Oregon

Before I begin, I have a funny story……well now it is funny but it wasn’t at the time. When we were at Reyes National Seashore the second time, my camera stopped working. I was bummed because it has a lot more functions then the phone camera. However, I was glad I had something to take pictures with as Bill was always doing videos on his phone. We were in Humboldt Redwoods and it was raining and I was taking pictures having to wipe off the phone’s screen constantly. I got back in the car and saw I was under 50% power so I plugged the phone in and the screen went blank. Nothing I did would start the phone, we went online, Bill called Apple and they walked us through a cold boot process which still didn’t work. I was worried that a drop of rain may have gotten on the part of the phone where it connects to the charger and it shorted out. They said we would have to take it to an Apple Store however, we were over 200 miles and 4 hours away from one and so I thought I would be without a phone and a camera for about 10 days. Well Bill saw a comment from a user online to hit the phone on something soft but firm at a certain angle 5 times which polarizes the battery. He tried this and unbelievably it worked! I did not believe him at first as he had just teased me minutes before that it was working when it wasn’t. Anyway after letting it charge for what seemed hours it was working again. Well then for the heck of it I did the same thing with my camera and low and behold, it started working again! You could imagine I was happy as a pig in mud!

On Thursday June 4th, we left Eureka and headed up the coast road.  It wasn’t a clear day and the ocean was rough as usual.

 We stopped at one of the Redwood National Forest’s visitor centers and asked how to get to Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail.

I asked if there were any RV restrictions and the ranger said “not where you are going”. She told us to go the scenic route after we saw the Grove as we would see Elk and lots of trails and redwoods. So we drove up to the Grove and it was quite steep and when we got to the parking area it was too small for the RV and car. I looked at the brochure and sure enough it said no RV’s! We pulled over on the side of the road and knew we would have to drop the car in order to back up and turn around when we left. We took the hour long hike through the grove which of course was awesome but misty and wet. I guess this is very normal in these coastal redwoods.

We got back to the RV, dropped the car, backed up, put the car back on the dolley and drove down to the bottom of the road and continued on Highway One until we saw the turnoff for the scenic route. We did see the Elk in the Prairie Area of the park and continued on through the scenic redwood byway.

We then arrived in Crescent City where there we spotted surfers of course with wet suits on as it is quite cold up here all the time. We did not go to the downtown area as I understood it to be a lot like Eureka and it was getting late in the day.
We turned on highway 199 to start heading east away from the ocean.




It was a beautiful drive through the mountain range and over the Klamath River all the way to Cave Junction, Oregon where we turned off on Highway 46 to get the Grayback Campground in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

We arrived around 8 pm and by that time I was hungry and grouchy as we drove through the campground deciding on what spot to camp at. I liked one slightly above the river even though the spot was kind of small so Bill gave in and we parked for the night.

This was a campground with no hookups but normally has running water spigots but the water was not working at the time. Therefore they dropped the price from $10 a night to $5 a night, not a bad deal for the view we had. One thing about California, everything is so expensive, even camping in the National Forests you can only camp in the State Park areas that charge $35 a night with no hookups.  Also did you know Oregon has no sales tax or state income tax?  I guess if you don't own any property you can live pretty cheap here!
The next day we went 8 miles up the road to the Oregon Caves where we took a 90 minute tour of the most awesome Cave I have ever seen. This was a marble cave and was so active it was unbelievable.

 It was very wet and we had to duck under many areas including one that was only 46 inches at one point. We walked up and down over 500 steps in the cave, saw tiny bats and the water running through the bottom of the cave that was discovered 100 years ago. I have been to Mammoth caves and many others but this one was more active and the only Marble Cave I have been in…very cool.

We then hiked a short trail up above the cave overlooking the Siskyou Mountains. 

We left early the next morning and drove east to Klamath Falls where we were going to stay at Kingsley Field Air National Guard Campground. There are only 5 RV spots but the spots are level in the parking lot next to the Gym. It was fairly quiet except for an occasional train in the distance and the many F15’s coming and going from here. The sunset was beautiful  the first night we were there.

On Monday morning we woke up at 7:15 am and looked out the window to dozens of cars at the GYM.We were going to stick around and do our laundry and local things but the weather was beautiful and the weather channel said it was going to be a clear day today but the rest of the week it was going to be windy and cloudy then raining so at 11:30 we left for Crater Lake. It took us and hour and a half but it was a beautiful drive past the Klamath River Basin and up through the Ponderosa Pines.

