THE TREE TRIP: FALL 2021

 EXCURSIONS IN OREGON

            Like everyone else, COVID made us stir crazy and we have opted to travel by road.  We left Oregon July 5 and returned end of August to begin the process of getting our little pull trailer road-ready.  A 1966 vintage, we weren’t sure what we were in for but it is adorable with all its age-related foibles. 

            In addition to modifications to Lucille, the truck, including a new secondary gas tank and heavy-duty hitch, all the related brakes and lights, Gil and his brother Dennis worked out every neglected hinge and latch, rebuilt drawers, and traced water and propane lines on the trailer.  I cleaned out the interior and organized the storage for cooking, bedding, clothing, and handy items like bungies and other miscellaneous quick hands-on stuff.  We have decided not to fully restore it but just make it functional and comfortable.  That included having a new couch seat made (also serves as a bed) and oiling all the wood, giving us surprisingly pretty walls.  The useless bunk was removed and adapted to store new sleeping bags, sheets, and pillows.         

Ready!

Grants Pass overnighter

With family experienced in camping of all sorts (including horse camps, etc.), we were in good hands for our trial run to see if things actually worked on the road.  We headed up the grade to Grants Pass so Gil could practice coordinating the truck and trailer (with all the new parts) and backing into a camp site.  Good job everybody!             

Cove Road - Heading down

Pupus at Schroeder park (blue line on map) Denny & Gil

        

Crescent moon – turns out the moon marked all our outings

Good coffee, at the table: 

Darlene, nephew Leo, and Mason

Darlene and I sneaked in a kayak paddle at Lake of the Woods, an hour up the road.  Good thing we did as we didn’t get another chance with triple digit poor air quality (from surrounding fires) for the next month.  We all lived in N95 masks that had nothing to do with the pandemic!

She is trying out her inflatable.
 

North 101 to Olympic National Park

            Back at the ranch (and shop) improvements continued for the couple days before we headed out for Olympic National Park.  We got on the road at 9am.  First stop, we fixed our lunch at the elk reserve, a beautiful spot.  The bucks were just lazily toying with the notion of the rut and the females remained uninterested. 

            We made it to the coast and the rest of the outbound trip was up Hwy 101.  Carl G. Washburne park was nice but the wind was 45mph at the beach!  The path down along the creek was lined with ferns.

           

We hosted our first dinner in our trailer – stuffed peppers.  

Truly happy campers!

The Columbia River separates Oregon/Washington.  D&D about to cross.

Loggers on the road, very common sight.

With full intentions of kayaking on Lake Quinault, we hit hard rain in the rainforest.  Good food, games and company.

Lasagna, garlic bread, wine . . . 

The world’s largest Sitka Spruce, 1000 years old, was in our campground on the Indian reservation.

            Continuing north along Hwy 101 a couple days later, we got spectacular coastal views. 

We hiked down to the popular Ruby Beach.

            Crescent Lake in uppermost Washington is as gorgeous as everyone said.  Real mountains but still rainforest, the best of the Pacific Northwest.

Setting up: chocks, blocks, hoses, learning from pros!  We watched small black tail deer swing through every evening.

Sunrise, Gil was up early and captured this one

Mason

            We unhitched the truck and took a drive into the park, following the Sol Duc River and realized the seasons were rapidly changing.

Sol Duc River valley

             Before leaving Olympic National Park, we all drove up to Hurricane Ridge, from sea level a 5000’ elevation gain, and fab views to (previous) mountain glaciers and to the sea.  Lots of trails to explore next time.

From the mountains to the sea, literally.

Coming back to Oregon we extended the trip by a day and stayed at a little county park by a river.

Full moon sunrise 

The pink line shows our 8 day route.  Other than passing south through Portland at rush hour, we had avoided civilization for over a week.

Homestead – Cove Road

Once back at the homestead, D&D had an unexpected trip to So Cal and I minded the animals while Gil continued the roof seal project on our trailer.  I also made window shades for the camper and Gil painted Darlene’s kitchen door.

Dandy, Sugar, Mason and Pugsley

Blue

 

            Proceeds from the ducks and chickens and garden!  Some of this became a yummy frittata, obviously!

            Using Denny’s pool table to lay out fabric was very nostalgic because 50+ years ago, I helped my sister with her drapery business and it was all laid out on their pool table!

