07-18-2020 Great Way to End our Trip

When we planned this trip, we decided 3 nights in the mountains was just about right for being away from home during the hot summer.  We always have watering season in mind, and a low producing well requires paying attention to water levels in the well cistern and in the treated water cistern.  This time of year it is a delicate balance.  We are lucky enough to have Grandson Matthew nearby for the daily hand watering and checking of the wells, hose connections, and various levels of the system, but I hate to expect too much of him. Still, when Mo suggested that instead of driving all the way home from Cascade Lakes that we could stop off for a night at the Kla-mo-ya Casino in Chiloquin I agreed.  Another day shouldn’t make much difference and we would be home by Saturday mid day to make sure all was watered as the temperature crawled into the expected triple digits.

Confluence of Spring Creek and the Williamson River at Collier Memorial State Park

The temperatures were heating up as we left camp and drove south on Highway 97 and as we discussed boondocking at the casino, I felt hesitation creeping in.  Even if it was open, did I really want to go in and touch slot machines and eat in the restaurant?  We had been carefully social distancing for the entire trip and this suddenly felt a bit crazy to me.  It also was building toward a very hot day, and keeping the MoHo cool when it is in the low 90’s on generator power isn’t much fun, and is terribly noisy.

Site number 4 at Collier Memorial State Park

Bingo! An idea.  Why don’t we stop before Chiloquin at the lovely, shaded Collier Memorial State Park, nestled in at the confluence of the Williamson River and Spring Creek? We drove south knowing our new plan might not be feasible with all the people on the road, the fact that it was a Friday night, and that the park was no doubt fully reserved.  Still, it was worth a try.

Sure enough, when we pulled in, the camp host told us all was full and completely reserved and there would be no space for us any time that weekend.  I showed her my newly acquired disability car tag, mentioning that perhaps there was an ADA space still open?  She looked at my card and my gray hair and my walking sticks and said, “Just a minute, let me ask the Ranger.  He just drove up.”  I smiled at him, sweetly, saying, “We live in Grants Pass and are returning from Cascade Lakes and I am not sure we can drive all the way back home this late in the day.”  He talked with the camp host a bit more, and then said, “Hey, just put them in Number 4.  Why not?”  I have no idea why space number 4 was a “why not” space unless it was saved for the camp hosts for some reason.  There are 4 camp hosts in the park, all lined up at the entrance, and site 4 was next to the last camp host site.

The host was worried that there wouldn’t be room for our car, but no problem.  With a short rig and a shorter car we slid in just fine.  Within minutes we had full hookups,including a sewer dump and plenty of power to turn on the AC.  It was a welcome sound, noise and all, since things were beginning to heat up.

Our main reason for staying close to Klamath Falls was to take flowers to the cemetery where Mo’s parents are laid to rest.  We stopped off at the local Fred Meyer for some flowers and drove south to the open and quite lovely grounds.  Mo said there was water at the site, and nice heavy vases for filling.  Turns out the water was off, but a bottle in the back of the car worked fine with just enough for the flowers.

On the way home we stopped in at the Williamson River Campground about a mile north of Collier State Park along the river.  It was also very nearly full, but there were just a couple of sites that were still open for one night only.  This FS campground has no hookups, but would have sufficed for us if we hadn’t been able to get into Collier State Park.

Back home in the rig at Collier State Park, we ate the last of the home cooked meals I had prepared for our trip and settled in with cards and books for the rest of the evening. 

Collier is a lovely park, with moderately spacious sites on some loops and closer sites on others.  It is shaded by a dry pine forest, and during our visit we noticed that there was no sign of the famous mosquitoes that can be such a plague in this part of the world.

The night was pleasant and quiet, but certainly not as dark as our nights had been at Crane Prairie with a few lights marking the entrance kiosk nearby and porch lights on some of the rigs.

The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast before taking Mattie for a nice walk down to the river along the Williamson River Trail.  The river campsites are the best, along the southern end of the campground if one wants to make a reservation.  I think that like most campgrounds, if it is not in full summer season, it might be easy enough to find a spot for an overnight on a weekday.

I had forgotten how fresh and clean a dry pine forest smells.  This is a landscape similar to some that I mapped when working in the Klamath Basin, and it was fun to see familiar plants along the trail. 

Mo and I have kayaked Spring Creek in the past, but have never had our boats on the Williamson.  From the trail, the part of the Williamson that we could see looked perfect for our boats, but there are riffles and rocky shallows in parts of the river as it approached Klamath Lake that we aren’t sure about. 

Mattie was NOT interested in going swimming this time

In addition to the Williamson, Mo and I have never kayaked the Wood River which is a few miles west, and are hoping that possibly we can get on either or both of these rivers with soil scientist friend Katie, who knows both rivers fairly well.  Another plan for a future summer day. We hiked along the Williamson and the lower part of the Spring Creek Trail south of the bridge crossing Highway 97.

After our walk, we packed up for the last leg home, leaving the park around 11:30 AM.  It was a familiar trip for us, south to Chiloquin on Highway 97, and across the Wood River Valley toward Rocky Point.  Once in Rocky Point we decided it was worth it to unhook the Tracker for a little trip up Easy Street to check out our previous home nestled in the trees.  We were delighted to see that the current owners have completed a lot of big tree work.  There were several huge pines cut up and lying around on the ground, and the remaining pines and firs had been limbed to at least 30 feet above ground.  They also had lots of cute farm signs tucked around and a big pile of firewood in the front yard.  It wasn’t as gorgeous as it was when Mo had her beautiful lawns but at least it looked cared for.  It still looks like the owners are using it as a second home, which makes me wonder if they will ever leave their million dollar house in the Bay Area for life in Rocky Point.

