From The Mountains Of Oregon To The Deserts Of Mexico

We just concluded an overnight stay at Timberline Lodge. The lodge was very cozy and the food was INCREDIBLE! Unfortunately, there were thunderstorms so we weren't able to visit the outdoor pool and hot tub.

The storm was fun to watch. First lighting struck close to Mount Hood Meadows (starting a fire...click on picture to the left for better smoke detail.) Later lightning struck on the various tall buttes surrounding the mountain. Firefighters must have had there hands full.

Tomorrow we are off to Mexico to help build houses. We are both a little tired and have spent most of the evening triple checking our packs and gear lists. We really don't know what to expect (although I just bought travel insurance minutes ago and I feel a little better about it now.)

I will try to write everything down while in Tecate so we can share the experience.

No digital cameras though...it would just complicate our mission.

Camping Close In: Battle Ground Lake State Park

Excited to stay in "travel mode" Nicole and I chose to stay 3 nights at Battle Ground Lake State Park. The lake is relatively small and close to the Portland Metro Area. It made a perfect simple place to camp allowing us to have the feel of camping minus the miles on the road in search of wilderness.

Battle Ground Lake is a "crater" type lake created by a magma induced steam explosion from years ago. It's located just a couple minutes northeast of the city of Battle Ground, Washington (which is not too far out of Portland. ) The lake is a local hotspot for swimming because of the relatively small size and ban on power boats. While we were there we decided it was a little too cool to take a dip.

We spent 4 days and 3 nights at a remote "hike-in" primitive campsite surviving mostly on hot dogs/Tofurky dogs, peanut butter, bread, and chocolate chips. We brought cards, dice, and books to pass the time between eating and sleeping. Amazingly the time went by (too) quickly.

On the second day some friends showed up. We had a wonderful time eating and laughing and taking short hikes down to the lake. That night we sat around the campfire telling stories of travels, movies, and current events.

On the third day I finished my book "The Cold War: A New History" and Nicole got halfway through her book - "The Time Traveler's Wife." As we read we took breaks talking about where we were in the book and how interesting it was. It felt like we were a hundred miles from civilization.

On our last day I got up a little early and Nicole got up even earlier. I had put in silicone earplugs at dawn because the birds were extremely vocal at first light (it took me 2 days to figure this out for some reason.) Unfortunately, Nicole didn't sleep through them as well as I did. I had no idea that earplugs would be such a great tool while camping.

Upon departure, we managed to pack everything in one load (it took a wheel barrow) and leave the camp before it got too hot (it was 90 when we left.) The walk back to the truck was just under half a mile, but it felt a lot further because we loaded the wheel barrow up so high. The heat had attracted many people to the lake so we were relieved to leave the park and get away from the crowds that were now forming at the beaches.

It's nice to be back in an air conditioned house and I haven't yet showered as of this entry. In fact, that's what I'll go do right now!

Over The 45th Parallel At Least Four Times

Here is a slideshow from the past week (see previous entries).



We are going on a 3 day camping trip starting today (a somewhat local one at that.)

More maybe on Saturday!

Cheese Land And Some Rest

6-22-08
We drove up the Oregon Coast from Florence and made several stops along the way. Our first stop was Sea Lion Caves. I hadn't been there for long time and Nicole had never been there. Although it was warm and sunny in the parking lot, it was very cold and windy near the cliffs and in the cave.

Next stop was Depot Bay where we stopped to get taffy and checked out stores with huge varieties of Croc Shoes.

The last rest before Tillamook was the town of Pacific City. It has a beautiful beach with pretty nice waves (not to mention that you can easily drive out to the beach if you have a 4WD vehicle.) This quiet town seemed very unspoiled and fun beach for surf hounds.

We arrived in Tillamook in the evening. Immediately after checking in we went to a local pizza joint and had a wonderful 13" half cheese and half taco (minus the sauce. . .remember: myyearwithout.blogspot.com)

6-23-08
After sleeping in and lounging in the pool, steam room, and hot tub, we decided to stay one additional day in order to take a more leisurely approach to the area.

