. It has been a perfect paddle.

With the marsh vegetation providing great cover, the birds that we actually saw were a redtail hawk, redwing and yellow head blackbirds, and as Carol Herr would say, lots of ‘little brown birds”. Later in the day I did have one great blue heron fly gracefully across the creek right in front of me, but the camera was in the dry bag by that time so no photo. I made a sound recording of a bird call I didn’t recognize at all, and hopefully I can get Judy or Carol to tell me what the bird might be. I know the sounds of the herons and the cranes, but this one was completely new to me. No snakes, turtles, or alligators are in these waters, and I found myself missing them a bit.

I mapped our route with the Motion GPX app on my phone, just over 4 miles each way.

Here is another map that is related only peripherally to the kayak trip.

The black line on this map refers to the known wolf activity zone in the Cascades for OR7 or Journey, as he was named by Oregon schoolchildren. If you haven’t read about him yet, here is the story. There are many newspaper articles out there for this event, but I chose to share this one because it was written by the son of a good friend.

I call Journey “my wolf’, not because I have actually seen him, but because one night back in 2011, when he first began his journey to southern Oregon and California, while he was traveling through the Wood River Valley, Mo and I heard his howls during our evening time in the hot tub. Liz Parrish, owner of the Crystalwood Lodge actually saw him near her place, no doubt interested in her pack of sled dogs. Crystalwood is probably the most dog friendly lodge I know of!

“My” wolf is a daddy.

For the first time in nearly a century pups have been born in the Oregon Cascades. I believe we need to live in a world that includes predators for balance. Some of my local Rocky Point friends are all up in arms over this wolf near us. They are cattlemen, and ranchers, concerned for their livestock. Journey and his mate are hidden high in the mountains, and in all his travels he has never approached any domestic animal. I support the right of the wolf to live in Oregon, in this part of Oregon. There are great ranchers who have figured out how to live with wolves, and I pray that here in the Wood River Valley they don’t ever lose an animal to a wolf. I pray for Journey’s safety and I celebrate his new family.