It was an excellent trip, and ended on a nice note as we drove around Rocky Point recounting old memories.  It was even nicer to get back to Sunset House in Grants Pass, where the air conditioning had turned on as scheduled.  I have finally decided that it is our wood floors that make the house smell so incredibly good after we return after being away for a time.  That first waft of air as we open up the door is such pleasure.

In addition to managing to get in and out of the kayak, I discovered that I could manage a decent flat trail for almost 3 miles if I had my walking sticks.  Very encouraging for me.

Not sure what comes next for us.  We are back to our daily life of watering the gardens, working on small projects that are pleasing but not terribly intense, enjoying a good supper before settling in to some truly entertaining Netflix evening entertainment.  Getting hooked on a series now and then isn’t a bad thing during this time of quiet isolation at home.

July 23 24 25 Jeanne comes to Visit

Current Location:  Running Y Resort Klamath Falls Oregon Partly cloudy and pleasant

Once again, if you have read my blog in the past, you might recognize the name “Jeanne”.  Jeanne is a friend I made during my soil survey years in the Klamath Basin.  She was a botanist who at the time worked for the Forest Service and we worked together identifying specific soils and the plants that were connected to them.  Our friendship began 15 years ago and in spite of Jeanne leaving Klamath Falls for her native Vermont, it still flourishes.

This is where Jeanne lives now, in a timber frame home that was only a dream when I last visited.

I attended her beautiful wedding with the love of her life in Vermont 3 years ago, and Jeanne manages to get out to Oregon nearly every year for crazy times with her wild bunch of extreme friends, then comes to my house to catch up on some down time.  As you may have noticed over the years, I am a bit in awe of Jeanne.  Her physical prowess is legendary, and she plays like a teenager.  A Jeanne day often includes yoga, a trip to the gym, some laps in the pool, a run, a hike, and maybe a bike ride.  I could never keep up with her or her friends, so I am lucky that Jeanne also likes to go a bit slower, enjoys hanging out and talking and laughing, eating good food, and doing some slow sports.

We had three really great days here at what Jeanne referred to as “La La Land”, the Running Y.  We swam in the pool, walked the path, ate, talked and ate some more.  I cooked a few meals, including some ribs on the BBQ, one of Jeanne’s favorite things that I cook. However, one of the highlights of the week was our second dinner in a week at the Ruddy Duck restaurant.

We planned for dinner a bit later in the evening, hoping the sunny deck would have cooled some by then.  What we didn’t count on was the magnificent thunderstorm that moved in as we were waiting to be served.  The skies got darker and darker and as the huge drops started falling and the thunder boomed all around us with huge bolts of lightning, we decided to at least retreat a bit under the deck overhang.

What a dinner it was!  What a great view, and so incredibly dramatic.  Later, as we retreated to the villa to watch the storm, the sky started turning blood red, with more bolts of lightning streaking across the sky in all directions.  I have never seen a sunset storm quite like this one.  It was Jeanne’s last night in Klamath Falls, and was quite a dramatic sendoff!

Earlier that day, Jeanne’s friend Margo came out to go on a hike on the Skillet Handle, a peninsula that extends northward from the Running Y into Klamath Lake.  Mo and I had kayaked the lake adjacent to the peninsula last month and I was looking forward to seeing the beautiful white oak habitat up close.

It was hot.  Really hot.  The trail was a choice between a gravelly old road and a dusty path through high weeds.  Jeanne and Margo moved quickly, covering a lot of ground once we finally decided to get back on the “real” trail. 

It was way too hot for me, and I bid them farewell about a mile and a half in and walked back slowly trying to keep from getting heat stroke.  Geez, it was hot.  The huge thunderheads above were dramatic, but gave no clue of the show that was waiting in store for us that evening.

On Tuesday, Jeanne and I left early for a morning kayak.  We now have only two boats, and Mo offered to stay home with Mattie while we kayaked.  A week earlier, Mo and I had kayaked the beautiful Spring Creek Run with the Klamath Basin Land Trust.  We have driven to the site in the past, but never actually kayaked the creek.  It was so incredibly gorgeous that I knew it was the place I wanted to take Jeanne for our morning outing.  Jeanne has kayaked Recreation Creek with us many times in the past, so this was a nice change for both of us. 

The morning was just cool enough to be perfect and the skies had just enough clouds to be interesting but not threatening.  It only takes about 2 hours to kayak to the spring and back to the launch.  I think this is the most delightful boat launch I have ever experienced, even if the water was cold enough to put an ache in your feet in just seconds.

We had the entire run completely to ourselves, without another soul on the water the entire time.  On the way back down, a mysterious mist rose from the water, backlit by sunlight, and the coolness was like a river of chill air as we paddled back downstream. 

We took photos of the bubbling springs, of the Mares Eggs, a globular translucent algae that is indigenous to the Basin, of the skies, and of the water which is as clear as any spring run in Florida. 

Such a beautiful morning, such a wonderful experience to share with such a good friend.

Later that day, we took Jeanne to Medford where she checked into a hotel to be ready for her early morning flight.  Mo and I drove back to the MoHo at the new house, checked all the changes that had been accomplished in our absence, and crashed for a nap in the cool dimness of the MoHo for the rest of the evening. 

It was time to pack up the MoHo and head back down with our rig to Valley of the Rogue State Park, where we would meet more friendsfor another few days of fun times in beautiful Oregon, everyone’s favorite summer destination. Next story, Crater Lake with Maryruth and Gerald!