Monday morning, August 3rd, we started our trip to Crater Lake by backtracking a mile or so to the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks. I'd seen it the evening before, and wondered what it was.
The current Bridge of the Gods
A mural depicting the "original" Bridge of the Gods
Native legend says there was a land bridge across the Columbia near this site, and the local tribes referred to it as the "bridge of the gods." When this bridge was constructed, it borrowed the name.
We had two places in mind for Oregon -- the John Day Fossil Beds and Crater Lake. The fossil beds had a few locations, and we plugged one, Clarno, into the GPS. It was in the middle of desolation.
And turbines. Lots of turbines.
Dilapidated
Abandoned and kind of creepy
Finally, we arrived at the Clarno Unit, which turned out to be just an outpost of the main site. Still, we hiked around the Geologic Time Trail, and were able to make out a handle of fossils there that hadn't been damaged by fossil hunters.
The Palisades
Impression of a plant left behind
One thing we learned here was "Who was John Day?" Turns out he wasn't associated with the fossils at all! He was a trader who'd been robbed of everything and his story and the place where it happened became so infamous, a town and river were named for him.
Once back to the RV, we decided to go to the visitor center at Sheep Rock so that mom could get her Passport stamp. As we approached the area, the rock formations took on extremely vibrant colors, from blue-greens to orange-reds. It reminded me somewhat of Fossil Butte. The visitor center's displays were awesome.
A small pond turtle, just barely larger than my fist
An Easter Bunny?
Beardog!
Mom wasn't up for much more hiking so our "deposit" here, where so many early turtles were found, wasn't in such dramatic scenery.
Clemmys is a genus name of pond turtles, including the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) and the bog turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii) that are native to Maryland.
We called it a night in La Pine, Oregon, finding a place at Cascade Meadows RV Park. We'd passed by signs for Newberry Volcanic Monument and associated lava tubes, but as it was after closing time for the visitor centers, we continued on. I hated thinking "next time," I absolutely hated it, but I hadn't had it on my tentative itinerary, and so it would have to wait.
Crater Lake was our Tuesday destination, and we entered via the North Entrance Road, which links up with West Rim Drive. West Rim Drive is.... interesting, and if you're afraid of heights, it is probably anxiety inducing. Mom was certainly stressed in the passenger seat at the dropoffs next to the road, especially since there was no guardrail at most of them. There was even one short section that had dropoffs on both sides of the road for fifty or so feet. Thankfully, nothing was coming the other way.
We stopped at an overlook along the Devils Backbone, then continued on to the Rim Village.
It was still early, and fog shrouded most of the lake.
A fat little ground squirrel was looking for edible droppings
The visitor center and Sinnot Memorial Overlook had just opened when we arrived, and I did a quick jaunt down to the overlook to make sure mom was going to be able to navigate it.
A plush-crested jay at the top of the walk leading to the Sinnot overlook
I suggested that she at least use her walking stick, and we wandered down the trail. The fog was starting to dissipate a little bit.
Wizard's Island
As the fog lifts, some of the sapphire blue water is visible
Mom had last been here in the sixties, during a short time in her life when her family had briefly moved to Klamath Falls. She had come in via the south entrance and gone to Rim Village, but it was different than the current setup. She also had come while there was still significant snow on the mountain, telling me about huge drifts next to the road as they ascended.
We headed down the East Rim Drive towards Mazama Village, to see if the National Passport stamp at that visitor center was any different and if they had any different post cards. We mailed a postcard to Allison here (there's a post office in this visitor center), and then we started our trek towards California.
We found ourselves traveling along the Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway, and decided to stop for a few moments at a wayside of the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest. This turned out to be the Rogue Gorge.
The "cave" at the top is a partially collapsed lava tube. There is a second lava tube at the bottom, plugged with a large piece of basalt
Zombie stump. The roots are joined with the tree next to it, so it will never actually die unless the other tree does.
Another lava tube
I'd never driven across the California state line before, so I wasn't aware that there was a "check" for plants, fruits, etc. We passed, and continued towards Crescent City and Redwoods National Park.
Yeah, Redwoods. We opted to see the tall trees versus the sequoias because Yosemite was further south than mom wanted to go, plus the pop-up wildfires were more of an issue if we went that way. So, Redwoods it was.
Even if they are the smaller in diameter trees, they are still giants compared to the every day trees I see around here. Combined with ferns and and dense undergrowth, the forest seems otherworldly and prehistoric.
