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Published: July 16th 2011
Oregon here we come..
we were excited to enter another state; 4 down 44 to go!!Through the Redwoods we cruised, up into the Pine laden mountains towards Oregon and towards Crater Lake. We stopped about 50 miles from the entrance at a small campsite beside a river. We pitched the tent and I started to get a fire going so we could BBQ some corn on the cob …mmm. We got speaking to the couple next to us, Jennifer and Rob who were pretty local and on a short holiday. Rob got his chainsaw out and we cut load of logs for the fire (chainsaw!!!) In the end they asked us to join them for tea – Italian Sausage Hot dogs with beans and we took over a salad to share. We had a few laughs before retiring to sleep. Really nice couple.
The next day we continued the journey to Crater Lake, elevation 7100 ft – so it was pretty cold up there. This is the deepest lake in North America and the clearest lake in the world. Once an active volcano until a massive eruption blew the top clean off and over the years the lake has formed. It was spectacular. Looking into it you could see the reflection of the clouds and
How cool it would be...
to cruise on one of these; we keep dreaming! it was that blue and still it was just like looking down at the sky. We headed up a trail to get a better view only to find that half way up we had to turn back because the snow had not been cleared. We ate our pack up (left over Sausage and Salad and the BBQ corn) and headed back down. That night we got an ace campsite for only $12, pool, hot tub and the works so it was nice to chill for once!
The following day we made our way closer to Portland via the McKenzie pass. The day turned into a nightmare. First the pass was closed when we got there so we had to change route. We passed loads of campsites but decided to keep going to get a little closer to Portland. Then the campsites suddenly stopped and before we knew it we were on the Highway heading for Portland. On the way up we must have checked nearly 7 RV parks – all did not take tents. By 9pm we were driving round the outskirts of Portland searching for a bloody campsite and none took tents. We ended up sleeping in the
car on the side of the road as we couldn’t afford a motel; a pretty crap ending to suit the crap journey. One good thing though we came across a great view of the city as the sun had just gone down. Thank god tomorrow we are going to a Couch-surfers house.
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Pat Kilmore
non-member comment
wow
That lake is spectacular! beautiful scenery, you lucky couple wish we'd done this years ago....well we did i suppose sort of drove through Zambia in an old car (no air con in those days!) through to Malawi those were the days!!!