7/16/20 Heading to Redding Costco & Walmart to restock, we passed by lake Shasta, but didn’t stop since the temperature was 106. Shasta Lake is really beautiful. Too bad the weather was not permitting. We stopped by Mount Shasta Vista Point, very majestic with snowcap even in this 106 degree weather at 4,000 ft. We were then on our way to Klamath Falls and camped at KOA Journey. Nice and clean campsite $50/night with ‘senior’ discount. We have officially crossed the border to Oregon. We saw a sign on the road with an arrow pointing out the direction for Crater Lake. Caught us by surprise because we didn’t realize we were that close to Crater Lake. So that’s the plan for tomorrow, visit Crater Lake National Park, one of my long awaited destination to visit. I called my sister Tonya that night to get some tips of what to see there since she’s been there before. How exciting!
7/17/20 We tried to call the Crater Lake campsite reservation center to book a spot, but the web site was not user friendly. We then called early in the morning, but the Park rep was not able to assist with the booking, and advised for us to check in upon arrival. We got to the park around 1pm, went to the Mazama Village/campground and luckily was able to book at least one night here. Beautiful campsite, clean and very relaxing surroundings. Everyone around the park is friendly. We took our UBCO bikes to tour the area and headed to Rim Village Visitor Center. Man, that was a very long bike ride. I’m still not comfortable with riding the UBCO bikes yet, as the throttle is quite sensitive and makes me feel jumpy. Lots of twist and turns to get to the lake, and I manage to speed up to 29 MPH, woohoo!!! Every time I look at the speedometer, I get a little nervous and then slow down, just in case, especially around the bend. Paul always rides ahead of me, and then has to wait on the side of the road for me to catch up. Sorry, slowly but surely.
We got to the Rim Village, parked the bike and walked to Crater Lake. It was one of those jaw dropping moment, where all you can say is “Oh My God!” It was incredibly breathtaking, majestic & calm, serene & stunningly beautiful! So quiet, so articulate in every aspect of natural tranquility. No thesaurus can sum this up in one word to describe it.
Pictured above, view from Garfield Peak trail. Bottom right is the “Phantom Ship” as the small island is shaped like a ship.
Below is an extraction from the Crater Lake National Park pamphlet:
“A massive volcanic eruption, 7,700 years ago left a deep basin in the place where a mountain peak once stood. Centuries of rain and snow filled the basin, forming a deep blue lake whose waters are of unmatched color and clarity. It is the deepest lake in the USA.”
Some facts about Crater Lake: 6.02 miles across, 1,943 ft deep, holds 4.9 trillion gallons of water. How incredible!
The shade of blue at this lake is indescribable, maybe deep royal blue might be close, but I’m not sure if there’s a name for this shade of blue just yet. It is as though a deep blue silk cloth has been draped across this crater and topped with evergreen pines. If you see it in a picture, you’ll think that it has been overly post-processed or photoshopped, but I assure you such beauty does exist on earth. What a magnificent God’s creation for all of us to enjoy and cherish for many generations.
As I lay awake at night, thinking about this trip thus far, besides all the natural wonders that we have enjoyed on this trip, one thing that stood out for me is that we have had sporadic cell/wifi signal in most of the places that we visited except in town. The first few times was hard as you feel disconnected from friends & families and the world. But the more I thought about it, what a blessing it was and is to be unplugged once in a while to refocus your mind and spirit and not be so reliant on these technologies that are tied to your hips, where you have to check your phone every few minutes for messages, voicemail, email, news break, etc. It is truly blissful to find peace in nature and focus on your well-being, time to reflect on the good times you’ve had with friends and families and not so worried about tomorrow, except what’s your next destination. Funny thing was — we were at a campsite by Lake Hume and we asked the Camp Master if there was a wifi signal nearby, he looked at us and gently said “you’re camping!” We both laughed at ourselves as to how we have become so robotic and forget why we’re here in the first place. There you have it, I challenge you to unplug completely for one day or two day, and figure out how much time you have to yourself doing other things other than checking your phone every few minutes. Just think how you parents or grandparents survived without cell phones in the old days.
