Week 3 - May

Monday - we were off today from the park job, so spent the morning catching up on RVillage contacts.  In the afternoon, we walked more of the trails in the park.  We walked out on the rocks by the Salmon River and on all the Wetland trails.  Still trying to see the beaver, no luck.  We cooked supper outside on the hotplate (thanks Ginger!) and enjoyed a camp fire and the nice evening.

The Salmon River at Wildwood

Exploring the shore

 
















Tuesday - this was the day we were covering for Anne & Dick and the weather was sunny and warm.  Gary decided to paint the fuel tank that he had scrubbed earlier, so he donned a coverall and got that done.  Brian, our boss, took a picture.  I took the golf cart and went out and raked some of the parking/walkway areas.  It did not take long doing that to wear out my upper arms, so I went back to the office and helped Brian with a word processing project and assembled packets for future volunteers.  Gary took the mower out, everything had grown again with the rain and warm weather.  After work, we decided to get out of the forest for a while and went to Wraptitude for an early supper.  Back home, another campfire - we are loving it!

The Captain - another uniform in the forest

Wednesday - Our day off again.  We got some things done at home, then went hiking with Leslie and Chris.  We started at Laurel Hill, where a short trail leads to Laurel Chute - where emigrants on the Barlow Road used ropes and sheer strength to lower their wagons down the near vertical slope. They had come across the mountains along the top of the ridge to this point to continue on their journey to the Willamette Valley. (The grade of Laurel Hill was 60% in some places, more vertical than horizontal.  Wagons had to be unhitched and winched down backwards.  Some pioneers would tie a huge tree to the back of their wagon, hoping it would help provide some braking as they rumbled downhill.) We did not find the "chute", but found original posts marked by Barlow and his guides for the trail.  Next we drove to the Little Zigzag Falls Trail - a beautiful trail with waterfalls outside Government Camp.  As you park at the trail head, Little Zigzag River flows beneath the historic 1920s bridge (no longer in use) that was part of the original Mount Hood Highway.  After reaching the falls, we stopped and ate our lunches sitting on tree roots and rocks, feeling the spray from the water as we sat in the sun.
Leaving there, we stopped at the Barlow Tollgate, the last gate spot where Samuel Barlow collected fees from the travelers to continue on his toll road.  A replica of the gate was rebuilt there, the maple trees on each side were said to have been planted by the gatekeeper. Afterward the four of us went into Sandy and stopped at Diva's Chocolates and Wine Shop and the Beer Den next door.  For supper, we returned to Welches and ate at El Burro.  We had a great time getting to know each other through the afternoon and evening together.  Leslie and Chris have been fulltiming a few months longer than we have and have had different jobs, we learned a lot comparing notes.  There will be more fun times together through our stay here.

Laurel Hill Trailhead

Barlow Road post with markings

 
















 

Early road bridge

Little Zigzag Falls trailhead

Little Zigzag Falls trail

 

Little Zigzag Falls

Lunch spot on tree roots

Barlow Tollgate

Thursday - back to work.  Another nice day, Gary finished mowing the park areas and road edges.  I raked more in the parking lot walkways and then did some work in the office.  It also has been nice to throw a load of laundry in using the park washer/dryer when we are out working.  A busy day - when done, we had our leftover Wraptitude wraps for supper and relaxed.

Friday - woke up to a rainy day, earlier than the weatherman had predicted.  We went in to the office and Mark asked if we would go and clean up the entrance booth.  We were scheduled to man the booth for some hours over the weekend.  The booth had not been open all winter, it was pretty dirty, and had mold starting to grow on the walls and ceiling.  We washed it all down, brushed it out, took inventory of everything inside and returned to the office with the booth instruction manuals for Mark to review.  Our day was done then, so we drove in to Sandy to get groceries for the weekend - we planned to have the Fredinburg families to our place on Sunday night for supper.  We were amazed to see the steady two lanes of traffic headed toward the mountains, many with campers in tow, as we headed in to town.  When we drove back to Wildwood there was not quite as much traffic, we caught the slower time before the after city work travelers were moving.  G&M called and said they were set up at their camper next door, so we went over there for supper and a fire.  Tyler, Jen and family arrived at the same time, so the two Garys helped them set up and I helped entertain little Piper while supper was getting ready.  Barbeques for supper and fresh strawberries for dessert.  We had a great visit around the fire, watching all the other campers arrive and set up.  The campground was full for the holiday weekend.

