July Celebrations

Sunday - Wed.   Work days - we did our first shift in the entrance fee booth on Sunday.  When the fee booth is not manned, visitors to the park are to pay a $5 fee at the self pay stations throughout the park.  Some do, some don't.  When the booth is open, they have no choice.  We saw many that were coming in without money, expecting to not contribute like usual.  We heard many interesting excuses.

Thursday - July 3  The holiday weekend begins.  Today we decided to hike the Boulder Ridge trail, which begins in our park.  We had read this was a tough trail climbing up the side of the ridge behind us.  It was!  It was a warm day and we gained elevation quickly each turn of the trail.  It was tough going, but we made it.  We found the ridge that gave us great views of Mt. Hood.  We stopped and ate our snacks and rested before heading back.  8.5 miles total. Back home, we cleaned up and then went over to the RV park next door.  Gary and Marilyn, their two boys and families were there, camping for the 4th of July weekend.  We had a great supper with them and enjoyed the campfire.

Up Boulder Ridge Trail

Our view on the way up of Mt. Hood

The trees went up and up

Hiking buddy

Our lunch view on the ridge

Someone has to make the trail wider!

The browns and greens

The greens and water flowing

Friday - July 4  Slept in and then made my desserts to share with the family that night.  We picked up Marilyn and Susan and went to the Estacada Timber Festival at noon.  They had timber events - ground logging, pole climbing, axe throwing, Jack & Jill bucking (man & woman cutting with the buck saw and log rolling.  We had a timber dog for lunch from the food stands, a grilled polish dog wrapped in bacon - it took a long time to make, but was delicious!  The weather was warm and sunny, we enjoyed sitting outside and watching the competitions.  Back to the park and then to the RV park for supper with the family.  That night, the kids put together teams for the bag throwing game, so we all participated.  Another campfire, this time with pie made with the campfire pie irons.  Yumm.

Timber Festival - pole climbing

Ground logging

Saturday - We worked on projects in the motorhome and then went and had supper with the Fredinburgs after they were back from the Alpine Hill amusement center.

Sisters - Scarlett & Gracie

Piper & Great uncle Gary

End of June - Coast Visit

Since I am so far behind on this blog, I am going to skip our days of working at the Park and talk about our adventures each week exploring Oregon.  As you read this post, we have left Oregon and are headed back - via a visit to Kelowna, BC and Glacier Park.  SOUTH DAKOTA or BUST!

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Sunday, June 22 - Wednesday, June 25  - Work days at the park.  Wednesday afternoon, we packed up the car and headed to Salem.  Gary had his installation ceremony for the Elks Club - Keizer, OR.  He and Gary went to the lodge for the festivities, I stayed at the house and caught up on pictures, paperwork and rested.  Marilyn came and picked me up at the house after she was off work and we met the boys for a late supper at the Roadhouse.

Thursday - G&M were off to work and we headed out to explore the northern coast of Oregon.  Our first stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  There is a self guided tour and it was very interesting to read about the history of the area, how Tillamook Cheese started and the coop that has been formed with the area dairy farmers.  We sample tasted cheese and bought some to enjoy.  Also in town is the Tillamook Air Museum.  This is a huge building, one of the original two hangars built in 1942 by the US Navy, to house the K-class blimps used for anti-submarine coast patrol and convoy escort.  We did not go in to the museum, but spent time looking at the information in the gift shop.
We continued up Hwy 101, next stopping at a rest area with free coffee (Oregonians love their coffee) and then stopped at a state park, Manhattan Beach. We walked out to the ocean on a picturesque path, through the rushes.  On the beach, as the sand fleas were jumping around us, I wrote the boys' names in the sand.  As usual, it was raining as we traveled to the coast and on and off while we were there.  Next was lunch in Cannon Beach, at the famous seafood place, Mo's.  Gary enjoyed oyster stew and I had fish and chips. On through Seaside with the famous Haystack Rock and to our destination of Astoria, OR.  Arriving in town, we stopped at the Visitor's Center and they recommended the Astoria Column. Standing 125 feet high, on top of Coxcomb Hill in Astoria, you can see for many miles after climbing the 164 circular stairway steps to the top.  The artwork on the column displays 22 historic events that occurred in the region. At the top after enjoying the scenery, we realized it was 4:15 PM.  This was significant because we wanted to tour the Columbia River Maritime Museum and it closed each day at 5:00 PM.

