Not a Disappointment

 

We have made it as far west as we will go on this trip. We are camping at Cape Disappointment where the West Coast’s largest river (Columbia) meets the world’s largest ocean (Pacific). The cape got its name, in 1788, when a British captain was disappointed because of his inability to locate the river’s mouth.

Our visit here has been anything but a disappointment. This is the place Lewis and Clark ended their, three year, 4,000 mile, journey to the sea in 1806. It’s where you’ll find North Head lighthouse, one of the oldest functioning lighthouses on the Pacific coast. There’s also the Lewis and Clark Discovery Trail - a 17.3 mile out-and-back bike path that winds through the park and along the coast zigzagging through the dunes, grasses and trees.

This is what Mark and I call an epic park. It has everything we love; history, two miles of ocean beach, six miles of wooded hiking trails, two lighthouses and a biking trail. And I haven’t even touched on the small coastal towns you can explore just a few miles away. Plan to visit this place if you are ever in the area. You won’t be disappointed!

Simply Simpsons

 

Three years ago we had the good fortune to spend over two months exploring Oregon. I loved every moment we spent on the coast and in the mountains. This year’s goal is to spend a large amount of time exploring Washington. With that in mind we find ourselves just passing through one of my favorite landscapes. But instead of lamenting about all the things we are going to miss seeing in Oregon I’d like to highlight, for my 12 year old grandson, Henry, one important thing we haven’t missed.

We are camping at The Willamettans, a private resort outside Springfield, Oregon. Springfield just happens to be the Springfield that the beloved cartoon “The Simpsons” was modeled after; according to the show’s creator, Matt Groening. Groening signed a plaque that hangs proudly in City Hall and designates the city as the “real” Springfield. There’s also an official mural that was installed downtown, in 2014, in collaboration with 20th Century Fox and Groening himself. At the murals dedication, the voice of Lisa, Yeardly Smith, presided over the event.

Since then, unofficial street art has appeared in alleys and along side streets celebrating Springfield’s fictional alter-ego. There are now over 26 tribute pieces to the Simpsons hidden around the city. We only found three of them but did discover another reason for a longer stay next time we’re in this beautiful state.

Coastal Redwoods Part 2

 

Another remarkable thing about Coastal Redwoods is the obvious fact that they cover the coastal mountains of Northern California. When you visit this area, you not only get to see these magnificent trees but there are also sandy beaches, meadows and even canyons to explore. We loved hiking through Fern Canyon with its 50 foot walls and seven kinds of ferns. (It actually served as a backdrop for one of the Jurassic World movies).

We’ve also enjoyed coastal hikes right from our campsite, fish-n-chips at the pier restaurant (Seascape) and spotting our first Roosevelt Elk!

Coastal Redwoods

 

Coastal Redwoods are the tallest living thing on Earth; taller than the Statue of Liberty. Author, John Steinbeck, noted that, “no one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always.” The pictures I’m posting can’t possibly capture what it has been like spending the week in Redwood National and State Parks. We’ve driven through them, played disc golf and hiked among them and slept beneath them. I don’t have the words to describe the experience but maybe I can borrow the lyrics from an old Eagles song. We’ve had a “peaceful, easy feeling” all week long.

Bigfoot

 

After a week of snow, rain and cold temps, in Lassen National Forest, we headed for the California coast on Highway 299. This road travels through various canyons and along Trinity River and was one of the last major roads to be built in California. The route is remote and ranges from just above the river to climbing the canyon walls. The terrain is rugged and untouched. The curves seem to never end.

This region of Northern California is the unofficial home of Bigfoot with the most sightings to date. Situated on Hwy 299, the small town of Willow Creek is where the first widely reported Bigfoot sighting occurred in 1958. About nine years after the first encounter (1967) the infamous Patterson-Gimlin footage, of the creature walking across a clearing, was shot near Willow Creek. Today the official museum is located there. Whether or not that footage is authentic is still open for debate but there’s no denying it sparked an obsession with the Bigfoot legend that continues today. Perhaps the film has endured because it reminds us that  no matter how old we get, there are some things in the world we can never know for sure.

Volcanoes

 

Leaving Nevada, we headed back into California and traveled over the infamous Donner Pass, near Truckee, CA. The unbelievable amount of snow, at the pass, added to the realism of the story of the lost Donner party; the wagon train that got off course and were stranded in the snow for 5 months in 1857. Eighty-one people were trapped. Forty-five survived but only after resorting to murder and cannibalism. Trying not to dwell too much on that sobering bit of American history, we pushed on to Living Springs Campground outside Lassen Volcanic National Park. We knew our visit here would be in the shoulder season of the park’s opening but this year’s unprecedented snow has made the area a bit of a ghost town. We decided to embrace the solitude and enjoy having a national park all to ourselves.

All four types of volcanoes, found in the entire world, are represented in Lassen; shield, plug dome, cinder cone and composite. We made our way to Lassen Peak, a plug dome volcano whose jagged features looked smooth due to the blankets of snow. Mt Lassen is the southern most active volcano in the Cascade Range and its last eruption was in 1915. I’ve always assumed a volcanic eruption is almost always a bad thing but a number of atmospheric scientists have attributed the cooler temperatures and increased rain and snowfall this year, that have drastically improved California’s drought status, to the 2022 eruption of an undersea volcano near China. 

Anyway, after hiking around Manzanita Lake and checking out the campground and camp store, we understood why a large section of the park remains closed indefinitely. But at least a partial pathway has been cleared to the camp store ice machine!

Enthusiastic

 

A friend, Jim Wofford, undertook the task over a year ago to write a story once a week. He’s an excellent writer with unique stories and I look forward to posts, from his website searchingdaylight.com every week. He recently posted a quote that resonated with me. “We spend our lives seeking comfort and security when what we really need is something to be enthusiastic about.”

I love our life on the road but it isn’t always easy or comfortable. Plans are often shifting because of things out of our control. With an unprecedented snowpack this year, in the California mountains, we traveled further north to avoid flooding from snowmelt but found plenty of snow at the picturesque park in Lake Tahoe where we’d planned to stay so we’ve ended up in an RV parking lot at a casino in Minden, Nevada. It might look and sound like a miserable Plan B but we are having such a good time here. Mark has gotten to play Texas Hold’em, in a “real” casino, and I’ve gotten to know Rick, our close in proximity campsite neighbor, who truly believes people are being abducted by aliens. According to Rick and his research (after reading the book “Missing 411”) one of the most dangerous places to go hiking in America is Yosemite National Park. Because of Rick and his enthusiasm for extraterrestrials, I was able to make peace with the fact Yosemite had delayed its opening and we hadn’t gotten to hike there. Instead, we found a beautiful, alien free trail to explore in the northern Sierra range.