7/18/20 We were lucky enough to get a second day at Crater Lake Mazama camp site without any prior reservation although we did have to move to another specific site. We decided to hike the Garfield Peak near Rim Village, a 3.4 miles round trip. It doesn’t sound like much but it was quite strenuous as it was uphill all the way. Unfortunately, we didn’t wear hiking shoes, just walking shoes so it made the hike a little more challenging in both directions, up and down hill. This hike reminds me of Angels Landing in Zion National Park, not as technical, but still challenging to summit at 8,054 feet looking down at the crater and the village. Three hours+ later, we were exhausted, sweaty, and hungry as we didn’t eat a proper lunch before hiking, but it was sooo worth it and satisfying to conquer another mountain, yay!
I took over 200 pictures of crater lake and the view from above, I’m sure Paul took quite a few pictures too. Every few steps is a photo opp. How can any one look at this spectacular scenery and not gaze and pause to take in the fresh air. Supposedly the drinking water here is one of the purest water you can get on earth. On the way out, we stopped by Watchman lookout – a must stop for a dramatic view of Wizard island, and a multi-facet shades of blue ranging from turquoise to royal blue, bordering the remains of the volcanic eruptions formation. So that’s it for two wonderful days in Crater Lake.
7/19/20 – Bend, OR
Parked at Walmart to do some shopping, and rest for the night. However, we were asked by Security to move out around 8:30 as the city is not allowing out of towner to stay here during covid-19. As we were just about to cook Paul asked the security guard if we could leave after dinner. The security guard was very pleasant and had no issue with Paul’s request. We had a quick bite and then scrambled to get on the road, and tried to camp at the Tumalo State Park, but they were fully booked, so we moved on to the next town, Redmond and camped at the national Walmart campground for the night. That was exhausting!
7/20/20 – Springfield/Eugene, OR to visit Ike and Jenna, Paul’s Landies ‘Dinosaurs’ friends. On the way, we passed through a quaint little town of Sisters, very friendly and touristy town with unique boutiques. As we trek along Hwy 126, West Cascade – Oregon Scenic Byway, along the Willamette National Park & McKenzie Pass, both sides of the road is enveloped with the evergreens and maple trees, so very calming and makes ghe ride more pleasurable. This area must be so beautiful and dramatic when autumn rolls in with the fall foliage.
We stopped by Ike’s shop to say hello. I have never seen sooooo many prehistoric landies in my life, no wonder this group is called the Dinosaurs, now I get it. Ike showed us around the shop and pointed out all sorts of classic Land Rovers including a Land Rover once owned by Steve McQueen with the original license plate till on it. How awesome is that?!
We camped at Ike and Jenna’s property for a couple of nights. Jenna brought over some snacks and drinks and built a fire for the campsite. We roasted some sausages over the fire and elevated it with nans and all the condiments, now that’s a new experience and a fun one. Velma, the 2 year old puppy, was so hyper and wanted to play catch, he went and found a little stick and keep coming around hoping someone would play with him. Ike hid the stick so Velma can calm down, but she went and found a much bigger one, more like a small log, that she couldn’t even drag. That was such a hilarious site to see her struggle with it, then lo and behold, she figured out how to balance it on her mouth/teeth and brought it towards us to play. We all cracked up at how smart she was. By then, Jenna brought out a tennis ball from her landies for Velma to play. She’s huffing/puffing with the ball, begging us to play with her. Jenna also brought out a tool that grips the ball and toss it so you don’t have to pick up the ball full of saliva and dirt on it. That was the coolest instrument I’ve seen. Velma has so much energy that we couldn’t keep up with her.
When night fall, Jenna said that the comet is visible near the campsite that we should all get in the Landy and go check it out. So we all hopped into the topless Landy and drove out to an open field to scope out the comet in the sky; however, it was not as bright enough to see with the naked eyes, and even with the binoculars, it was still a challenge so we gave up, came back to the camp site, sat around the camp fire, and chatted until about 10:30 p.m. until Jenna & Ike bid good night since they have to work the next morning.
