Smell the Barn

 

The sun is setting on our 2020 westward adventure. After leaving Colorado, we’ve begun the journey toward home with quick stops planned in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi. Our projected arrival date, in Chattanooga, is September 4th; almost exactly 8 months since this adventure began. We have had an amazing, chaotic experience seeing new places, connecting with old friends and family and making new friends; even Starbaby made a friend (Australian Terrier, Libby,from Colorado Springs). However, we feel that pull for home!

The most important thing for me, about having a home base, even though we love spending long periods of time traveling, is having a destination for a defined ending to a trip. Of course, there is something emotional about an adventure coming to an end, but that sense of loss sets the stage for a new beginning, in the future. Going home allows me to reflect on all the various experiences this kind of lifestyle offers. It also gives the opportunity for a relaxed atmosphere to reconnect with family and friends and balance the responsibilities of roles like daughter, mother and grandmother. Dorothy was right when she said, “There’s no place like home,” but she might never have grasped that reality without a trip to the “Land of Oz.”

Camping in a Heat Dome

 

This week, Death Valley recorded the hottest temperature ever recorded on earth, at 130° F. The Pacific Northwest and Southwest are experiencing a crippling heat wave with average highs being at least 6° higher than usual for this time of year. Our destination, after leaving Idaho, was Ridgway State Park in Colorado; because it’s a place we love and it sits at 7,000’ elevation. We had a one night stop over, in Utah’s Green River State Park, and I had my first experience camping in 100° temps. I didn’t like it.

The hotter temps have slowed us down, but because we are so familiar with this area, we’ve been able to take peaceful morning hikes, bike rides and numerous visits to Orvis; one of our favorite hot springs.

After lunch, things do heat up here. We’ve concluded the things we are most thankful for these days are shade trees, clouds, bodies of water, low humidity and our little camper’s air conditioner.

My Own Private Idaho

 

After two weeks of rest and relaxation, outside West Yellowstone, we headed to Malad Summit, in Idaho, where my brother-in-law has a ranch and cabin. It was such a relief to not have to worry about finding a campsite, on the weekend, in this area, where practically every state park campground is full. W

Because of the incredible hospitality of Jan and Greg, we parked our Bambi in the shade and spent three nights at their cool cabin. It’s hard to put a price tag on a comfortable bed, bath and delicious food and drink, but as the MasterCard commercial says, “it’s priceless!” We are well rested, fed and ready to make our way home.

Best Laid Plans

Sheep Lake Selfie

Mark and I are planners. We usually plan a trip a year in advance and have reservations at almost every campground we plan to go to. Since March, we’ve been flying by the seat of our pants and what a wild ride it has been. Many travelers pride themselves on having the mantra, as one friend put it, of waking up each morning, looking left, then right, and deciding that day which way to go. We have done really well adapting to that style of travel (we really didn’t have a choice) but after a while we find ourselves needing a rest to regroup. Henry’s Lake State Park has been great, allowing us a place to settle into a routine without worrying about what’s left or right for two whole weeks.

Mark is riding his bike a lot, and I am taking daily hikes seeing meadows of wildflowers and pristine mountain lakes. We have felt a bit of pressure to visit Yellowstone, since the entrance is only 20 miles away, but we’ve been many times before, and I’m not sure we really want to fight the crowds at the moment. A couple days ago, a young bison wandered within a few hundred yards of our campsite. I told Mark, “See, we don’t have to go to Yellowstone. If we are quiet and patient, it will come to us!”

Camping Again

There are as many different types of campers as there are campgrounds. In the summer, the majority of the people you meet, in a park, are traditional campers. They live fairly close to the park and are spending vacation time living in a tent or camper; usually anywhere from a long weekend to two weeks. There are also full time campers who have sold their permanent dwelling and travel from place to place in their home on wheels. Mark and I find ourselves somewhere in the middle. This year we will spend about 7 months on the road and 5 months at our condo in Chattanooga. We like having a foot in both worlds but we do find this lifestyle challenging when hot weather comes and campgrounds fill up with traditional campers. The biggest challenge for us is getting reservations at popular parks through the weekend.

