Valley of the Rogue State Park,Oregon

Knowing the daytime temperatures were going to be very hot, we decided to get up early (unusual for us) and take a walk along the Rogue River, which borders our campground.

It was in the 60s F when the sun began climbing the sky. We really should do this more often, it was very peaceful.

The local walking trail was not very long, but we did get a nice view of the river and there were no mosquitos.
By 1 PM the temperature was over 100°, so we took a nap in the air-conditioned coach. 

Later that day we went on the Hellgate jetboat dinner excursion. 

As we boarded, the boat pilot gave me a towel to use to protect my camera. There was quite a lot of splashing and water spray when we were moving fast, so the only pictures I could take was while we were stopped or cruising slowly.

This, of course, was one of the other boats. 

The ride was a good mix of exciting speed, spinning, and crossing the wakes of other boats to give us drenching splashes, which were welcome in 100 degrees.  These alternated with stops and slowdowns, when the pilot pointed out wildlife or told us about the land and properties we passed.

On the outbound trip, we saw deer, Canadian geese, eagles and osprey. I did not include any of their pictures, because they just weren't good enough. 



Sometimes it is hard to combine an activity with photography. This was a perfect activity for such a hot day, and I quickly settled into just enjoying the ride and feeling the wind in my face! 

The turnaround spot for our cruise was in Hellgate Canyon. Earlier in the year, when the water level is higher, the jetboats can go beyond this area through some really great whitewater. 

But if we had done that, the rocks would have ripped out the bottom of our boat, and our pilot, Mike, would be out of a job! I guess it's good to have something to come back for in the future!

I sometimes wonder why people, myself included, like to look at rocks. I often think of the tremendous energy and forces that were at work when they were being formed, and of the ongoing changes they go through from erosion of wind and water.

Our boat held about 40 people, but there were at least five boats on the same trip, and we all stopped for the same included dinner at this delightful chalet above the Rogue River. 

The walk up to the chalet was aerobic; non-hikers could ride a wagon up.  Near the chalet I said "why didn't we take a wagon?".

We were served family style: salad, ribs, chicken, potatoes, corn bread, muffins, and dessert. At the tables were large pitchers of beer, water, ice tea, lemonade, and carafes of white wine. When a platter of ribs or a pitcher was empty, another was promptly brought out, until everyone was full and satisfied!

I have never been known to be shy when among strangers on a trip like this. So, as usual I treated our end of the table as old friends. By the end of the meal we had exchanged stories and good vibes. I really like to learn more about the people I see in our travels, and hope we enrich their lives just a little as well.

I was so full after that wonderful dinner, I was glad the trail back down to the river was all downhill! 

As we waited for our turn to head back down the river, we noticed this heron fishing on the other side of the river, quite undisturbed by a couple hundred tourists on the dock not far away.

All in all, it was a very nice boat ride and dinner, and we are very glad Sue Malone suggested we look into going on it, when we were making plans for coming to the Grants Pass area. 

We raced one of the other boats back to the docking area. 

By my count we have taken at least ten boat trips since we bought our RV. Each has been special in some way. I wonder where the next one will be.

From Beverly Beach, OR

Before I start writing about our activities, I have some thoughts about state parks vs. commercial parks.

Beverly Beach State Park is about 90 miles south of Nehalem, on the Oregon coast. The drive on Thursday went smoothly.

The RV campground is very large and full of beautiful trees. Unfortunately that means no Verizon and no satellite TV.  I knew satellite reception would be unlikely, but find lack of the phone and internet access a bit of a bother. 

We drive out of the park every day, and park where we can get service for as long as it takes to check mail and read the news. Anything can be worked around. I’m trying to have a good attitude, comparing this to the days before the internet, but I also admit I am a bit addicted to instant connections. 

 I looked at several of the commercial RV parks in the area, and not to sound to “sour grapes,” they are all much more expensive, and more like parking lots. There is one up the way, Ocean Shores, that is beautiful but runs almost $100 per night!

