Big trees, caves, and a BIG dog 7/30/2011

We set off this morning with the thought that we would take the cave tour this afternoon, and do some hiking this morning. That's exactly how things worked out. We scheduled a 3:00 p.m. tour, and then started up the Big Tree trail at Oregon Caves National Monument. The trail heads uphill for 1.1 miles and leads to a giant Douglas fir, the largest in Oregon, then descends to make a loop. The trail up went through a forest of giant  Douglas firs and cedars, and Pacific Madrone trees. The madrones are broadleaf evergreen trees with rich orange-red bark that peels away on the mature wood. Around every switchback were huge firs, most easily 6 feet in diameter. The giant tree for which the trail is named is the largest Douglas fir in Oregon, 40 feet in circumference (about 13 feet in diameter). They estimate that it is 800-1000 years old.   At one point, as we walked along the trail, a grouse flew up from the bushes at the side of the trail. He may have been startled by our passing, but we were as well! The day was beautiful, warm and dry with a cool breeze in the shade. This hike was truly a joy.

After this hike, we went back to the car where we had a cooler packed with sandwiches for lunch. Then we set off for another short hike before our cave tour. For 1 1/2 hours, the cave tour takes you through tunnels and halls of cave formations. Ray had to hunch over for probably half of the tour, to fit through those tunnels.Our tour guide was very informative, and we saw formations there that we had never seen in other caves (Mammoth, Jewel, and Wind Caves). Very cool.

Rather than take the direct route back to the visitor center, we decided to take another short hike that took us up to a beautiful view of the Siskiyou mountains, a lovely exclamation point to our day. On our way back to the parking lot, we stopped to speak with a man whose dog caught our attention, a Tibetan Mastiff, 33" tall (his owner said). The man had another dog with him, a newfoundland puppy, another beautiful dog. Can you imagine this guy's dog food bill?

Crater to Caves 7/29/2011

Up early, today we head south to Oregon Caves. The road out is long and straight, bordered with pine (spruce, fir??) trees. The craziest thing was that the road had large stretches where the trees that bordered the road were actually at the top of a steep bluff. The side of the bluff (hill) appeared to be eroded, and the roots of the trees above were severely exposed. How many of the trees were actually held up is a mystery. We're talking about 90-100 foot firs that tower above the road, and have a sizable portion of their roots exposed.

On the way, we stopped at a place where the Rogue river rushes through a rocky gorge.There was a stump there that even though the tree had been cut years ago, was still alive. Apparently, the roots of the cut tree, and those of a neighboring tree had enmeshed, and the roots of the neighboring tree kept the stump alive.

We stopped at a Walmart to pick up a few groceries, and then motored along to the Country Hills Resort in Cave Junction. I had expected that this place would be rustic, and with no services. It turns out they have a full complement of Direct TV stations, wireless internet, and a very clean, very comfortable motel. There is no cell service here at all, though. This is the closest accommodations, other than a campground up the road, to Oregon Caves National Monument.

Once we had settled in, we decided to take the trip up to the Monument just to check out the cave tours, and what available hiking trails are there. The road from the motel to Oregon Caves is a doozy. The best way I can describe it is to explain that on the way back, I was watching the direction sensor on the rear view mirror. In the course of the 11 miles from the park to our motel, the compass showed that at any one time, we traveled, N, NE, NW, E, S, SE, SW, W--all multiple times.

Tomorrow, we will tour the caves, and take some of the trails that take you through old growth forests, and mountain meadows.

July 28, 2011 Bluer than blue

Our plans today were to get out early, and go to the ticket concession for the Crater Lake boat tour.  There are a limited number of tickets available the same day, so we wanted to ensure we got them. We arrived at the ticket booth at 8:00, and then doused ourselves with insect repellent to ward of the swarming mosquitoes. After purchasing our tickets, we headed to the Garfield Peak trail. Our intention was to follow the trail for a while, then track back in time to have lunch, then head to the boat launch. The views along the trail were beautiful. On the way back, I slid on the loose gravel on the trail, and ripped the skin off my toe. Thank god, I had tissues in my pocket that I could wedge under my toe that was bleeding profusely. Back at the car, a bandaid took car of the situation.

