Logan Wildfire! Near Us!

We have been so lucky this trip, avoiding at all costs, wildfires.  As a matter of fact, we changed our plans and rerouted our return home due to not being able to go to Yosemite National Park, a goal for this trip, but too bad.  We stalled coming down from the coast of Washington to avoid the smoke of the Rim Fire and the fires all around Oregon and northern California.  Until yesterday at 1:45pm we thought we had done a great job.

I was just finishing up doing laundry, Dave was out for a walk along the Pacific Crest Trail, when we heard sirens - alot of them!  And then helicopters.  Zoom, right by the campground, sirens stopping, you could hear the down shifting of the fire engines then moving again.  Sounded right across the road. And it was!  Looked to the north and Oh MY GOODNESS!!!!  Lots of smoke.  Just a mile from where we are camping, across the road.  The fire is officially called Logan Fire, and as of 15 minutes ago, it is under the California jurisdiction, not federal (yet).  All day yesterday we were stood by our camper, watching the fire, at times felt we could reach up and touch the planes flying overhead, watching the helicopters, seeing fire engines and forest service equipment coming in.  Very very scary.  Our nerves are shot today and we have very bad sore throats from the smoke.

Plane dropping chemical on fire

The camp ground management said - we will let you know if you need to be evacuated, but for now - you are okay.  Great.  That did not stop us from having our eyes glued to the sky, watching the fire, praying that it stops and no one gets hurt.

One of  7 planes that drop chemical

At 6:30pm we decided that we had to get something to eat, I made a quick dinner, still listening to the planes flying overhead. We decided that if we were evacuated, leave everything, go.  Heck with the RV.  We had a restless night, I could hear large equipment moving, saw the glow in the sky, but it did not get brighter.  This morning, seems quiet, but now the fire engines have started roaring in again.  And lots more equipment.  Found the report on the internet and as last night at 7pm was 20% contained.

Another type of plane

One thing this fire has done for us - we had an emergency plan for leaving but have not talked about it at all this trip - we needed to fine tune our evacuation.  What to do, what to grab (beside Grace and her things to survive), and where to go.  A group of 6 graders (we think about 35 kids) and their teachers and advisers just came in yesterday right after the fire started, camping in a group camp area right beside us.  We decided we would do everything possible to get the kids and advisers packed and out before we left.  Those kids would panic.

View standing by our RV - smoke!

See belly - the bay where the chemical comes out

We counted at least 7 different planes that were dropping chemical, two helicopters with trailing buckets for water? or chemical?, unknown engines, equipment, bulldozers, lots of smaller planes and jets in the sky.  My gut feeling is that the Yosemite fire - by the crow flies, not far from here - had so many resources that they were able to divert to this fire and get a handle on getting it under control.  What ever - thank you to all fire people, rescuers, safety personnel - and that person who stopped by the campground at 1:35pm yesterday and called 911 to report the fire.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

We drove to Lassen Volcanic National Park the other day - even more unsettling for us being around all these active volcanos.  Lassen Peak, now at 12,000 feet, erupted May, 1914 and over the next two years, periodic eruptions occured with the last major one occurring May 22, 1915 which blew large ash cloud 30,000 feet into the air. This last one altered the entire landscape - valleys of pumice rock, boulders strewn all over, mounds of lava, sides of mountains sheered from the mud flow. Lassen Peak is one of a chain of active volcanos, we camped by three of them - Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Shasta Mountain, and now Lassen Peak - all part of the Pacific Ring of Fire - peachy.

As we drove to this campground this past Saturday we kept seeing these huge fields of lava rock and now we know why.  It is a wonder anything grows here, but we are glad it does, we are camping within 25 feet of the Lassen National Forest, tall pine trees abound!  You would never know that 13 miles away is Lassen Peak where they do seismology readings daily.

Lassen Peak and meadow

Lassen Volcanic NP is a haven for geology buffs, everything you want to see and look at regarding the earth's formation and landscape can be found in this park.  And this is the only place in the world where you will find 4 different kinds of volcanoes - plugged-dome (Lassen), cinder cone, conical and strato.  There is a thermo area where hot water and mud pots seap from underground - this is sorta a mini-Yellowstone.  Stinking sulfur smell and the yellow/white ground where the hot springs leak out to the surface.

Fields of rocks

There are glacial lakes left over from the melt thousands of years ago, but sadly only can be reached by hiking.  Pretty meadows, if we were here about a month earlier would have seen wildflowers.