7/21/20 Jenna & Ike dropped off an old landy for us to explore Eugene without having to haul the truck around. Talk about adventure in the city, this Landy was built in the early 60s, so it’s a manual, no AC, no seat belt, no sideview mirrors. We used my phone to navigate into downtown Eugene for some Vietnamese food. Unfortunately, due to covid 19, most of the restaurant only do take out, so we found a small VN restaurant, “Bon Mi” almost like a fast food place. Food was adequate as the restaurant is catered towards the University of OR crowd, so it wasn’t very authentic but edible. Afterward, we did some washing at the nearby laundromat. I have not ridden in a vehicle without a seatbelt for over 40 years now so it was quite scary to take this big chunk of metal onto Fwy 5. By the time we made it back to the camp, it was a huge relief as we’re still in one piece.
Jenna and Ike are such gracious hosts, and we thank them for spending the time with us, for the use of their property, and teaching us some new tricks with respect to cooking over the campfire. Ike is a cool guy but Jenna is such an amazing woman, according to me. She can do it all, smart, beautiful, and so very capable physically as well. We had such a wonderful and fun time hanging out with this couple. I mentioned to them both that they got it made, they found their passion and made it into their jobs, owning their own businesses. What a very special couple.
Tomorrow, we are heading back to the coast to cool down as the temperature around here hits record heat of the 90s. But not before we made one more stop in Eugene to say hello to the team at UBCO USA.
7/22 camped on the beach near Gardiner. Cold, overcast, heavy fog. Not very scenic, but we did have the beach all to ourselves.
7/23 camped at Jetta Dunes in Florence, Oregon . It was cold and windy. You know it’s cold when Paul put on his fleece jacket! We did a hike around the bay. Pretty area but too cold and windy (for me).
7/24 Friday: back on hwy 101N. We pulled over to snap a few pictures of the Heceta Head Lighthouse dressed in dark rose pink & white, very picturesque and charming.
Passed by Yachats coastal town, quite charming with outdoor restaurants and shops. People are out and about enjoying a leisure Friday lunch. The greenery of hwy 101, hug with ocean blue water, cool sunny day makes you just want to stop all your worries and take in a deep breath of the ocean fresh air, and just breathe…
Camped at Otter Crest Loop, Depoe Bay, Newport , OR.
7/25 Depoe Bay proudly displayed a sign: “the smallest harbor in the world.”
As we traverse through Lincoln city, we passed by a marker that states: “45th parallel, half way between equator and north pole. ” Pretty cool, right?!
On our way to Eagle Creek to meet up with Tim, a new friend on Instagram who offered us to park at their property for 2 nights while we visit Portland and the surrounding areas . They also offered to make dinner for us. Tim, Crystal, Bay, Nova (5 yr old twins) – what a beautiful and wonderful family. Upon arrival, Tim and the twins were outside waiting to welcome us. I saw chalk drawings on their driveway, so I offered the girls to write their names and decorate them. We had fun doing it while Paul showed Tim the BAT.
Crystal came home from groceries shopping and chatted with us for quite a while and then we went inside to make tacos for dinner. I’ve never met a more friendly family with such warm welcome to a couple of strangers they’ve never met.
Living in the big cities for the majority of my life, this is such a refreshing change to live organically, to hear children laughter playing outdoor vs glued to their electronic toys, to eat organic food, to say a prayer before dinner, to treat people with respect and dignity, to make friends so easily, to welcome strangers into one’s home without reservation, this is humanity at its best. I’m thankful to have met Tim, Crystal, Bay & Nova.
Early morning on our second night camped at the lodge, we got a ‘knock’ on the door. Paul opened the window and was told that the ski resort had some replacement pylons being delivered via helicopter and that we were in the landing zone. In fairness we were given fair time to get up, shower and have breakfast(!) but when we got outside to move BAT we found that we were in the center of a large area marked out by orange cones. Of well, I think BAT goes along well with the LZ bit. I’m sure all watching thought we were a part of the action.
7/29/20 Per Tim’s recommendation, we did a 4.8 miles hike to Mirror Lake with a spectacular view of Mt. Hood staging in the background with a terrific reflection around the lake.
