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Park Host Site
All set up for the month. Note how close we sit to the road.... Hi everyone. We are on the move again, this time to Catherine Creek State Park which is about 10 miles outside of Union in eastern Oregon and it’s been interesting.
Catherine Creek is very pretty with a small campground of only 20 spots for camping. They are all classed as “primitive”, which means no RV hookups, except at the Camp Host site, giving us all the conveniences including a phone line which means we have access to dialup internet but no cell phone access. We do have 2 buildings with flush toilets and some water faucets scattered around the grounds though. A mix of beautiful evergreen and broadleaf trees surrounds a picturesque creek which runs alongside the campground with a foot bridge over the water leading to some easy hiking trails. The only downside is the small highway which borders the other side of the campground, 10 feet from our RV, but there’s not too much traffic so it’s not too noisy. Plus we have family just 25 minutes away.
While at the coast we had been complaining about the constant rain and cold and were looking forward to a drier and warmer climate but it didn’t happen. The
Sweet Stuff
They became totally addicted to the stuff. rain just kept on coming. So much so, that Catherine Creek was flooded out! We arrived and parked in the camp host spot then took a good long (and anxious) look at the creek which runs alongside the campground. We weren’t real familiar with the area but we thought the creek looked very full and it was still raining. The creek had not overflowed its banks but it seemed very close to it. We figured if it was close to flood stage the rangers would have notified us not to come in. Remember what happens when you assume something??
The park was completely empty when we pulled in and hooked up in the late afternoon. We wanted to call the rangers to let them know we had arrived and to ask about the creek level, but we had no cell service. We figured since we would have a phone connection at the host site, we could call them from the campground, but we couldn’t find the phone line. I kept looking at the creek which was about 25 yards from our front door…did it look closer? It was now raining even harder, and starting to get dark.
After a
Personal Escort
Kathy giving her mom a tour of the park. few hours we gave in to our anxiety. Mike got me to admit I wasn’t going to sleep well that night so we grabbed a few things, left the coach behind and drove 28 miles into La Grande to spend the night with family. We weren’t worried about leaving the RV behind; that is what we have insurance for.
We made contact with the rangers the next morning and when we returned to the campground we could see where the water level had risen even more and was probably within 10 yards of our coach before it went back down. The upper two thirds of the park was now under water and the rangers suggested we head back into town and spend the next few days hooked up next to the Ranger Station. We agreed 100%. Ah, it was fun trying to get it out of there; narrow, muddy roads surrounded by big tree It took us a couple of hours to get out of the park, due to roads being partially washed out. The rangers had a nice spot for us at their local ranger shop right outside of town. We stayed there about a week and didn’t have any work. So after 5 days we took a drive back up and saw that things were looking better. The creek level was down but so were numerous trees which had fallen across the creek. About a week later they brought in a backhoe to pull the trees off to the side to prevent the creek from damming up.
The place is very pretty and since it’s a small park, there’s not much work to do. The rangers do all the landscaping and all we’re responsible for is doing spot checks in the campground, check the bathrooms (but not cleaning), pick up litter, clean up the fire pits after campers leave, etc. The park is heavily wooded with colorful birds everywhere; goldfinch, robins, bluebirds and hummingbirds. Mike set up a place on our outside rearview mirror of the coach for the hummingbird feeder so we’re getting to know them quite well. Our favorite is one we call Flapper because he always spreads and flaps his tail when he’s drinking.
We’ve only had a few campers and it’s been fairly quiet; until our first Friday. I mentioned how our coach sits just 10 feet from the highway, well around 11:30pm, SPLAT -SPLAT- SPLAT- SPLAT- SPLAT shook the trailer followed by the loud growl of a truck pulling away. Yep, someone had paint-balled the side of our RV.
The next morning we went outside to assess the damage. 16 paintball hits on the side of our coach and several trees plus a street sign down the road. We mentioned it to the rangers and five days later had repeat, yet much smaller attack. This time the sheriff was called. The sheriff had a good idea who the guilty party was but without any real evidence couldn’t do much, but it did stop.
Once the battle of the paintballs was over we experienced another attempt at a hostile takeover. Mice started finding their way into our coach and the main entrance point seemed to be in driver’s area. We seemed to solve that problem by laying out a few traps. We caught 3 mice the first night, followed by 2 more the next day. Then there was THE RAT. That’s right. This place is known for its pack rats, big ones. We were enjoying a sunny afternoon with a beer outside when we saw a rat peeking at us from the wheel well of our car. Mike popped the hood and discovered it had started building a nest on top of our battery and the entire engine area was littered with droppings. We started the car up and it ran out heading straight to the coach. Not sure where exactly he went and we were worried he went up, under our coach. We fought that battle with the same plan: a big rat trap and we caught it the first night. It was about the size of a chipmunk. There are more rats and mice out there and I’m sure we are fighting a losing battle but at least we haven’t found any evidence of them in our coach.
Eastern Oregon is known for its gold mining and I think I found our own little gold mine. I was outside doing one of our few camp host duties of litter pickup when I paused at the edge of the creek. Lots of shinny, little yellow flecks in the sandy dirt. Is this gold? No, it turned out to be fool’s gold. Oh well. Speaking of gold, our next stop is the town of Sumpter; a place were lots of gold was discovered.
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Trish and Bliss
non-member comment
I FINALY got around to reading this- so nice to get a picture of what you guys are up to. Hope you win the battle with the rodents!! Besos, Trish and Bliss