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Published: August 4th 2008
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Paul Bunyan and Babe
I didn't have a chance to see the 'Trees of Mystery' that are supposedly the prime attraction. I was fine with these two. I woke up (freezing) in my lonesome campsite to the constant fog that embodies the California Coast. This was my last day on this leg of the trip, as I was headed to Medford and the first major part of my local community research. But along the way there were a few things I needed to check out. The first was not too far up the road from camp, along highway 101: the 'Trees of Mystery'. One of the many kitschy waysides out there on America's byways, the reason I wanted to hit this place up was the enormous statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox. I don't know what brought them out here from Minnesota (that's always where I've understood them to be from); maybe they were trying to find Bigfoot. He's pretty popular out here. If the local gift shop in a town on the highway doesn't have a wooden statue of a bear, they have one of Bigfoot. Or maybe Bigfoot. Sometimes it's hard to tell what it is; I'm just certain that some were definitely NOT bears. At least no type of bear that I've ever seen. Since most of the towns have the look
Howland Hill Road
Insert Model T and remove color and this could be 90 years ago. of that small town with the Bigfoot museum from 'Harry and the Hendersons' (Admit it, you've seen it. You probably watch it when it comes on TBS) the Bigfoot craziness is kind of expected.
After parting ways with Paul and Babe, I made for the Howland Hill Road in the northeastern part of the park. Since it was along my route to Medford (and the ranger the previous day had marked it with numerous scribbles) it seemed like a good way to exit the area. It was a dirt road along most of the stretch but there was very little traffic at the time of morning that I was out. It had the feel of one of the old stage routes that tourists may have taken in the 1910s and 1920s. One of those that you may have seen in photos with an old car winding around tight bends, narrowly missing trees on either side. There were quite a few places where only one car could pass at a time - there were also a few trees missing bark near where a bumper or side view mirror would be. Seriously people, these trees are huge, how did you not
see them. Some people suck at driving; don't get me started.
I continued on after stopping briefly for one last walk in the woods in the Stout Grove. I drove through Smith River National Recreation Area and on into Oregon. I knew I would be passing relatively close to Oregon Caves National Monument and I didn't like the idea of not going, so I turned off the main highway at Cave Junction (appropriately enough) for the roughly 50 mile drive into the monument. The cave tours go off every hour or so but are limited in size so I walked up, got a spot on a tour an hour later and walked back to the car for lunch. For the first time on the trip, I was amongst a sizable group of real tourists. So far, I had either been in places with few tourists or campsites where the majority were locals. Considering the length and quality of the road up to the headquarters as well as the fact that there aren't many campgrounds out there, I was surprised at the number of people visiting the caves.
The cave tour was a pretty good one (I've been on
others in South Dakota and Oklahoma). Over the years, the cave has been 'improved' so that there are absolutely no places where there isn't either a paved walkway or a steel deck. Not all that natural, but then again, I've already mentioned the emphasis on access by the Park Service, so hopefully that explains it. There are still a few places in the cave system where you have to get down on all fours and crawl. They only run those tours on Sundays (which this happened to be - there was a dirty looking group exiting just before we went in) and take reservations weeks in advance. Photos in caves aren't particularly easy, especially without a tripod but I did my best. I made certain to take up the rear of the tour so as not to hold things up.
The tour exits over 250 feet above where it goes in. The walk back to the lodge allows some pretty good views of the surrounding forests. There is not much out here in this part of southwestern Oregon. In the past, roads continued east into Jacksonville and Ashland, but those pioneer trails have long since faded into the forest
Oregon Caves
Plaque at the entrance to the caves. The Park Service runs the tours now; up until a few years ago, a concessionaire ran them. so the only option after I was finished at the caves was to return to Cave Junction and make a run around the mountains and into Medford. I could have shot straight into Grants Pass and taken the short jog down I-5 into Medford but I'd been used to smaller roads so I stuck to county roads and wandered my way east, through Jacksonville and into Medford by the evening.
I was somewhat reluctant to get there since it meant that I'd need to be spending most of the remainder of my days in libraries, surrounded by old books and newspapers, but since that's what I came to do I accepted it and got myself ready to start a good weeks work.
(Counties: OR - Josephine, Jackson)
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