7/30/20 Silver Falls
An excerpt from the National Park’s website:
“One visit, and you’ll know why Silver Falls State Park is known as the “crown jewel” of the state parks system. Its majestic beauty, boundless recreational opportunities and historic presence make it a top recreation destination in the nation. Nestled in the foothills of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, less than 45 minutes east of the state capital of Salem, the sprawling 9,000 acre property is the largest state park in Oregon, and one of the most popular. “
“Trail of Ten Falls – Where else can you walk behind a 177-foot waterfall? The famous South Falls is the hallmark of the Trail often Falls a spectacular, nationally recognized hiking trail that passes a series of breathtaking waterfalls along a rocky canyon and descends to a winding creek at the forest floor. “
We did a 6 miles hike today and only covered the south side of the falls. While the temperature here is in the high 80’s up to 90, fortunately the trails are pretty well shaded, which made the hike more bearable. It’s amazing how this hidden gem can have so many falls gathered in one park. Not only that, no two falls were alike, they all have their unique features, shape and size, and immense flow strength. You can hike behind the Fall and look through it. It’s as though looking through a sheer white cloth of water draping the environment with a dramatic view of the landscape carved with creeks, trees, ferns, flowers, volcanic rocks/ caves. Up against the side of the rocks and caves, you’ll find various species of plants dancing in the dripping water from the falls like a miniature rainforest… a melodic tune that can soothe your soul.
After two days of hiking around Silver Falls, we only visited 8 out of 10 Falls. You’d think that after a couple of these views, they all look the same and you would get tire of taking their pictures, but the truth is far from that…. you just want to take it all in, let each and every one of them soak into your memories so that you can still feel the freshness of that moment when you stood there and gaze at nature and just breathe….
We both enjoyed Silver Falls very much but it was time to move on and get some relief from the heat by heading back to the coast.
7/31 – 8/1 camped at Blue Heron French Cheese Company for 2 nights. They allowed us to park on their field for max 2 nights, free. However, this turns out to be more expensive than a paid campsite. We usually like to support the local businesses, so we went inside the store and bought some of the most exotic cheese, olives, sauces, sausages, etc. I bought the LaDiDa Lavender cheese, uh quite pricey, $17 for 7oz block – best cheese ever! It was tasty and you can definitely taste and smell the lavender. Who knew lavender would go so well with cheese, kinda like an oxymoron, but that combination works! We absolutely love these products
We had been told that we should visit the town of Tillamook on the Oregon coast so off we went. I have seen the name before but it never really registered with me that it was famous for its cheese and dairy products. On the Internet I also discovered that it also has an air museum so we planned to visit that as well as more mundane things like doing our laundry!
Once the chores were completed we could play, so off we went to the air museum.
Apparently the museum is best known for its’ hanger (not very complimentary I am sure), because it was built to house ‘blimps’ so it is really large!
Then it was back to our ‘free campsite’ for a rather pleasant ‘ploughmans’ with a pleasing wine from our purchase spree in Napa valley (see earlier post from California).
8/2/20 Tillamook Creamery – cheese Factory. We are definitely in Cheeseland. My sister Tonya told me to make sure I try the Tillamook ice cream. The factory tour was closed on Sunday, plus it’s by appointment only due to covid 19, and the next available tour was in Sept. Well, shall we camp out and wait until then..? Not! We did stop by just to try our luck, and they only open one line for the outdoor take out, i.e. just ice cream and cheese. And so we did it! We tried the Tillamook ice cream and their habanero cheese. Both are sooo sooo good. I’m not an ice cream person, but after this I was hooked! Im gonna be a little fatty after this trip with all the cheese and ice cream…
We are back on Hwy 101 along the coastal route, trying to get to Astoria. We stopped along the way to visit some of the local attractions that were recommended by Crystal, such as Rockaway beach and Manzanita beach — Riverside Fish& Chips. We drove by Cannon Beach – beautiful beach town with lots of tourists. We couldn’t find parking anywhere because BAT is so petite after all the cheese and ice cream he’s been eating, so all we could do is drive through the downtown area. The scenery is like a set out of a movie, with shops & restaurants, patio dining with hanging pot flowers blooming in vivid colors. Several art galleries along both sides of the street. Must be a real artsy town. Would have been nice to stroll through town.😒
We got to Astoria, but was not able to find a campsite in the area since we didn’t book anything in advance. That’s the problem with being spontaneous; the good thing is you can stay in one place as long as you want, or leave if you don’t like it. The bad thing is you can miss out on several nice areas because it’s tourist season with limited campsites. So we crossed the long Astoria bridge to Washington and got a campsite at the Cape Disappointment State Park.
Endless Trail Expeditions 