We will be here six nights. We are paying $31 per night.

Upon arrival, I checked out the parking area of our pull through site and noticed a large “pot hole.” I thought that it would not be good to hit it with either of our tires or leveling jacks. 

Craig carefully directed my parking so I missed the pot hole, but that put us very close to a large bush on the driver’s side of the coach. 

With the slide out, we are really “one with nature”, but the branches are flexible and moved when we pushed into them. This is something we are always on the look out for. If the greenery had been a tree trunk our had thick branches, we would have reconsidered our placement or tried to cut them back with our pruner, before putting the slides out. 

Speaking of trees:

I call these cannibal trees, because a new tree gets its nourishment from the decaying stump of an old one that has been cut down. It is typically a seedling rather than a sprout.  In the image to the right, the old stump has completely rotted away from under the new tree, and then at some point the new tree was also cut down. 

On Friday we went over to see the lighthouse at Yaquina Head.

Did I mention that it was another beautiful day?

Because we arrived at the Visitors Center early in the day, we were able to get two of the last three available spots on the free guided tour at 2 pm. We looked at displays, watched the movie, and relaxed by a window with our computers while we waited.

Sixteen people are allowed inside the lighthouse with the costumed guide several times a day. This was our guide, who gave us a nice description of some of the aspects of living there in the past.

There were only 116 steps to the top of this lighthouse, less than the Astoria lighthouse by far. One of the things I liked about this trek up was that there was no one going the other way, and there were railings on both sides. This made the spiral stairs feel less scary.

We all got a good look at the light from the top step, but were not allowed to go any further out onto the platform around it. The view was, needless to say, amazing! 

On this leg of our summer travels, we will be staying in parks for a week or so and taking day trips with our Jeep. On Saturday we drove about 35 miles south on Highway 101 to Cape Perpetua.

It is 3 miles south of Yachats. This picture was taken at the Scenic Overlook, which is the highest viewpoint that you can drive to on the Oregon Coast. 

In this picture you can see parts of Highway 101. We will be driving the Alfa this way on Thursday. Eek!

On the picture above, you can also see the parking area for our next destination on Saturday, a place called the Devils Churn. 

Over the eons, wherever the water finds its way into a crack in the rocks, it will eat away and widen it in a violent churn. 

Between that and washing away the sandstone bluffs, the coast is constantly being changed by the sea.

This was a calm day.

On the rocks

Of course we shot dozens more pictures, but I try to exercise restraint in how many I post.

Lest you think that all we are doing is going on walks and looking at the ocean and the trees, I have a few more images from our Saturday drive to share.

Sometimes the free newspapers given to tourists actually yield some good things. In this week's issue of Oregon Coast Today, I found an article about a Renaissance music concert to be held at the Little Log Church in Yachats on Saturday afternoon. 

The timing couldn’t have been better!

The five person group Byrdsong was from Eugene, and played a selection of music from the British Isles. They were very good.

The inside of the church was small, holding about 60 people, but was impeccably maintained and had terrific acoustics.  




I really feel lucky to have paged through that little newspaper. I probably wouldn’t have if we had the internet or satellite TV.

Good things are often serendipitous,

and simple.

Heceta Beach, Oregon Coast

After three weeks of making our way north and west to the Oregon coast, we arrived at our first Oregon beach town, Florence.

We came here for a small rally of Alfas (and their owners). Allen Green and his wife are work-camping there and put it together, inviting others via the Alfa Facebook pages. 

We have had a campfire happy hour each afternoon. 

It is always enjoyable to spend some time with other Alfa owners and hear their travel stories and share some rig information. Craig keeps up with the tech talk on the Yahoo groups, but always enjoys talking to the others in person.

On the first afternoon Jennifer, a local masseuse, came to the park and to give chair massages.

This was the first time I have had a "chair massage." 

She sure knew where to apply just the right pressure to loosen up my tight shoulder.