We love Henry’s Lake State Park, in Idaho. The park sits at 6,500 feet elevation, there always seem to be clouds and a cool breeze and the average temps in the summer are highs in the 70’s and lows in the 50’s. Of course, because of those things, this is a park hundreds of other people like to visit too. Another unique thing about this park is that they have five walk-in sites (sites no one can reserve) that are first come first serve. We could only get a reservation at Henry’s Lake for two nights but decided to head this way and take a chance at snagging a walk-in site. The first day we were here we weren’t successful, but the second night a site came available so now we can stay here for two weeks! We are ecstatic! We needed a place to slow down, rest up and actually settle into camping again. And did I mention a pair of formally endangered Trumpeter Swans live here (the biggest native waterfowl in the US) and they swim by our campsite most mornings with their babies?

Watching the first baseball game of 2020

Glacier....sort of

We made it to Glacier National Park and are in a terrific campground just 2.5 miles from the West entrance to the park. Not only is Moose Creek RV Resort conveniently located, but they also offer  breakfast and serve scrumptious huckleberry pie! Regrettably, the West entrance to Glacier is the only entrance open, due to the pandemic. Another regrettable fact is that even though there are over 700 miles of hiking trails, in the park, very few of them are open. We decided to drive as far as we were allowed, on the Going to the Sun Road, and hike to Hidden Lake. We got up super early and made it to the trailhead ahead of almost everyone; (other than the people who had slept in their cars at the trailhead). The only problem we encountered was the crazy fog that greeted us at the top. I decided to hike through the fog and of course Hidden Lake remained completely hidden. The silver lining was I saw my first Bighorn sheep on the way back. Of course, the ultimate irony was Mark saw a whole herd while waiting for me in the parking lot!

As a side note; National Parks aren’t very dog friendly. The only trail that allows dogs, in Glacier, is a paved bike trail. We’ve discovered that after a couple days seeing the sights in a National Park, the best thing for us to do is look for dog friendly trails that adjoin the park. We found an amazing trail in the Great Bear Wilderness called Ousel Peak. It’s a pretty brutal hike where you climb almost 4,000’ in elevation in 3.6 miles, but the views from the top allowed a peek into Glacier and a great view of Harrison Lake.

Keeping Cool

After only two days of camping, with temps in the 90’s, we scampered north to a cooler climate and found ourselves back in the panhandle of Idaho; just 70 miles from the Canadian border. We are in a small state park called Round Lake. The park is small and picturesque and can only accommodate trailers 24 feet or less. Mark had his most challenging back in, of the trip, here, and he nailed it. Most of the campers in the park are in tents. We love this area and discovered one of the top ranked disc golf courses, in the country, is in the nearby town of Sandpoint. This stop has been a really relaxing one. We push on to Glacier National Park this weekend and hope to find it less hectic than the local news stations are reporting. We do have reservations, so that’s a good thing.

Longest Spring

If you plan to travel and camp, for months at a time, the goal, for a lot of campers is to seek out the best possible weather. That didn’t start out being the goal for us on this trip, but once we found ourselves extending our adventure into the summer months we found our route was unconsciously being determined by checking a weather app and heading in the direction of areas forecasting highs in the 70’s and lows in the 50’s. Just as temps started to heat up nationwide, with the onset of the summer solstice, we found ourselves on the Oregon coast experiencing  weather nirvana. July is Oregon’s driest month and we couldn’t have asked for more spring like temperatures during our entire stay.

However, all good things must end. Today we traveled East and will spend the next couple nights at an Army Corp of Engineer Park, on the Oregon/Washington border called Hood River. It is a lovely park  but for the first time of the trip I’m having to come to grips with the fact that spring has ended. (Tomorrows temps could reach 95°). But even as I lament the loss of my favorite season, I’m thrilled to have experienced the longest spring of my life!