                     

 There was snow on the mountain ranges and as we got closer the snow in the National Forest was thicker. Before we knew it many of the pull off roads to see the view were not accessible due to the snow. We got up to Crater Lake and you could not even see the lake from the rim due to the six fee or more of snow piled on the side of the roads. We got out and had to climb through the snow at some sections to see the Lake.

The view was breathtaking and we realized right away that it was a great decision to come up there on this day. The Lake was so clear, it was mirroring all the points on Mount Mazama with the snow around it as well as Wizard Island.

The temperature was in the high fifties but with the sun shining and no wind it did not even feel cold.

 Ty hopped around in the snow just loving it, Lucky did not care for it. The trails were all snow covered and they recommended snow shoes or cross country skis which we did not have so we just walked around the Rim Village and Lodge and down to Discovery Point.

Since we could not walk on the trails we were there for about three hours then headed back to Klamath Falls.  We had fun when we stopped at a scenic overlook that was blocked by the snow.  While Bill filled the cooler with snow to keep the beers cold I wrote in the snow.  Can you believe that snow in the cooler lasted 3 days? 

Tuesday we took it easy and did laundry and shopped. It turned out to be a good day but it was nice just to relax. Wednesday we drove up to Lake of the Woods as we heard it was pretty. It was really just a camping and cabin resort on a lake.

 We took a side road that led us up some very remote butte, used mainly in the winter for ATVs and snow activities. We were the only ones out there of course but it was nice and quiet. There were a couple spots where tree limbs had fallen on the trail so Bill got out and moved them so we could get through. 

 We went back to Klamath Falls and after dinner took the dogs for a hike on the OCE trail, which is where the railroad was turned into a hiking and biking trail.

We walked about 3 miles round trip then returned back to the RV. Thursday we went to downtown Klamath to a memorial park with the dogs then we went to the Kamath Basin Brewery which used to be the creamery. It had a nice bar with a great selection of their unfiltered brewed beers. I got the clam chowder which was really good and a spinach salad.  Bill got into a discussion with a patron at the bar and I had a hard time pulling him away when it was time to go….what else is new… :)!

Friday we went to the Lava Beds National Monument which is actually in California, about an hour drive from where we were staying. On the way there we stopped at the Klamath National Wildlife Refuge visitor center which was across from the Tule Lake Refuge. We ended up walking up a steep trail that overlooked the Marsh and Lake below.

 We then walked on the Discovery Marsh trail and saw our first American Avocets.

 We then drove the next 9 miles to the Lava Beds and arrived at the gate around 2:30 pm. The ranger said there was a guided tour at 3:30 of one of the caves so we decided to join the tour even though you are allowed to tour the caves by yourself. You need lights and helmets as many of the caves are rocky and small. This one in particular was not small at all but it was pretty dark without our lights.

 These are lava tube caves, which were formed about 30,000 years ago after an eruption at Mammoth Crater. They are formed when the lava pours out of the volcano and the outer edges and surface of the flow cool rapidly and begin to harden. It is like a shell that acts as an insulating material while the rest of the flow beneath it remains hot and fast moving. Once the lava drains a tube is left. There are over 300 of these tube caves discovered so far in this area.

Oregon is a beautiful state, the weather is awesome inland this time of year and there are so many wildlife refuges, so many birds to see. Saturday we went to the Lower Klamath wildlife refuge and drove on the auto tour which was 10 miles around the refuge.

 We were able to check off dozens of birds that we saw such as the yellow-headed blackbird, tri-color blackbird, American Avocets and white pelicans by the hundreds, Black-necked stilts, western grebes, cinnamon teals and so many other wading birds. It was a relaxing and refreshing drive through this refuge. My sister Pat, “the bird woman”, would love it and said it was one of the must see places on her list. I can see why although fall and winter are supposed to be the best times to come and see the hundreds of nesting bald eagles.  We haven't seen any yet but they say there are still some in the area so we will continue to look.  Originally we were going to leave the next day, Sunday but decided to extend our stay for three more days so we could go back to the Lava Beds and see more caves on our own.  Check back next week for more of our travels!