We eventually visited both the Blue Heron French Cheese Factory and the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I was surprised how simple cheese making (conceptually) is and amazed how the Tillamook Cheese was so automated...I could have spent hours watching the cheese being packaged.

6-24-08
After having another wonderful swim we packed up the car and headed back to our hub of operations. It was really hard to get used to the traffic and the rush passing through Portland. We decided that we would camp Wednesday through Saturday to help us stay in our Zen Travel Mode . . .

The Cove, The Cougars, And The Coast

6-20-08
We spent the day swimming in the Deschutes arm of Lake Billy Chinook. We found a nice little beach and took turns swimming and trying to get our dog to swim with us (with no luck.) The water was FREEZING (I'm guessing from the late start of summer this year.)

After feeding a group of geese, we made our way up to the Crooked River Campground located near the eastern approach to the lake. The campsite was wonderful and catered mostly to RVers and other folks with large motorized toys. Even though the Deschutes Campground was full, this turned out to be a better place to camp (it was warmer and felt a little more mellow.)

In the middle of the night, Nicole woke me up to tell me she had heard two cougar screams in the distance. At first I thought she may have dreamed it, but based on the activity and rumbling from surrounding campers I could tell it had woken others as well. Having not heard exactly how far off it was or in which direction, I stayed wide eyed for a long time (long after Nicole drifted back to sleep) trying to decide if a cougar would dare cross into the site.

6-21-08
The next morning (at very first light) I was eager to get up and start a morning fire. I suspect it was just before 6am before I was able to entice Nicole to get up too. Annie was ready for her walk and to do her business so I took her for a quiet jaunt around the campground. I didn't mention that no one out of the nearly 100 campsites seemed to be awake yet.

The dog and I only got about a 100 ft before the dog in the campsite next to ours barked and howled (louder than any cougar) as we went by. Shortly there after it's safe to say that the rest of the campsite was awake...against their will.

After an early start (7:30) we drove from Lake Billy Chinook to Sisters (Highway 20) via back roads. In my years growing up in Central Oregon, I have never had the time to take this beautiful back country route. Most of the area was devastated by fire years ago. The elevation gain from Lake Billy Chinook to Black Butte was actually pretty dramatic.

Next stop was the Headwaters of the Metolius. I had remembered it to be a very dramatic site, but when we got there it was just a river flowing out of the ground. It was still very beautiful and I think I may have had it mixed up with another river that flows out of the ground; Jack Creek.

The rest of the day consisted of driving from Black Butte to Florence with a stop at Sahalie Falls. We recommend this as a perfect rest stop between Eugene and Bend. The temperature difference between the parking lot (near 80) and near the falls (near 50) made it a refreshing stop.

We finally arrived in Florence tired from all the driving and stayed in a very nice (for the price) motel called "The Old Town Motel" just North of the bridge crossing of the Siuslaw river.

6-22-08
We're heading north today, maybe to Tillamook and hopefully to a yurt by the sea! I'm typing this entry from a very cool coffee shop with a view of the bridge (see picture below.) Nicole is off shopping in the "Old Town" of Florence just a walk a way from here.

The sun is coming out...off to our next adventure!

Two Days In Rattlesnake Country

This picture was taken from the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. See map here: Google Map.

6-18-08
We traveled from Prineville to Kimberly, Oregon to Spray, Oregon to Fossil, Oregon. We stayed at a camp near Fossil for the night...we had the entire camp area to ourselves! Bear Hollow was the name of the campsite yet we saw no bears. The next day we did find out that there is a bear "at large" in the area. No wonder the first camp site we drove through had a large bear trap on the grounds.

Fossil is an adorable town with a lot of character. It's a bit on the dry and dust side for us, but we could see how people live there for generations.