We ate lunch, and headed to the boat launch. The only way to get to the boat launch is to take a 1.1 mile switchback trail down to the lake. It takes 20 minutes to descend the trail after you find a place to park.

The boat tour of Crater Lake was a pleasant surprise. It was a great way to get a new perspective on what you have only seen from the road that encircles the rim of the crater. The ranger that narrated the tour was very informative and interesting.  And the views from the lake were fantastic. You would think that the lake that appears SO blue from a distance would look more "normal" up close. But it is as blue up close as it is from a distance. And that blue is not just from a reflected sky. It is perfectly clear. The ranger told us that they check the lake's clarity once a year, and there is a test they perform that involves dropping a black and white patterned disk into the water. Thet then lower it into the lake and mark the point at which they can last see it. At its best, they could see the disk at 140 feet under the surface of the water. Now THAT's clear.At its deepest, the lake is 1,923 feet deep. By contrast, at Lake Tahoe, they perform the same test, and the vanishing point is 60 feet. After the 2 hour tour, we started up the "magic mile" as the ranger put it. "Magic", because what is really only about a mile long trail back to the parking lot, seems like 13 miles. The ascent is steep, and the switchbacks many. And the mosquitoes were on their way back for the evening.

We enjoyed a beer when back at our motel room. We then set out to the restaurant across the street that we went to yesterday. The food and the music were just as good as they were last night. The picture above shows the restaurant. What a great little place.

July 27, 2011, Crater Lake

We have not had internet service for 2 days, so we are posting this on 7/29.

We tried in 1975. The water in the park was contaminated, and they closed the park.
We tried in 1989. The lodge was condemned, so we opted to try another time.
We tried in 1999. Ray's prostate cancer was being treated with drugs that kept us from traveling.
But we finally made it!

Part of the difficulty of visiting Crater Lake is the fact that it is located 50 miles from nowhere. You really have to want to come here. And we did.
What's so great about Crater Lake? It is one of the most pure bodies of water in the world, and one of the deepest lakes in the world. The purity of the water makes it appear unbelievably blue, and it is set in a landscape whose backdrop is snowcapped mountains, and spruce forests.

This year Crater Lake had 673 inches of snow--that's 56 FEET. There is snow on many of the trails that makes them unpassable, and there are banks of snow everywhere in the park. Today we arrived at about 1:30, and took the opportuntiy to drive around the lake, stopping at turnouts to snap some pictures.

We checked into our accommodations later in the day. We're staying at a nifty throwback motel about 15 miles from the entrance of the park (about 25 miles from the lake rim). This is the closest place, other than the Crater Lake Lodge (that had no rooms available). The people who run the motel are very friendly and helpful. The room is large and clean, and has a refrigerator and microwave, 15" TV and VHS. There are barbecue grills out front of the motel for your use. And since there are only 6 stations on TV (we ARE in the middle of nowhere), they have a cache of hundreds of videotapes that you can borrow to watch. The beds are comfy (and did I mention, clean?). What more could you want?  We were advised that the restaurant across the street was quite good, and reviews of this place had mentioned the same. We could choose that, or go another 10 miles down the road to Chemult. So we headed there for dinner. Good choice. They served up meals that were fresh and in gigantic portions, and the background music playing was awesome (Allman Brothers). Places like this are the reason we love to travel.

Family Visit 7/27/2011

Up a little later this morning, we read a bit, had coffee and breakfast, then set out for a visit with Uncle Sonny, Ray's mom's brother. Ray's cousin, Sonny's daughter, Theresa was there as well. We hadn't seen her or Uncle Sonny in about 20 years. We spent a nice afternoon catching up with both of them. Sonny is 91 now, and lives by himself, as his wife, Lillian, is in a nursing home. He is able to live alone with daily help from Theresa.

We had remembered the area where Sonny had lived as a bucolic rural area. Portland has grown tremendously since then, and that area is now teeming with housing developments where the homes are within spitting distance of one another. On Sonny's former property, there are now 3 homes. Times change, and not always for the better. Late in the afternoon, we checked in to our hotel in Salem, OR, went shopping for food (the area we are heading to tomorrow is really rural), and went to a restaurant for dinner.