Since we are staying here for a full week, I am thinking of contacting her for an appointment to get a full body massage at her studio.

Sometimes you just have to treat yourself!

On Saturday evening we had a pot luck BBQ, served in the park activity room.  Great food, good people!  Allen made some of the best BBQ chicken I have ever had.

Earlier that day, we walked over to the Heceta Beach. The tide was going out, leaving a wide sandy beach. Good for walking.

The weather was just perfect. It has been a bit cool but I think that is typical of the Oregon coast, and in fact the cool temperatures are why we are here for the summer.

These ARE our golden years.  I think we are going to have a very relaxed summer in the Northwest.

All along the high tide line there were large collections of driftwood. Some were definitely cut down with saws. We surmised they had somehow "gotten away" from the loggers, and I remembered a few times when the firewood we were cutting in the Santa Cruz Mountains went rolling down the hill out of our reach.

These were much larger.

A couple more beach and dune pictures:

We will be taking a lot of beach walks this summer, so I will try to be selective about how many pictures I post. That in itself will be a challenge.

I will write more about our Florence adventures in the next post. 

Check back ...

Walmart Boondock, Summer Lake Hot Springs, and La Pine State Park

We are now at La Pine State Park, 15 miles south of Bend Oregon. Before writing about “now”, I need to go back a few days.

Craig and I rarely boondock, but if we do it is most likely to be at a well-lit parking lot, such as at a Walmart. I don’t like to travel more than 300 miles per day, and our next planned destination, Summer Lake, was almost 500. As it turned out, after a week on the road, there were a few items that are best found at a Walmart, that we needed to buy. Thus it was a logical decision to overnight at the Walmart in Susanville, California. 

We arrived mid-day and there was only one other RV in sight. We circled the lot and parked near the Garden Shop, as recommended online. All seemed good. We checked in with a manager and did our small shop. As evening approached, a number of other RVs also pulled in. We could hear the expected traffic noises, but the night was warm and we left the windows open to enjoy the air.

Just before midnight I was woke by a loud, high pitched, throbbing noise. I looked out and saw a large, refrigerated “semi” had parked near us. It went on and on, and I realized he would be running his generator all night long! We closed the windows, but this only muffled the sound somewhat. I did manage to get back to sleep however.  Then a little while late I woke again and noticed the noise, while still there, had diminished considerably.  A large Walmart semi had pull in between us.  The rest of the night was peaceful.  I guess when the spot is free, you get what you pay for.

Our destination for Wednesday was Summer Lake Hot Springs.

Like many of the hot spring sites, it is privately owned and operated. But one feels it is in a transitional period between being run-down and being rejuvenated.  

The open RV area was a bit rough, but had 50 A full hook ups. Only a few other rigs were there. 

Unfortunately this one was right along the entrance road. It was a bit of an anomaly. Usually when you see a junk site, like this the RV is also a piece of junk, old and neglected. But if you look closely you can see that it is a newer trailer in good condition, hitched to a newer truck. I wondered what the story was.

[From Craig] At first we thought this site was unoccupied, but come evening the resident appeared. First he built a good-sized campfire, and when that burned down he turned on one of those rotating blue-light “sprayers”. So he has resources for fun, just not for neatness. I bet he is recently split from a significant other who made him keep things orderly.  

There was a lot of construction going on. There were several new cottages that have been stuccoed recently, and were awaiting painting. In another area several wood units were available for overnighters, and one could see new wood and repairs on the older barn and storage buildings.

The metal building that housed the 20’ X 30’ hot pool is the oldest such structure in Oregon and designated a Historic Site. Much of the interior wood was old, but the overhead supporting beams were newer.

It was difficult to take a picture of the pool because there were so many reflections on the water from the windows and skylights. The pool was cement bottomed, with a constant flow of hot mineral water and a depth of 3’ - 5’. The mineral water temperature was about 100°, and no chlorine or sulfur smell. I enjoyed two long soaks on the day we were there. One when we arrived, and a second after dinner. Craig joined me for the first.