6-19-08
The following day we drove to Wildhorse Camp (aka Big Muddy Ranch (formally home to the Rajneesh (more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneeshpuram).) The Wildhorse camp is INCREDIBLE! Upon arrival we were taken on an air conditioned van tour of the entire camp (which ironically is what the Rajneesh did for my mother and I when I was 10 years old.) This tour was a lot less creepy to say the least. If you EVER have the opportunity to visit the camp (it is way out in the middle of no where) we highly recommend it. It's like paradise for kids! They have a 30 foot high ropes course, 3 zip lines ending in the lake, an Olympic-sized pool, and a 2-acre sized sports center (basketball, skate ramps, volleyball, ping pong tables, etc). That's not all. We toured the dining hall which was formally prepared for 1,000 diners, complete with linen napkins and salt-rimmed glasses! There are mountain bike trails, club houses, and a volunteer medical team that includes two nurses, a doctor, and a paramedic. These teams rotate every week and are entirely volunteer. The Rajneesh's old living quarters have become dorms and hotels for campers and visitors. There was a grass fire in the area right before Young Life opened its doors for camp--the fire only destroyed the BogWon's (sp?) home, which Young Life was wondering what to do with anyway!

After driving through Wildhorse we took the back roads to Ashwood, Oregon. The pavement literally ended just past town. Although we didn't stop here, we could tell that this town had a lot of history. Just as we left town we had to wait for two baby fawns (smaller than a medium sized dog) and their mother to let us go by. It's rare to see a fawn that small let alone two!

We spent the night in Madras at Sonny's Motel (nice place) and before going to bed grabbed some food from Subway (for me) and from a little taco stand (for my wife) in the parking lot of Dollar Tree. When we stopped at the taco stand I saw that we had a flat (I'm guessing from all the back-country driving) and "fix a flatted" it on the spot. This morning I got up and took it to Les Schwab's for a new tire and had the rest of them balanced. Madras was a good place for us to get a flat. It would have been a little tougher to get a new tire in a town like Spray.

6-20-08
Today we are off to the Cove Palisades and then maybe onto Florence. . .

Travel Day

Today is a travel day.

We are aiming for Kimberly (Oregon) but I haven't been able to find a "campsite" on the web. All I really know about Kimberly is that people say it is a "Garden of Eden" of eastern Oregon. It looks like a pretty little area.

We may push on to Spray or Fossil if the conditions aren't right for camping.

More updates coming soon...including a deeper entry about what we are doing and why we are doing it . . .

Updates, Slideshows and Camping (oh my)

We are having a "tech" day today. She is updating her blog http://www.myyearwithout.blogspot.com/ with pictures and I am going through our blog and adding a little more dialog to previous posts. Below are some pictures from on the way and at our camping spot thus far.

FIRE IN WARM SPRINGS!!!
(and we are there moments after it starts..these photos are the ones WE took...CLICK ON THEM TO MAKE THEM BIG)

Wildfire burns about 200 acres on Warm Springs Reservation
6/16/2008, 7:18 a.m. PT
The Associated Press

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (AP) — A wind-fueled wildfire raced over about 200 acres on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation over the weekend, burning in grass and sagebrush.

The Greeley Heights fire was reported around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, about 1 1/2 miles southeast of the town of Warm Springs.

Ken Lydy, a fire management officer says crews had bulldozer lines around 30 to 40 percent of the fire by Sunday.

He says full containment could come in a day or two, if all goes well.

No evacuations had been ordered and no injuries reported.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, but officials believe it was started by a human, as there have been no thunderstorms in the area.

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PICTURES FROM CAMPING (DAY 1)

Here are 3 pictures we took last night (the sun was down) leaving the shutter open for about 8 seconds. Tonight we have a full moon so we hope to have some incredible shots.

"I Like This Better Than The Cove" ~ Anonymous

I once knew this person who claimed that the "Cove Palisades" was the best place in Central Oregon. This same person uttered "I like THIS place better than the Cove" last night on a beautiful sunset walk along Ochoco Reservoir.

Slideshow: S.O.R.T. 08

SORT = Southern Oregon Road Trip


Above our some photos from our trip throughout Southern Oregon. We will be publishing "slideshows" upon the return of trips. If you would like us to expand on or add more photos for the above slideshow, just add a comment requesting it and we will make our best effort to fill your request!

View From A Secret Spot

Click on the picture for a larger view.

We took a long drive to this place (to remain nameless) and this picture does not do it justice. By far one of my favorite places on earth.