Barren to Beauty 7/26/2011

After treating ourselves to a hot breakfast at the hotel, we packed up to head out to Mt. St. Helens. Old hands at maneuvering city roads with the help of our trusty GPS, we plugged in, and discovered...that the touch screen wasn't working. At all. Even after several reboots. Hmmm. Just pull out the map. That we can't find. Hmmmm. OK, I do have a smartphone. After looking up AAA , we discovered that there was an office up the street, stopped in, and collected a few state maps, and tour book. Ray got us pointed in the right direction, and we headed south. About 45 minutes later, I found the reset button on the back of the GPS, and after a few resets, it WORKED.

The day we woke up to was very cool--50s-- and cloudy. During the approximately 2 hour ride down to Mt. St. Helens, the temperature increased to the low 70s. Once we got off the interstate to head east into Mt. St. Helens Monument, we noted by the outside thermometer on the dash, that the weather was getting progressively cooler as we gained altitude. By the time we arrived, it was 55 degrees and cloudy. Mt. St. Helens is a fascinating place (at least to me) because this monumental change in topography happened in my lifetime. What used to be an old-growth forest surrounding a snow-capped peak is now an ash-filled landscape around a crater. The approach to the mountain is covered in what appear to be spruce trees that were planted since the eruption in May 1980. The patches of new trees are odd in appearance. Usually forests are composed of trees of varying heights. All these trees are the same size. And the limbs of this particular species grow fairly horizontally, so when you see the trees from a distance, the effect is almost like a pointillist painting. At the visitor center, we saw a movie that was put together with still photos taken at the time of the eruption, and featuring some awesome cgi effects that were very realistic. The force of the blast from the eruption blew down or scorched 230 square miles of forest. Amazing. Photos of the area immediately surrounding the mountain don't show any tree remains. They are buried in up to 230 feet of ash. Wow. Unfortunately for us, the caldera was not visible--it was hidden in low clouds. The picture to the right was taken looking directly at the mountain. But being witness to the effects of the forces that took place in 1980 was impressive. We'll be back.

We then headed further south to the Portland, OR area. After checking into our hotel, we drove over to the International Rose Test Garden, the oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States. Started in 1917, in the beginning, even though World War I was raging in Europe, hybridists sent roses from around the world to this garden for testing and to keep the new hybrids safe from being destroyed by the bombing in Europe. There are thousands of roses, all gorgeous to walk among and admire. It is a beautiful spot. we can't believe that the last time we were here was in 1975--only 36 years ago!

The adventure begins--again 7/24/2011

Up early today, we had packed last night, and were ready for the limo to the airport when it arrived 10 minutes early. We left at 6:30, and were through security and at the gate by 7:07. With a 2 bag per person allowance, and a 50# per bag limit, we almost maxed out. As usual, our Southwest flights were on time, and reasonably comfortable--no screaming babies this time! Excellent!

We arrived in Seattle at about 2:30, grabbed our bags, and were picked up by the hotel limo shortly. We walked from the hotel to a 7-11 and picked up some snacks and a few beers, and went back to the room to relax. At the 7-11, I cracked to the (Pakistani-born?) clerk that $5 for a bag of chips was highway robbery. He said something like: "Yes, you guys probably remember when chips were $.25 or something like that." I didn't want to know how old he thought we were... I don't think he understood that $5 for a small bag of chips IS ridiculous...Later, we walked over to a sub shop for dinner. Tomorrow, we will pick up the car (the hotel will shuttle us over there), and set off for Portland. We are amused that people here think the weather is HOT. It was about 85 degrees and dry here today, what we would consider quite lovely. The weather lady on the local TV station described the day as something like "oppressive". YIKES! I guess everything's relative...

Traveling again 7/20/2011

Our summer 2011 trip is set, and I'm getting psyched. This time we're headed for the Pacific Northwest, and visits to Olympic National Park, Crater Lake, Oregon Caves, Astoria, Victoria, BC, and more. We'll be including a stop in to Boeing for a plant tour, and more. You're welcome to come along by checking in on this blog.

Because of time constraints, this year we are flying in to Seattle, and renting a car. With a bit of good timing, we were made aware of the fact that we could get 2 free roundtrips to anywhere Southwest flies if we applied for and got a Southwest Chase Visa card. And so we did. That took care of our flights out west. We are renting a car off the airport, saving almost $800.00. Cheapness rules!