Results of Reading Fire of 2012 

One road transverses from northwest to south west, and the rest of the park only reachable by a dirt road which is closed right now due to a forest fire from late last year, or by hiking to.  Very little pull offs to view, I guess I understand why because the landscape is so barren and sharp lava rocks.  Can't say this is a pretty park, but a must see for those that like geology.

We had thought we would spend a couple of days exploring the park but one day was plenty for us. One thing that we had to adjust for - no diesel gas around for 30 miles of where we camp.  So, we sit tight, struggle with the internet, and just relax and enjoy the forest.  Hat Creek meanders right on the property and it is soothing to sit and listen to the water rushing over the rocks and stare at the pretty clear water.  The creek has just been stocked over the weekend so there are folks fishing right off the banks.  And our next neighbor has been smoking all the fish they catch - fire going all the time with a rack for smoking the fish above it.

Hat Creek, California

We moved from Weed, California this morning to this small little resort area called Hat Creek.  Known for it's fishing, hunting, horseback riding, and 10 miles from Lassen Volcanic National Park.  And guess what?  If we look out to the front of the RV where we are set up in the Lassen National Forest, we could pick up the Pacific Crest Trail and hike to Mexico or Canada in the same amount of time - 1300 miles in either direction.  Let's go!  But glad we left Weed - the campground is one we will not go back to in our lifetime.  Very noisy, lit up like daytime with security lights, the host was a nasty man, people weird stopping for the night.  But it served our purpose and that's get groceries and restocked before heading back into the wilderness.  We helped out a lady who pulled into the place yesterday with handicap plates - she could not get her vehicle unhooked from the motorhome.  Helped her for about an hour getting that done and then getting the wheelchair off the back end of the her truck.  We wonder how does she do it? Her husband was inside very invalid and she does it all herself.

The drive was not fun, we came down south on Interstate 5 about 60 miles to Redding and then turned off east bound towards Nevada.  Traveled over a couple of bridges of Shasta Lake which has the largest concrete dam in the US.  We remarked that - wow, was the lake down! - and after doing some info searching when we got here, it is the lowest since January 17, 2010.  Typically is loosing 1/2 inch of water level a day.  That's a lot.  We saw that houseboats and pleasure boats were way down on ramps and to launch your boat you literally were at a 45 degree angle dropping it in the water or pulling it out.

How low Lake Shasta is

High and dry marinas

We don't like driving in the mountains and had to drive through the Cascade Range to get to Redding.  A number of times we saw a huge sign that said to slow down to 60 because the sharp turn would cause you to tip over.  Well, Dave was only going 52 at the most and then slowed down because that was still way too fast.  Not a fun drive today.  But we are here, set up, secure,  no cell service again, but do have internet access through the park.  Will visit Lassen Volcano National Park while here and not sure about anything else.  As I sit here and type this I have seen horseback riders going by on the Trail. How cool.

And the not so good news is that we have to drive 30 miles to Burney to get diesel gas and to make a call if need to - the local gas station just closed up yesterday.  Will have to really plan our time here.

Move to Weed, California

We did it!  Now can officially say we have camped in California.  We moved this morning from Diamond Lake, Oregon, about 13 miles northwest of Crater Lake, and traveled along Route 97 down into Klamath Falls, then on into California.  Was very surprised at how big Klamath Lake is - but did not see one boat.  We did travel in and out of national forests and had to watch for deer and elk - did see 3 deer right by the road - and also saw workers in the fields - looked like beans or peas they were picking.  Some pretty sad little towns and had to pass through an inspection point where they were looking for any pest infested things like fruit, trees, plants, firewood.  Afterward we laughed and said that maybe they meant Grace was a pest (she is sometimes).  We should have declared her!

Klamath Lake, Oregon

We picked up Interstate 5 just outside of Weed for a meer mile before getting off of it to get to this campground.  Why here?  Well, we need to do grocery shopping and cat food shopping, and will rest up for a day before heading south east to a small town called Hat Creek.  Will be there about a week to sight see, specifically Lassen Volcanic National Park.  They say that this Lassen is a little Yellowstone -  mudpots, geysers, clear lakes, etc.

We did not have the opportunity to restock our food since Diamond Lake is strictly a lake and resort.  That's it.  Did have a good pizza parlor.  Will do shopping tomorrow and move Saturday morning.

Mt. Shasta in the Clouds

We could start to see Mt. Shasta about 30 miles away from the border of California. This bad boy is 14,179 feet high!  They say on a clear day you can see the mountain 130 miles away.  What is unsettling is that they consider this an active volcano.  Great.  Have to say that I don't like the tsunami warnings we had while in Washington, the earthquake and tsunami warnings from Oregon, and the notices about the active volcanos.  I will gladly take the tornados we have in Ohio any day.