There were also three small outdoor pools. I could imagine a dark night soak looking up at the stars, but for a day visit preferred the deep water of the main pool.

I’m not sure we would stop here again, but it was interesting for a one-day visit. It would be great for someone coming home from a ski trip!

And I understand it is a favorite “after Burning Man” party place. 

We will be at La Pine for a week. As I’m writing this on Saturday, and I see that the full hook up sites are all full. When I made our reservation several months ago, I looked on Google Earth to see if I could find a satellite-friendly spot. I did, however, our Verizon reception is weak, and since it is our hot spot, so is the internet. I’m wrote this in Word and posted it down at the library in town.

On Friday we visited the High Desert Museum, just south of Bend. 

      One of several life size bronze sculptures outside the entrance.

In addition to some very good displays of things belonging Oregon Trail pioneers and the Indians, they had some very healthy live animals on exhibit. We were told than they are rescues that cannot be returned to the wild. It didn’t feel like a “zoo” , and the critters looked peaceful.

My favorite were the Porcupines.  

They look so soft and cuddly, which is of course deceiving.

This is the fattest Bobcat I have ever seen. He seemed happy, and in his enclosure he had toys and a big cardboard box to explore. What cat doesn’t love a cardboard box!

Can you do this?

It was a treat to see this Red Tailed Hawk up close at the "Raptor Encounter talk.

We see so many flying and perched on fence posts as we drive country roads. 

This bird was a rescue and is just getting used to being in front of a crowd. 

In the next few days we will be taking some walks in the park and enjoying some cool, quiet forest nights.

I’ll post when I can.

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

We left Salem, Oregon Monday morning and drove 38 miles to Silver Falls State Park. We stopped there on our very first RV trip, in a Cruise America rental, six or seven years ago. I was not disappointed by this revisit.

It's all about the waterfalls. Ten falls, plus dozens of side trickles and gushes, all on an eight mile loop trail.

Monday afternoon we walked two and a half miles on the south end of the gorge to see the South Falls and the Lower South Falls. The trail goes under an enormous rock outcropping behind the South Falls. The thunderous power of the water is amazing.

The trail was not hard, although I was glad I had my poles along to keep me steady going over the many rocks and roots. I am so glad to be able to hike again. We missed out on so many good walks last summer as the broken bones and tendonitis in my foot healed. But I feel I need to be extra careful, and slow down when I feel any discomfort.

The river canyon was unbelievably green. Heavy moss and ferns covered the trees and ground.

Craig kept checking the fern fiddleheads, looking for a perfect one. Most were either just starting or too far unfurled. He finally found a good one!

So much to take in!  The first image above is the remains of a large tree that was burned out. I wondered, how in such a wet place there could have been a fire, but since many of the trees tower above the sides of the canyon, I guess that they must have been struck by lightning.  

On Tuesday we hiked about six miles, seeing seven more falls. We started at the North Falls parking lot and took the Winter Falls trail, that allowed us to get back to our Jeep without going all the way to the South Falls, or turning back the way we came.

Yes, it was this green! 
Many side water flows joined the river below.

Two more!

Spring has got to be the best time to visit, for the sheer volume of water pounding down over the falls.

This tree is really fighting the forces to keep standing.

This one lost. 

There were a lot of flowers along the trail, but most of them were so tiny our cameras couldn't capture them. My next camera has to have a macro feature! I've had it before and it is fun to take pictures of the tiny things. But for now, the Trilliums were big enough to photograph.

It's hard to say which falls I like the best, but since the Winter Falls had such a nice bench overlooking the pool below, it was at the top of my list. Speaking of the "top." Our hike was not quite over. We had to take a switchback trail up to the top of this canyon wall, and then walk another mile to the Jeep.

It was a long day, but will always be a treasured memory. 

I'm so glad this is a State Park and not a National Monument. It will still be here for future generations to enjoy.