Tillamook Air Museum

Haystack Rock, Seaside. OR

Walkway to Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach - Names in the sand

Astoria Column

Astoria Bridge view from the Column

Astoria History

A house (and goats) in Astoria

Our plan for the next day had been to drive on up north to see Mt. St. Helen's and return back to the park.  Decision time.  Then we remembered that the advantage to being retired, is that we can stay longer somewhere when we want to and decided to do so.  The Visitor's Center had given us a list of motels in the area.  We decided to try a local hotel/hostel and were pleased to find they had availability.  We asked for the room with private bath, the other hostel rooms had a shared shower and bathroom down each hall.  We enjoyed the newly remodeled accomodations, the rooms were IKEA type furnishings but very comfortable.  Our room had plush terry robes, we assumed they were provided also to those sharing the hall showers.  We could see the river over the rooftops.  After checking in, we walked down to the wharf area and hopped on the riverfront trolley car.  The conductors shared the local history with us, we learned alot about the area - a bargain for the $1 fee. Walking back to find supper, we wandered into a glass blowing place - they were showing a young lady how to make her own ornament.  Next door, we had supper at the Fort George Brewery.  They had three floors, pizzaria on top, restaurant on the middle floor and a small pub on the main floor with the brew tanks.  The pizza was great!

Our room at the Norblad Hotel - Astoria

Trolley car in Astoria

Friday - We walked down the block to the Rusty Cup, a little coffee shop we had seen the day before.  Then on to the museum.  The Columbia River Maritime Museum collects and exhibits maritime artifacts from the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest.  The collections include models, full-size watercraft, paintings and all manner of gear, wardrobe, weapons, and instruments employed in commercial, private and military maritime operations. Very interesting - we were glad we stayed to see it all.  Outside we boarded the Lightship Columbia, a floating Coast Guard lighthouse. Leaving Astoria, we crossed the amazing Astoria-Wharton bridge.  (We crossed this bridge on our honeymoon trip - it was scary then because the top road portion of the bridge was all fogged in.  Looked like we were driving into a cloud)  Across the bridge, we drove north to Ilwaco and on to Long Beach, WA, another place we had stayed on our honeymoon.  Then we headed back on the Washington side toward Portland.  Along the way, we turned off to see a covered bridge, in Gray's River.  We drove on to Portland, stopping at the World Market and Total Wine stores for groceries.  We stopped in Gresham at the Walmart for groceries and then back home to the park.

Coast Guard rescue display

The Captain at the wheel

Coast Guard Lightship Columbia

Lightship Columbia

History plaque

Grays River Covered Bridge

 Saturday - we slept in after our travels.  We watched a movie in the morning, did laundry and computer work.  Later, we went out and walked some of the trails in the park.  A restful day. 

Week 3 - June - More new trails

Monday - June 16   Went to breakfast with Sherrie and Cedric before they left to continue their trip.  We went next door to the RV park - they have a bakery/cafe with great breads and meals.  It was hard to say goodbye, but we knew they were off to see new territory and we had to go to work.  Brian sent us out on errands.  We went to Sandy to pick up the new keys, then on to Gresham to get new mower tires, to the office store for special clips and picked up groceries on the way back.  It rained most of the day, so a good day to be out and about.  That night we met Chris and Leslie at the bunkhouse and played foosball and watched TV.

Tuesday - off to Molalla - another BLM park about 40 miles southwest of us.  Richard and Vivian, the park host couple that were at the park since November, went with us to show us around.  A drizzly day again.  Molalla is a park along the river with some tent camping sites, no facilities other than vault toilets and water spigots. The Molalla River Recreation Area, is located approximately 10 miles southeast of Molalla in Clackamas County, offers easy river access and opportunities for picnicking, swimming, camping, whitewater boating and fishing.  Our BLM office maintains the park, there is a camp host couple staying nearby at the shop site.  We were there for the day to put new clips on the campsite posts and check on some of the campers.  There is a fourteen day stay limit and there were a couple campers that needed to be asked to leave, as they had stayed for the limit.  We found one, three families camping together and they were going to move that day.  Another campsite had a mother and five kids - we visited with them and found they were moving to Oregon City and just enjoying the area.  These kids were true outdoor lovers, their campsite was somewhat muddy from the rains and they were running around in bare feet!  And camping in tents - not for me!  Done at the park, we stopped for lunch at a small cafe in Molalla and then headed back.  We had a nice visit with Richard and Vivian - they have traveled to Alaska, Montana and other areas of Oregon, so we enjoyed hearing about their travels.  A rainy night again, I went up to the bunkhouse and watched a movie to have a break from the rain noise on our roof.

Along the Molalla River

Tent campsite

Campers at Molalla

Wednesday - The sun was shining!  Our duty today was to clean the fish viewing window.  Gary decided he would put on a set of waders and climb down a ladder into the stream to see if it was possible to do a better job with the cleaning brushes. I helped him lower the steel walkways and get the ladder in.  Brian came down to help, it helps to have three people, because one needs to be on the viewing side to direct the scrub brush activity.  Not much luck cleaning it this way, there needs to be a better brush head available to accomplish it.  Gary's waders leaked, so he had wet shoes and socks when he was done.  That night we grilled chicken for supper and had a campfire.

