Crater Lake, Repairs in Eugene, and Mount Hood

It has been sooooo long since our last post!!! We had an incredible, adventure-packed summer and fall. Full of family and friends, more Habitat for Humanity builds, wildlife, hikes, mountains and oceans, as well as some of the big beautiful parks that are icons of the northwest. We are determined to fully document our incredible journey through this blog so stay turned for more backwards looking posts !!! And now, back to where we left off…

California was in our rear view mirror as we rolled into Joseph H. Stewart State Recreation Area to camp in Oregon the first of May. This state park is located about 35 miles from the town of Medford and overlooks Rogue River’s Lost Creek Reservoir which is a popular destination for hikers, bikers, boaters, and fishermen. The man-made lake was created in 1977 when an earthen dam was built across the raging Rogue River and two 26 Megawatt generators were installed for hydroelectric power. Migrating salmon and steelhead are collected at the nearby Cole M. Rivers Hatchery so fish eggs can be harvested and used to spawn new fish for stock replenishment. We hiked and biked inside the state park and rented a pontoon boat for an early afternoon cruise across the lake. Here are some photos from Lost Creek Lake and the surrounding campgrounds…   

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Crater Lake National Park is located 48 miles northeast of Lost Creek Lake and we planned on a day trip to visit this famous deep blue lake. Our timing worked out thankfully. The park roads leading to the lake had just reopened for the season. There was still significant snow pack around the rim of the lake and along the roadway that led us into the beautiful Cascade Mountain Range park. This amazing wonder of the world was formed over 7,000 years ago when a huge volcano, called Mount Mazama, violently erupted and blew out its entire top. The massive explosion left a deep basin where a volcanic mountain peak once stood. Centuries of rain and melting snow filled up the basin and eventually formed Crater Lake. It is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet in depth and is 6 miles across at its maximum. The water is so pure that samples are frequently taken to help determine the impacts of air pollution, climate change, and invasive species. We enjoyed our visit to Crater Lake so much that we scheduled a second trip there before we left the area. It is truly a magical place as you can see from the pics below !!!

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One afternoon, we drove to the nearby town of Prospect to get some gas and checked out an area called Avenue of the Boulders. We found the Mill Creek Falls trailhead and hiked a short distance to view a spectacular 150 foot waterfall called Barr Creek Falls. The trail hooked left and took us to a place where huge boulders sat along the Rogue River which were blown all the way from Mount Mazama when it erupted 7,000 years ago. This was the same Mount Mazama located 20 miles away that exploded to become Crater Lake. It was incredible to think about how much volcanic force was necessary to hurl these huge boulders 20 miles away !!! Here are some pics of the waterfalls and Avenue of the Boulders…

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We left Joseph Stewart campground and continued traveling north on I-5 towards Eugene. Stopped at two Harvest Host member wineries (Melrose Vineyards & Marsh Anne Landing) where we enjoyed tasting different wines and were offered nice places for overnight stays. Both were in beautiful locations along central Oregon’s Wine Country.

Here are pictures from Harvest Host member Melrose Vineyards…

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Here are pictures from Harvest Host member Marsh Anne Landing…

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Recently, we noticed a problem when running the water sprayers to clean out our black water (sewer) tank. The water from the faucet was flowing but no water was making its way into the black tank so we scheduled a service warranty appointment at an authorized Airstream dealer (Sutton RV) in Eugene. The staff at Sutton RV were awesome to work with and their technician found that the black tank flush check valve had failed blocking water flow. So, we had to leave our Airstream overnight for repairs and decided to sign up for an annual systems inspection and exterior wash/wax while our trailer was in the shop there.

Bonnie and I stayed at this very nice but affordable Bed & Breakfast, called The Campbell House, which served us the best homemade scones we had ever tasted. The delicious scones were accompanied with eggs, quiches, bacon, fresh fruit, jams, coffee, and juice. This truly was one of the best B&B breakfasts we had been offered so Campbell House is high on my list of places to stay when visiting the Eugene, OR area. Our room the first night overlooked a beautiful garden and we ended staying for one more night because the optional maintenance items took another day to complete. I hadn’t yet booked a second night in our room because we were waiting on an update from Sutton RV so we had to settle for another room in an adjacent building. That room wasn’t nearly as nice or quiet as the previous one but another incredible breakfast more than made up for it !!! ;0) We spent some time exploring Eugene and enjoyed our visit there. The town has some wonderful small restaurants, pubs and public art. Here are some pics from Campbell House and Eugene.

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Our Airstream was all fixed and very clean as we left Eugene and continued our drive northwards towards the Willamette Valley region of the state. We parked at Milo McIver State Park campground which is situated along the scenic Clackamas River and was about a 45 minute drive from the city of Portland. This beautiful 950 acre park offered a lot of activities such as camping, fishing, horseback riding, boating, and a 27 hole disc golf course. We used this location primarily as a centrally located base to explore natural areas nearby.

Bonnie and I had wanted to see some well known waterfalls and Mount Hood in the Columbia River Gorge area so a few days during our stay we drove the 40 miles from our campground. The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area protects a deep canyon where the Columbia River cuts through the Cascade mountains. There you can see the cliffs and overlooks of Washington to the north and mountains and waterfalls to the south in Oregon. We stopped at a national park viewing area along scenic highway 84 where we climbed several steps to view Multnomah Falls. This famous waterfall rises to a height of 627 feet and is the tallest of the Columbia River Gorge’s many waterfalls. It was an incredible sight and we enjoyed slowly climbing up many steps to see the top of the waterfall. We also hiked up another steep switchback trail to find an awesome viewing area where we could see the entire Columbia River cutting through the canyon. We also visited Wahkeena Falls near by. Look at these pics from the Columbia River Gorge area…

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A major side benefit to this scenic drive is that we were able to see majestic Mount Hood which rises 11,239 feet above sea level and spreads its base over 92 square miles !!! This HUGE mountain is actually a dormant or “sleeping” volcano with steam venting constantly from fumarole areas. It last erupted in 1907 (minor eruption) and scientists predict another eruption within the next 75 years. Finally, we visited Timberline Lodge where shots of the outside grounds were used as footage in the horror classic movie “The Shining”. I loved it when Jack Nicholson’s possessed character in that movie chops through a door with an ax and says, “Honey, I’m home !!!” Check out these great pics of Mount Hood, Timberline Lodge and some nearby hiking we enjoyed while we were visiting the Columbia River Valley region…

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Bonnie had recently been in touch with one of her best friends from childhood – Debra Bauman. She lives in Victoria, WA which is just across the Columbia River from Portland, OR. Debra and her husband, John, invited us to meet them at their son’s basketball game so we headed that way….