The famous orange door!  

(Denny's workshop contains toys for every age.)

             There is a good well and an open water tank on the property.  So, in addition to domestic animals, wildlife cruise through at night.  There are bear, mountain lion, coyote, raccoon, skunk, and many deer.  I saw a bobcat cross the road with a squirrel one morning. The coyotes set the dogs off and the racoons try to raid the chickens.  Ground squirrels undermine buildings and woodpeckers incessantly peck the house and barn!  The deer and jays are nearly domestic as they get birdseed, peanuts and periodic apples tossed their way. Sometimes, the deer enjoy the corn scattered for the chickens, inside their pen!

The six foot fence is no barrier for these guys.

            Darlene and two of her lady friends (that have lived on the mountain forever) have a Tuesday afternoon wine and cheese session known as wining.  They were kind enough to include me. It is wonderful, the conversations ranging from kids to trucks, local business comings and goings, trips to the coast, the raging fires, and Covid.  When possible, they meet outdoors.

Just setting set up, Ellen with town of Ashland glowing down in the bowl and Mount Ashland looming way across the valley.

Darlene and Ann (who also visits Kauai regularly now)

The next week we all met in the trailer, last minute advice for our coast trip from veterans of the area.  The boys joined for a quick hiccup.

Redwoods

            Trailer roof sealed, we headed for the coast again, this time to spend time in the redwoods just over the border into California.

Down the mountain toward Ashland and beyond

Great campsite, the expected rain did not come; 

we were blessed

Out the window

            We were fast learning to love being able to unhitch and just explore in the truck.  We spent two days discovering the Smith River and nearby Jed Smith redwood park.

These big guys cannot be captured by puny humans but we keep trying

Absolute wonderland

Gil's reach is 8 feet

            We ate our lunch in the car as it was nippy when not moving!  Out our window we had a nice show going with the sun in and out.

Darlene asked me to hug a tree for her, happy to!

I love the fern understory

            Ironically, our hike one day came to this little bridge and another day, from the state campground, we were exactly across the river.  In summer, there is a bridge connecting both sides.

Everyone remarks on the aqua color of the Smith River, stunning, as we followed it from above as well as on our hikes.  (Of course, it is extremely low here due to the ongoing drought.)

The Coast

            The Smith River reaches the Pacific in between Crescent City, California and Brookings, Oregon a half hour north.  We checked out nearby Crescent Harbor where the restaurant that had been recommended to us was only open for take-out.  We passed.

Near Crescent Harbor, it was quite chilly for us 

These sanderlings were unphased

Between days of exploring the redwood forest, we drove up the rugged Oregon coast as far as Bandon.  The rock formations are quite dramatic; many are named, often going back to tribal legends.  Shorelines varied, conifers lined Hwy 101 and communities ranged from secluded homes hidden among them to farmland.

Whale Head

Face Rock

Bandon Harbor & village

The light on the water was dazzling on our way 

back down the coast.

THE TREE TRIP

            There is very little of the Oregon and Washington coast we did not drive between our two trips.  It is gorgeous to look at and so glad we saw it but I have to say, it was the trees that reached our soul.

            Over the weeks we were at Denny and Darlene’s in June and again in Aug-Sep-Oct, the Oak trees were amazing.  From green to gold, full of acorns, we watched the tree squirrels scampering to fill their caches.  From high heat (over 100) to snow at the end we saw the process (not for the first time, but still something to marvel at). 

In upper Washington’s rainforest, we learned some of the largest conifers exist: spruce, fir, hemlocks and cedars.  We saw the big Sitka spruce in our campground but did not chase the other ones, another time perhaps. So, that left the redwoods and we managed to fit those in as well.

            Before leaving, we did a reconnaissance to Lake of the Woods  campgrounds.  I had done that with Darlene when we kayaked and we were escaping the smoke, but October was a different story.

Luckily, Lucille came with an ice scraper

Cove Road, Breast Mountain

Early morning 21 degrees

Gorgeous wet snow laden trees

We learned they ice fish here in winter, 

we aren't quite ready for that!

For now the landlocked salmon are at the end of their spawn

Mt. McLoughlin (part of the Pacific ring of fire that will bring us full circle on the island)

             We are looking forward to returning here to resume camping and hope to find intact forests to nurture us.

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2021

From the Redwood gargoyles