Saturday - this morning we reported to the office early - we, Leslie and Chris and Richard were to learn how to clean the fish viewing window.  John and Katherine, the assistant park rangers, took us down and showed us where the supplies were and how to lower the metal "planks" we have to stand on to brush and scrape the water side of the window.  Not an easy job with the deep water of the viewing area.  Stiff long handle brooms, a long handle with a scrubber pad on the end and a stick with a razor holder were our tools.  They all work well when you are up closer to the top of the water, but you lose leverage as you brush deeper.  Very hard on the arms!  When training was done, we went back home and Gary put on his park ranger uniform shirt and went to man the entrance booth for the start of our shift.  I got my shower done, while baking my dessert for our Sunday nights' dinner, then went to take over in the booth.  The day was sunny and warm by then, we had a lot of people coming in to the park.  The regulars were surprised to see booth attendants and everyone was even more surprised to find that we were not taking money, just meeting and greeting.  We were in the booth for a total of three hours and had 45 cars come in.  About half were returning visitors, half had never been to the park.  While I was in the booth, Gary took the cart around the park and said hello, checked garbage and envelope pay stations.    Late afternoon, we went to Mt. Hood Village and had supper with the Fredinburg families - Tyler and Jen fixed grilled chicken kabobs, yuum. Another great fire gathering, this time with smores.  Their son, Nolan, took a survey on how much each of us toasted our marshmallows - his was the least - barely warm, mine and Freddie's, the most toasted.

Volunteer park host at welcome booth - Great smile!

Sunday - Mass, breakfast and preparing food for our dinner guests.  At 11:00, we opened the booth and covered until 12:30, then Leslie and Chris took over.  G&M and Nolan came over and we went to the Zigzag Inn for a lunch pizza.  Then we took G&M and Nolan to the Little Zigzag Falls trail.  Nolan has not hiked much before, so this was an adventure for him.  Gary kept quizzing him about things we saw along the trail and Nolan kept reminding Great Uncle Gary that he wouldn''t know those things yet - because he is only in 1st grade.  But, he really enjoyed the trail, especially when we reached the falls.  When we returned to Wildwood, we, Nolan and Marilyn went over and hiked the trail behind the Oregon Trail marker by the front gate of our park.  We were told we would be able to see wagon ruts, but we did not - everything was overgrown and it was a rough trail.  We climbed over numerous fallen trees and eventually reached a fence for private property.  We turned around and headed back, this time finding a number of snails as we walked back.  Gary and Nolan played basketball for a while in the park.  Back at the motorhome, Gary started chopping peppers and onions for supper.  I took Marilyn and Nolan in our golf cart to see the fish viewing window and the big bridge by the wetlands.  Unfortunately, the lamprey had moved on, leaving only a pile of rocks where it had moved them. We will hike the park trails there another time with Nolan.  When we got back, Nolan's folks, Tyler and Jen and little sister, Piper had arrived. I helped Gary with all the supper details, putting the garlic bread packs on the fire grill racks to warm.  It started to mist, but we were okay eating outside with our nice canopy.  Peppers and Shells, prepared by Chef Gary, garlic bread and then pumpkin pie dessert.  After supper, Tyler and Nolan played basketball and our other guests went for a stroll in the park while we did dishes.  We continued with the campfire through the evening and Jen had brought smores supplies for those who still had room for more.  It did not really rain much until later during the night. 


 

Peppers and Shells Chef

Dinner guests