Goodbye Spring/ Goodbye Oregon Coast

America’s Deepest Lake

The first real hiccup, of the trip (involving our camper) has been dealing with the death of our refrigerator. We have a large cooler, we always travel with, to store extras and ice (that won’t fit in our small dorm size fridge) so, we’ve managed to make do. However, discovering a dealership in Eugene, that has a model that will fit our trailer and a service appointment time to install it has taken precedence over our plans to head to Collier State Park, this weekend, near Crater Lake National Park. The campground, where we are right now, is about 80 miles from the national park. We decided, even though it’s a bit of a drive, we didn’t want to leave this area without seeing America’s deepest lake. We got up super early  this morning and made it to the park with only a handful of other people. We were amazed by this impressive landmark formed over 7,000 years ago when Mt. Mazama erupted and collapsed creating a 2,000 foot deep crater. The end result is a lake created solely from snow melt; there is no water flowing in or out. We spent the day hiking and picnicking in the park. What a beautiful day! What a beautiful place!

Looks Like We Made It

When we began this trip, I referred to it as my tree trip. One of the goals of the trip was to see the Sequoia/Giant Redwood trees (the biggest trees) and the Bristlecone Pine trees (the oldest trees) in California. Because of the Covid Crisis we never made it to California and it looked like that goal would have to wait for another trip. Today we left the Oregon coast and decided to take the route to our next Oregon state park (Valley of the Rogue State Park) that dips into California and passes by Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. The park has been closed since early March but we knew we could probably see some redwoods, from the road, if we traveled that way. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we got to the park sign and it said, “Open”! We pulled in and learned that the park only opened this week so we are some of the first people to visit this year. This state park contains 7% of all of the old-growth redwoods left in the world. We hiked through the magnificent forest and I was truly awed and humbled by these astounding giants. “....from the Redwood Forests, to the Gulf Stream waters; this land was made for you and me!”

Love at first sight!

Sad Farewell

Port Orford Heads State Park

Many of the places we visit, we know we will visit again, but the Oregon coast is so far from home, it could be years before we find ourselves this far west again. That fact has made us more conscious than we ordinarily are, of making the most of each moment we have here. We have hiked almost every day, but after talking to a local biker, staying in our campground, we found out about a bike ride, 10 miles inland, that he comes every year to do. It’s a road ride, but after hearing his glowing reviews we decided to pump up our mountain bike tires and check it out. The ride takes you along the crystal clear Elk River, on a tree canopied road and gives you the illusion that the topography is basically flat. It’s only after you pedal 11 miles and turn around, when the pavement becomes a dirt road, that you realize you’ve been on an incline the whole way out. The ride back is fabulous with amazing views of the river and effortless pedaling to the parking lot you started from. If you love biking and are visiting this area, I highly recommend this ride! It begins at the Elk River Fish Hatchery and has little to no traffic.

Tomorrow we leave the coast. I’m sad we’ve run out of time here, but SO thankful we had the opportunity to visit this extraordinary place.

Favorite Redhead

Last Stop on the Coast

After traveling essentially the entire length of highway 101 (beautiful,but long if you can only average 50 mph because of traffic and slow speed limits through coastal towns) we made it to Humbug Mountain State Park, six miles south of the idyllic town of Port Orford; oldest town on the Oregon coast. This park is smaller than Nehalem and is a popular camp stopover for hikers and bikers. It’s another amazing Oregon park. This area has one of the Oregon Coasts highest headlands that shelter our forest ringed, creek side campground. There is also beach and trailhead access from our campsite. One of my favorite hikes of the trip is the Humbug Mountain hike. The trail is pristine (no mud) and the 4.5 mile loop stays in an old growth forest the whole way offering breathtaking views of the ocean and beaches below. If that’s not enough, we also discovered a wonderful joint called Crazy Norwegians, in Port Orford, serving wonderful fish and chips and Marion berry pie. Life is good for the Amundson’s!

Campground beach

Tasty Treats

As we have made our way west, I discovered that the Cabot (Vermont cheddar) I usually buy, had been replaced, in the dairy section, with a cheese called Tillamook. I bought a block and loved it and have continued to look for it wherever we go. I realized when we ended up on the coast of Oregon that the county where we are staying is called Tillamook. Ironically, my new favorite cheddar is made at a creamery just down the road. The creamery hasn’t reopened to the public yet, but we are thankful that most of the cool shops along the coast are slowly reopening with a few restrictions. It would have been a shame to spend the week here and miss out on the cherry pie at Sisters and Pete’s, in Manzanita. It’s definitely the best pie of the trip!