I used my telephoto lens for this. I did not want to venture too close.
The coastal highway had a few vantage points for great shots, and we stopped here and there to try to capture some pictures before meeting CA299 and turning back towards the east.
It was becoming time to try to find a place to stop for the night, and this would prove to be extremely difficult in the sparsely populated area. In the meantime, I convinced mom to stop at the "drive through tree" in Klamath. The woman at the ticket counter said the RV wouldn't fit through, but we could still go up to take a picture with the tree as if we were going to drive through.
Turned out that the little road to the cul-de-sac up was pretty steep and the trees had branches down low enough that they got tangled up in the RV's television antenna. Thankfully, my brother had installed a ladder on the back just before the trip, so I climbed up and broke off the branches before they could damage the antenna. Mom drove up to the tree as if she was going to drive through (I'd already decided on the caption for this photo, and we both thought it was funny as hell), and I took a few pictures.
After a few disappointments, we finally found a place to stay in Junction City. It turns out that Bigfoot is pretty big in the area, so in addition to being the namesake of the RV park, according to my friend Bret, there's a museum too!
We spent the evening laughing over a video of Bruce the Spaz Dog that Pat had sent us a few days previously, because it was still that funny.
I went by Mom's to drop off some things for the road trip (like Hershey bars for the s'mores that will be made), and when I got there, Bruce was outside in his gazebo. We went inside shortly thereafter, where I presented him with a toy I'd bought.
gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
Thanks, Auntie!
Yeah, he loved it. It's a little bone with a rubber area in the middle, and you can put these rawhide disks on it, too. He managed to get one of the two disks off after two or so hours of gnawing, and Mom said he finally got the other one off this morning. Yet, he is still playing with it -- fetch, gnawing, etc. So, I will call it a huge hit.
Between the new toy and taking him outside again while we checked out how to install a new porch light on the RV and then letting him run around on his long leash, Bruce was dead tired by the time I needed to leave so I could grab dinner prior to my hockey game.
Fighting sleep, and losing
As for the hockey game.... 0-0 tie. Tough one, but we stay ahead of the Black team, in second place for now.
Pat and I drove over to Union Bridge this afternoon for a couple of hours with mom and the spaz dog. Pat hadn't met Bruce yet, and if one of the options mom and I were going to consider for Bruce during our road trip was to leave him with Pat, we had to make sure that the puppy didn't have a problem with him.
Yeah, I think Pat and Bruce will get along just fine. The puppy was ecstatic about another person to play with. We actually wore him out.
After a little nap, he started playing with his plastic bottle (gotta love "cheap toys"), then we took him outside for a quick potty stop in his "gazebo."
Is that a bottle?
Why, yes, I will play with your trash
When we went to leave, mom put him on a leash, and let him run around in the yard a little bit. He was overjoyed at that. What a goofy little dog.
I swung by Mom's house this afternoon for a quick visit and to finally drop off the orchid I'd picked up for Mother's day. Of course, that meant almost two hours of non-stop Bruce action.
Ready for action!
Bruce looking pathetic, in other words, "Give me attention!"
Bruce doing his best cat impression, playing with a piece of rag on a string.
This puppy rarely stays still, especially if he sees a camera on him.
For those who don't know, Bruce is a four month old Silky Terrier puppy that was gifted to my mom, on the condition that she take him to shows. This was one of her friend's ways of making sure she got out of the house after dad's passing.
Speaking of getting out of the house, we did spend some time on the RV to see what is there so that I know what I would need to bring for myself, plus to check out the size of the refrigerator and storage areas. Of course the first thing I see brings me nearly to tears.
It's a Father's Day card that I gave to Dad in 2013, the last year they were still able to drive around in the RV, and before the pulmonary fibrosis had fully taken root and ruined everything. They both loved the card so much that Mom framed it and it's the only decoration in the RV. When I think about it, it's hung so that he could see it from the bed he used.
[gathers composure...., wipes tears from eyes....]
So, we're both pretty psyched for the trip. I picked up a new atlas to look through, but the gist of it looks like I-90 out and I-80 back. There will be side trips on US30 and state roads, but that's the main route. Some must stops are Little Bighorn, Devil's Tower, the Bonneville Salt Flats, and the Spiral Jetty, but beyond that, we're still narrowing it down. We are figuring on two and a half weeks. It's going to be great, though I know we're both going to be thinking about one person who we will both be fiercely wishing was with us.
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