Light. Then Dark

 US 97, Oregon highways 140 and 39, California highway 139, County Road 44 N 01 and County road 97A all have at least one thing in common. They are the route we took this morning from Bend RV Resort to Eagles Nest RV Park.

The weather was cool and threatening when we left Bend, Oregon, but turned to partly cloudy as we turned south through the Deschutes National Forest and the towns of La Pine, Crescent and Chiloquin. It was great to catch a glimpse of fairly dense wood lands.

The trees and vegetation soon thinned out, however, as we got further south.

We came across the devastation wrought by a fire in the not too distant past. 

As we approached Klamath Falls, Oregon, it was apparent that the trees were pretty much a memory, and a high desert storm began to form across the hay fields.

Upper Klamath Lake is a huge but shallow lake, forming the largest freshwater lake in Oregon by surface area. It is 25 miles long and 8 miles wide and…..14 feet deep! The water level is regulated to protect Coho salmon in the Klamath River below the lake.

It wasn’t very much further to the Oregon/California state line and the sky began to get darker and darker!

And soon we saw the Welcome to California sign!

As the shower began to fade away, we found ourselves in the vast hayfields ot northeastern California. The small towns of Tule Lake, Newell, and Copic flew by without much hoopla.

We began to see portions of the gigantic lava flows that once covered this high desert area.

At Perez Junction, we turned west on Rd 44 N 01, and five and a half miles later turned onto a one lane gravel road that led us to Eagles Nest Rv Park. This park, of perhaps a dozen sites, has two very special things going for it: it is very dark at night and it is very quiet! We are the only “transients” in the park, so it is very, very quiet! We’re happy to leave the bright lights of the recent cities we’ve visited and collect our thoughts as we approach the end of the Old Age Sucks Tour. 

If the view from our campsite this afternoon is indicative of the stars we expect to see in the night sky, we will be happy indeed!

160 Miles of Green

 Our goal of staying in Bend, besides seeing this city of 100,000 people, has been to visit the nearby town of Sisters, Oregon. This little city of 2,500 population lies at the intersection of the Mackenzie and Santiam Roads, roads that cross over the Cascades through passes of the same name. Let me tell you about our day.

We left Bend on Highway 20, heading northwest. About halfway there, we stopped at a viewpoint to (hopefully) see the mountain peaks.

Unfortunately, it was too hazy to see much of anything.

So, we settled for a great look at cloud formations!

We elected to do a drive through of Sisters at this point, and got on hwy 126, going west. Periodically, we we saw the remains of lava flows from any one of the now-dormant volcanoes in the mountains. This is the Belknap Flow.

We’ve been in some spectacular areas lately, but this part of the Cascades is the literal definition of the word!

From time to time, we would get a glimpse of a mountain peak. This is Mt Washington.

There have been devastating fires in the area, some more recent than others, but all heartbreaking.

On the return trip, after we had made a u turn in Belknap Springs, we stopped for one last look at Mt Washington.

A closer look at Sisters led us to conclude that the town caters to hikers, bikers, snow skiers, and proponents of almost any other type of outdoor adventure, in addition to being a great place to shop, have coffee, and patronize one of the many restaurants. On a recommendation, we decided to try out High Camp. This is billed as a taphouse, with dozens of different beers on tap, but we went for the food.

Can you imagine a Himalayan take on a hamburger? Tibetan drunken noodles? Spicy curry? All that and more at High Camp! A couple of years ago Guy Fiery found time to take a taste here for his tv program Diners, Driveins, and Dives. We don’t know how that worked out, but our meal was wonderful!

A couple of glasses of Boneyard Light went well with our Himalayan sandwiches. We have been trying to figure out what spices were used in preparation, but those burgers were spectacular! Cumin? Ginger? This will haunt me for a long time!

Our visit to Sisters was great, and we intend to return! If only for a beer and a burger!

We drove 160 miles today for a burger, but will never forget the beauty of the Cascade Mountains.

Outta There!

 After an abortive attempt to visit Mt Hood, we have left the Portland area. Our plan was to see the dormant volcano before it disappeared under multiple feet of snow, but a day of rain, clouds, and fog foiled us. Mt Hood was the last of the Pacific Rim volcanoes that we wanted to see and we wanted to complete that bucket list item. Oh, well. Next time!

155 miles southeast, Bend, Oregon was the next destination. US Highway 26 skips past Mt Hood on the way to Bend, through some really beautiful forest.

After passing the small towns of Sandy, Cherryville and Rhododendron, Mt Hood came into view.

We got close!

Sliding down a long grade, we passed some interesting rock formations, probably formed as part of the tectonic plate activity that has been around for centuries.

Just west of where highway 26 joins US 97 at the town of Madras, Mt Bachelor popped up in the distance.

We had obviously left the high mountain trees and joined a perfect high desert.

It wasn’t a long trip today, but it went through a variety of terrain. It was interesting, but most importantly, we are out of the metro Portland area! We’ve secured a site in the Bend RV Resort, a new and freshly opened rv park. It is indeed a resort, with paved roads throughout, concrete rv sites and robot lawn mowers!

We had a bit of a t-storm as we pulled in and had the pleasure of setting up camp in a downpour! Not to worry, though, it was over in a couple of hours and besides, we had a warm place inside to dry out and get warm!

Keep Portland, just give me that Countryside!

 We’ve left the Washington coast, reluctantly, after attempting to photograph a Red Moon the night before we left Hoquiam.

US 12 took us east to Interstate 5 through heavily forested terrain.

We joined I 5 at Grand Mound, Washington, and headed south.

80 miles later, we took I 205 in Vancouver, WA, and bypassed most of the craziness of downtown Portland. Turning east on Interstate 84, we found our way to the town of Fairview, Oregon, and the Thousand Trails RV park on NE Sandy Blvd. 

This park is huge and old. The sites, at least in our non-member, short time area, are just minimally long enough for our small trailer. Our pickup is only partially off the road, stuffed into a corner between our trailer and another! Fairview is a busy suburb of Portland and we are parked roughly 50 feet from a busy thoroughfare. Couple that with the Portland International Airport thats just a few miles away, and the railroad noise in the background and you can understand why we find ourselves longing for the peace and quiet of the rv park on the Hoquiam river that we just left!