Wow, Just Wow

I’m not really a beach person; at least I wasn’t until I visited the Oregon coast. Nehalem Bay State Park has been our home this week and the campground here is awesome! We have a campsite in the trees and beach access a short walk from our camper door. However, the state park just five miles north has really stolen my heart! Oswald West State Park doesn’t allow overnight camping but does have incredible hiking trails. Most of the trailheads begin in the shadow of Neahkahnie Mountain; the tallest peak on the northern coast. The name Neahkahnie means “place of the creator”, and it does feel magical. The assortment of trails are varied and beautiful. Hiking to the top of the mountain takes you through open meadows, lush temperate rain forests and old growth coastal trees. The Sitka Spruce tree grows here and is the largest of the spruce species. The hike to Falcon Cove takes you by a pristine beach and ends with views of coves bordered by cliffs that drop hundreds of feet straight into the ocean. Factor in that we just happen to hit this rainy section of the coast during an unexpected dry period and you have nirvana!

Sitka Spruce

Devil’s Cauldron 

Oregon Anniversary

After a stopover at Memaloose State Park, in the Columbia River Gorge, we continued our trek to the Oregon Coast. The drive was absolutely breathtaking, with waterfalls spilling over rock cliffs and vistas of the Columbia River as it cuts it’s way through the Cascade Mountains. We had second breakfast in Portland, then ended the day at a point as far west as we can go. We are in the harbor town of Garibaldi, for a couple nights, at Harborview Inn and RV Park. As the name suggests, we have a view of the harbor and real fishing boats!

Today also happens to be mine and Mark’s 36th wedding anniversary. What a “long strange trip” life continues to be!

Washington Pass Through

When I think of Washington State, I think of the western coast with lush forests and lots of rain. Who knew that eastern Washington is more of a windy plain with rounded hills covered in sage and grasses? We’ve decided to make our way to the Oregon coast, so Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, in the Wanapum Recreation Area, has been our choice for a stopover as we continue pushing west. We only have a short time, in the area, but got a beautiful campsite with a view of the Columbia River. We hiked this morning, in the Ginkgo Petrified Forest, which was intriguing because there were no trees on the horizon. The Forest is under the desert scape in petrified form. The trees and logs are protected by grates in the places where they made their way to the surface over a million years ago. Another fact I didn’t know; Petrified wood is Washington’s official state gem!

Nakation

Because Idaho is just opening their state parks to overnight camping, there was no way in advance to make reservations for this area. We were able to get a spot at Heyburn State Park for five nights but the weekend was booked. Because we still had things we wanted to see and do, in the area, we looked for private parks for the weekend. We discovered Sun Meadows Family Nudist resort was only ten miles away and had vacancies, so we decided to give the park a try.

We didn’t know what to expect but were pleasantly surprised at what we found. The park is gated and private, and once inside it’s like camping in an ordinary RV Park. We arrived when temps were hovering in the high 50’s- perhaps that makes a difference, but all our fellow campers were clothed around their campsites. The Indoor clubhouse amenities, however, were “all natural” (sauna, hot tub, and heated pools). We are acclimated to areas, involving water, being clothes optional because of the hot springs we frequent. The odd thing for us was recreating in the nude. Playing ping pong and shooting pool, in the buff, was a whole new experience. I think everyone who has been skinny dipping recognizes the feeling of freedom gliding through the water. That feeling of freedom is there when you do ordinary activities too. We really enjoyed our adventure here (even though it felt a bit like we were in the movie Cocoon) and ended our stay with one of the prettiest sunsets of our trip.

Patriotic campsite neighbors 

State Parks Open Again

We are camping in a state park again! Heyburn State Park was Idaho’s first state park and is the oldest state park in the Pacific Northwest; established in 1908. The campground where we are staying is about 30 miles from Coeur d’Alene and sits beside a beautiful lake. It has some cool hiking trails and lots of wildlife to see; especially birds. We’ve seen bald eagles, blue heron, osprey, white pelicans and red breasted nut hatches. Sadly though, Minnesota’s state bird is also here; the mosquito!

We’ve enjoyed and appreciated the private parks and Air Force bases that have provided a place to stay, during the pandemic, but it is nice to have state parks as an option, again, as we continue our travels.