Blogs from Baker City, Oregon, United States, North America

Well. seeing as how we had an extra night to plan for due to our cancellations at Coos Bay and Crater Lake, we decided to continue heading East today on Oregon's Scenic byway called Hell's Canyon. The plan was to traverse the entire 42 mile road and then proceed to LaGande, OR for the night. There is still smoke in the air out here, but is much better than previous days. We were able to enjoy the scenery a whole lot better today. We headed out on Rte 86, and passed through a few small towns. The area is completely covered in huge cattle ranches, with grazing land that stretch as far as the eye can see. The land here goes from rolling hills and prairies to mountainous along the whole route. It is very beautiful, ... read more

Today was s good Rest and Recovery Day for both Bruce and myself. We slept in, ate a leisurely breakfast in our cozy little 2 BR Air B&B and spent some time planning for tomorrow. It will be another long day, climbing over three mountain passes and the temperature will be a record hot day. We are planning to be riding our bikes about 5am to put a good deal of the ride in before it gets rediculously hot. Today we both got haircuts and my beard is gone! I was tired of looking like an old homeless guy! We also spent some time at the Baker Heritage Museum where we learned about the history of Baker County. As with most of the American West, early settlers in the Baker area were in search of Gold. ... read more

Lähdettiin liikkeelle jo klo 3. Ajettiin Baker Cityn ohi etelään ja pysähdyttiin paikalle, jossa oli jo auto tien poskessa. Näkyi tähtitaivas, Venus kirkkaana. Lämmintä oli vain 7 astetta. Monta tuntia odottamista. Paikalle ei tullut muita. Käytiin jututtamassa läheisen auton kaveria. Hänkin oli Seattlesta. Marko otti osittaisesta vaiheesta kuvia kameralla zoomilla pimennyslasien läpi. Peitin oikean silmän lapulla, jotta sillä näkisi paremmin täydellisen vaiheen aikana, joka alkoi klo 10.24. Pimennys näkyi hienosti pilvettömällä taivaalla. Katsoin pimennyslaseilla aurinkoa, kunnes se peittyi kokonaan. Sitten paljain silmin koronaa. Ehdin nähdä Venuksen ja pari tähteä. Sitten kaikki oli ohi turhan nopeasti. Lähdimme heti paluumatkalle. Alussa oli ruuhkaa tietyön takia. Kävimme kasinolla lounaalla. Colombia-joen ylittävä moottoritie oli poikki. Piti kiertää idempää. Lisäksi Seattl... read more

October 2: Our last night of camping was at Farewell Bend State Park, Oregon, just over the border from a long day's drive across Idaho. We had felt that if we could make it into Oregon before nightfall, we could slide the rest of the way on in to Portland the next day, and in fact, that's how it worked out. In the days of the pioneers, wagon trains followed the Snake River through Idaho for 300 miles or more, and Farewell Bend was the last stop on the Oregon Trail beside the Snake River before the river curved north and headed for Hells Canyon. Wagon trains would stop at Farewell Bend to rest, and water and graze their animals before the Oregon Trail headed through more rugged country to the Burnt River and then westward ... read more

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 ... read more