The armour for the job

Fish window cleaning

Thursday - Our first day off, so a hiking we will go.  We went and hiked the Salmon River Trail, a five mile hike along the Salmon River just south of Welches.  It was a nice sunny day and all along the trail you are hearing the soun of the river as you hike through the trees.  We saw several people fishing, met others hiking and then watched some rock climbers on the part of the trail that goes along the road.  We found several trees with hollowed out trunks, reminding us of the story "My Side of the Mountain" and Winnie the Pooh's house.  When we were done with the hike, we decided to drive up the Lolo Pass Road, a back way around Mt. Hood.  This road becomes rough in places past the summit.  It goes on to reach Lost Lake, a large campground/resort with a beautiful lake.  We stopped there and hiked down to the water, then went to the general store there and had ice cream treats while viewing the lake.  Leaving there, we followed the road and reached Hwy 35, which goes north to Hood River or returns south around the east side of Mt. Hood and back to Hwy 26 to reach our park.  A great day, we saw a lot of new territory.

Old Salmon River Trailhead

Salmon River beauty - this tree was sticking out over the water

Cedar stump - too large too get his arms around

Tree house - Pooh was not home

Rock climbers

Forest trail beauty

 

Lost Lake view

Lost Lake view from General Store porch

 












Friday - more new adventures.  We drove past Government Camp and found the turn off for the Pioneer Woman's gravesite.  This site is right on the Barlow Road trail, where the wagons of pioneers traveled to reach the Willamette Valley of Oregon.  Across the road is the Barlow Road Trail and we followed it up a mile to the top of Barlow Pass.  We clearly saw where the pioneers traveled in their wagons through this section of forest.  At the top of the pass, we continued hiking down the other side of the mountain on a rough forest road that followed the trail down to Devil's Half Acre.  As we hiked back up this section, we realized how hard it must have been to drive their wagons up this side of the pass and then have to go down the other side.  We have read that they hooked fallen trees behind their wagons on the way down to help them go slower down the trail.  Very interesting, we were glad we found this area to explore.  After the trail, we stopped for a bite to eat in Government Camp.  Supper and a campfire finished the day.

Pioneer Woman Grave sign

Pioneer Woman's Grave

Barlow Road wagon trail

Walking in the path of the pioneers

Original wagon trail marker

Sign handcarved in 1933 at top of Barlow Pass

Historic marker at pass

Rough trail then and now

Saturday - another hike.  The plan was to hike the Top Spur Trail and the meadow, Mt. Hood view loop.  The road up to the trailhead was the roughest and narrowest yet.  We avoided the potholes as best we could.  There were a few cars at the trailhead when we got there.  We headed up the trail, it was a continual hike up on a rocky trail.  At the top, we came to an intersection of trails and a sign.  Here you were to fill out a Wilderness Pass, attaching one copy to your pack and putting one in the box.  The form filled out would tell the rangers where you were hiking, when you started and when you planned to return.  This could be important for finding those hiking and tent camping along the trail, if someone did not return when they were expected.  At the intersection, we visited with others that were looking for our trail - they ended up turning right on the loop, we went left.  So we were now on the Timberline Trail, heading for the views and wildflower meadows on the loop.  A total hike of about two miles by the time we would be back at the car.  As we kept climbing and walking and as time passed, I kept looking to meet the hikers that had turned right - we should have met them on the loop.  My Captain kept encouraging me on, telling me we would be there soon.  Finally, I had him look at his phone (he has an app that tells us how far we have walked) and he reported that we now had hiked 2.5 miles.  Apparently we missed the loop turn!  I agreed to proceed a little further and up around the bend in the trail we walked out in to an open area with an incredible view of Mt. Hood right in front of us!  There we came upon three young men, who we had seen in the parking lot, who passed us on the trail earlier with full packs for camping overnight on.  Gary talked to them and they showed him on our map that we had hiked way past the loop turn and were up on Bald Mountain Ridge overlooking McNeil Point.  No wonder I thought I was going to die - we hiked up about an extra 2000 feet elevation!  We were now at 5100 feet.  But, the view was amazing and not everyone gets to see it.  The good Lord rewarded me for my suffering.  We sat and ate our snacks and took a lot of pictures.  From that view, we saw three waterfalls and the start of the Sandy River- all from the glaciers melting on Mt. Hood.  On the largest waterfall we could see the water moving - like slow motion.  Heading back down the trail - it was easier going down - we met a young man hiking that told us how to look for the loop trail turn that we missed.  We found it and went across and came upon the meadows of wild flowers (on the steep side of the ridge) and also saw more Mt. Hood views.  A great trail for all to see amazing views, but we saw even better views at the top that day.  Heading back to the car, we came upon a young man hiking by himself that had already hiked 13 miles that day and was headed further yet before dark.  Wow!  We got back to the parking lot to find it filled with cars - a lot of hikers were on this trail by late afternoon.  We were tired, our two mile hike ended up being more than six miles.   We went home and started a campfire - ended up roasting hotdogs over the fire for supper that night. 

Hiking along the Top Spur Trail

Wild flowers in the forest

Glacier waterfalls on Mt. Hood

The Mt. Hood valley view from Bald Mt Ridge

At the top - Bald Mt. Ridge - Mt. Hood behind us

Wild flowers on Bald Mt. Ridge

The loop trail with flower meadows - narrow on quite a slope

The view of Mt. Hood from the loop trail