Sun. 8/6
Drive most of way to Portland, want to get there before noon tomorrow (to get work done on the RV).
Mon. 8/7
Lots of errands enroute to Portland.
Tues. 8/8
Dinner at the home of Marcy’s daughter Gabe, husband Rob, and kids Ruby, Torrin, & Milo.
Haze is due to forest fires in Canada.
Wed. 8/9
Toured Portland rose garden.
Got car washed!
Now, we head east.
Thurs. 8/10
Drove Columbia Gorge, Oregon side, hwy 84 & 30. No room for RV parking at waterfalls that you have to walk to.
Won’t be able to stay for old fashioned thresher festival this weekend.
No internet, can’t map out route or research campgrounds or play scrabble on the tablet.
Fri. 8/11
Columbia Gorge Museum. Interesting exhibit on barbed wire.
An exhibit implied the wrong date for Lewis & Clark expedition and the staff at desk didn’t recognize that the hardware store founded in 1847 could not be 57 yrs older than the 1804 expedition, that they were wrong by a century.
The museum also has a raptor program that provides a home for injured eagles, hawks, etc. that are non-releasable as well as educates the public.
Tire repair. we love Schwab. Drive to La Pine, OR.
Sat. 8/12
Newberry caldera. We’ve seen lava before on this trip, this is our first volcano.
Lava Butte—took shuttle bus to ¼-mile rim trail around a cinder cone volcano. Learned that Mt. Bachelor is the snowcapped peak we could see and that the many forest fires (“that’s what Oregon does in Aug.”) was causing the haze. Ranger even warned folks to check before going to Crater Lake—it’s in a depression. . . where smoke settles.
Next up, Trail of the Molten Land, a 1-mi loop across a basalt lava flow to a viewpoint.
Big Obsidian Flow—80 stairs gets you up to the observation deck and a 1-mile loop on top of the flow where you are surrounded by black glass. There’s more trail beyond that and Bob went farther than either of us expected, so when I didn’t see him, I went back down the 80 steps looking for him, then back up the 80 steps . . .
Paulina Falls (actually 2 falls next to each other). ¼ hi trail to 80 ft falls. good view from top, saw people swimming downriver, they took the longer lower trail.
Had looked forward to Lava Cast Forest until film explained that they are basically holes in the ground (the lava between the trees is still in place). Still have hopes for Gallatin Petrified Forest. Interested in uncollapsed Lava Tube/cave until we learned not only is it unlit (lanterns available for rent and you need 2 light sources) but hard to reach—185 stairs to get down (tough with a bum knee) and 185 back up (tough for the rest of us).
Sun. 8/13
Drive to Burns OR. About 100 miles of scrub brush but more bushes(denser) than in TX. Some hay fields, irrigated. Road sign said watch for cattle but we did not see any. Occasionally we’ve seen corrals near the road but no idea how they find all the cattle when they want them. All this space, and it’s all fenced up and strung with electric & phone wire (not to mention the paved road)–people have already made their mark it.
Had more than a few drops of rain while setting up, 1st rain in ?months?.
Mon. 8/14
Drive to Mountain Home, ID. Lots of nothing for the 1st 112 miles from Burns to Vale–farms, but no lodging or gas. Except for a campground & cafe in Juntura, an hours drive in. Missed Glass Mountain and Riley for obsidian collecting (and an area for petrified wood and opals. )
Wonder how long it takes to plow or cut a field that is a mile long.
Well, that was exciting—a cattle drive right across the road, cowboys on horses, sheep dogs—stopped traffic. Maybe 50 head?
We’re back to rolls of hay instead of bales
Tues. 8/15
Drive to Arco, ID, passing lots of lava outcroppings on the way. Stopped at Sun Valley to see Alison & Lee again
and at Craters of the Moon National Monument–did the driving tour and some short walks. Name comes from the surface of the land resembling the moon. and BTW, the second group of astronauts to walk on the moon visited Craters of the Moon in 1969 to study the volcanic geology.
Exhibits at the VC showed how the Yellowstone hot spot has moved over time, from southern OR to northern NV to ID and WY. Learned that most rainwater passes thru the lava to a Lake Erie-sized aquifer providing water for the famous Idaho potatoes and southern ID communities.
