08-16-2020 Camping Along the Rogue River

We had planned to leave by noon, with no real rush to get to the campground since we couldn’t check in until 3 PM. We needed propane and fuel in the MoHo and a few other grocery items that I had forgotten to bring and by the time we were actually on the road it was almost 1:30. 

Then, as we traveled south on our usual route leaving town on I-5, out of habit when we are going east I told Mo to use exit 40 so we would be sure to miss the narrow bridge that almost wiped out the side of the MoHo one time in the past.  What I forgot, however, was that we were NOT going to Klamath Falls, we were going to Crater Lake and should have taken exit 43 to go through Gold Hill.  These kinds of mental glitches are so annoying.  The extra miles weren’t terribly troublesome as we meandered the long way around toward the east, and we still managed to get to the park right at 3PM.

I had reserved site 59 without much to go on at the Recreation.gov website, but found a campground map and a photo of the site online somewhere and it looked level and private.  We weren’t disappointed.  The site was quite lovely, very close to the last site in the park on an almost empty loop.  We were surprised to see how many sites were marked with an “open” sign. 

After settling in, we decided to walk the campground a bit and check out the river.  I made notes of sites that looked appealing to us. 

Our favorite was site 40, right on the river, large, level, and fairly private.  Other sites that would be acceptable would be site 39, 26, 47, and 58.  We did love the fact that our site 59 seemed to be out of the main path for people walking dogs and for kids on bikes.  We rarely saw anyone pass by. 

Farewell Bend campground is visible from the highway but the only part you can see well without entering the park are sites 1 through 10, tightly spaced between the river and the highway, and one of the main reasons we  had never considered staying in this particular campground in the past. 

Our closest neighbor

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the rest of the campground was well laid out, with plenty of space between sites, and level sites with nice big picnic tables, although most sites had a considerable distance between your rig and the table.

It wasn’t far to the river, and I thought it might be a good opportunity to try out my new walker.  I don’t need it all the time yet, but I am trying to be proactive and prepared, and I have enjoyed using it around home sometimes.  It was fine on the road and on the trail, but not quite so good on the rough rocks along the river.  I did manage to bump along but had to carry the walker a few times where it was especially rough.  Kinda misses the purpose of a walker I think.

I did enjoy sitting in my comfy seat as I watched Mo take Mattie to the water.  As usual, Mattie wasn’t all that interested in swimming, but loved running around in the soft sand and climbing rocks.  Climbing is her most favorite thing.

I think the walker did help me out a bit and I felt pretty good until evening when I was thoroughly wiped out.  This camping trip is another test for me, to see what I can and cannot do.  So far, so good.  We ate our spaghetti dinner outside and then played some cards after dinner at the picnic table.

Both of us were tired after spending the day loading, driving and setting up camp and we were in bed with out books by 7:30.  The air was warm and heavy with predicted thunderstorms.  Somehow they missed us and with no phone service or internet we had no clue if anything was coming our way our not.

As I fell asleep I laughed at myself wondering how I manage to miss things we need for a trip. I made long lists and we checked them off as we packed. Still...we invited friends for hot dog night  while we are here and in spite of all the condiments, buns and extras, at the very last-minute I realized I hadn't put in the hot dogs. Once at the campground, making salad for supper , I realized that I had forgotten the rest of the fresh food waiting in the fridge at home. I had forgotten the onions and peppers for the company mac salad, and cream for the planned “creamsicle” cocktails for our guests. Then in the middle of the night I discovered that I should have checked for Advil, assuming our big jar was still in the rig, but no. I must have taken it in the house for whatever reason. Tylenol just doesn't do it for the first night in the rig backache. Sigh.

It was a dark quiet night and quite warm till midnight or so and I only woke up 2 more times. By morning the backache was gone.

Tomorrow we are planning to explore an unknown trail to Boundary Springs, the headwaters of the Rogue River.  Looking