Good NIght Crater Lake and Goodbye

Dinner time yesterday we traveled back into Crater Lake National Park to get to Sentinel Point, a viewing area over the lake that the park ranger from the other day said that you would get terrific photos of sunset.  What a difference a day makes in terms of people visiting the park.  Just about empty.  We drove to Rim Village to see one more time, only about a dozen cars there.  As we were leaving a large hawk landed on a building right in front of us and we managed to get some great pics.  Actually, he was saying thanks for the visit, safe travels, goodbye.

Goodbye from Mr. Hawk

We then drove on to the east side of the park, along the rim road, to Sentinel Point.  Was a tidge early so we sat in the car and watched the colors changing on the cliffs.  We were struck that we did not hear anything but the wind rustling the trees.  No birds and of course no wildlife since the area is a volcanic ash desert - no running water, no grass.  Only wind swept/snow bent ponderosa pines and whitebark pine trees.  However, Mr. Hawk did come by to do a fly-by goodbye while we were waiting there.

With clouds over the western horizon we got the benefit of a lovely melon colored sunset.  The ranger was right, very pretty and very dramatic.  The bad part was driving in the darkening evening along the rim road and back to the campground.  Our concern was that driving this big truck along the road we would be hugging the edge but we straddled the middle of the road, no other cars or trucks were out like us.  We both had to keep a watchful lookout for deer or elk once we passed through the gates of the park and into the national forest and luckily we did not see anything.

Barely make out Phantom Ship and Wizard Island

Brighter as the sun sets over the Pacific

Gorgeous!

Crater Lake was a park that was not planned on, but so glad we came here. This deserves the WOW factor for us, the geology, the history, the environment.  And of course the stunning blue of the lake. I will never forget the color.

Today we do the normal 'get ready to move' things like laundry, vacuum, clean out the fridge, put things away.  I will be glad - last night was a chilly 38 and at daylight was 43. We are leaving tomorrow morning to go to Weed, California, a small town on Interstate 5 for just a quick 2 day stop to get groceries, etc., then move Saturday to Hat Creek, California, near another small town in the northeastern part of the state.  Lassen Volcanic National Park is there which we will visit.  By Saturday we will be in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

We have been camping in 5200 feet elevation for the last week, leaving 62 feet elevation of Heceta Beach and 26 feet of Long Beach, Oregon and we have paid for it here.  We were altitude sick the first two days here, headaches, bloody noses, not feeling well until we adjusted.  As a matter of fact we are moving up even higher in elevation in our next two stops.

Terror in Ponderosa Woods!

Grace will snuggle down on one of the chairs to sleep for the day or take a nap in her travel box which we leave by the living room window, all activities she does very well while we are out sightseeing.  We leave her to do what all cats do well and that's sleep.  When we come back we will find her in the same spot, just waking up and yawning at us.  But her actions have not been her normal since we have been here at Diamond Lake RV Resort, northwest of Crater Lake National Park by 7 miles. We are camping under ponderosa pines, many of them, while lovely to see and smell, now has become a terror for Grace.  Now when we come back from a day out, we find her hunkered down on the bed and will take a lot to coax her out and down into the living room.  She is not every-day smart like Chip was, but she is street-smart from her days of being a ferel cat, and therefore, knows something is really wrong - have to hide.

Grace

We found out why she is acting like this - and we found out the hard way and the scary way two mornings ago.  About 7:15am we thought a bird had hit one of the windows of the RV - bam!  Then another, and another. Bam, Bam, Bam!!!!  Dave went outside to see what was going on and almost got hit himself.  Seems our little friends - the golden-mantled ground squirrels - of which there are many, are up in the trees picking off the pine cones and dropping them to the ground. Once the cones hit the ground, smaller pieces - the fruit - break off and is what they are after. The squirrel picks up the smaller pieces (see little bits to right of big cone - looks like worms) and store in their throats and they run to their nests and bury them for winter's food.  Many are hitting our roof.  Bam!  Bam!  Sounds like bombs.

Pine cone's fruit - smaller little worm looking things 

All day long they pick up the pine fruit, move them to their nests in the ground, then go back and get more.  Makes me very tired.  Then the next morning they are at it again, back up in the trees, reaching for the cones, dropping them, then on to the next branch.  Dave went up on the roof the first morning thinking there would be damage - it sounded like chunks of the roof were being broken off.  Thankfully no damage - just lots of debris.

Golden-mantle squirrel - looks like chipmunk

This morning - same thing happened again.  This time we watched Grace slink into the bedroom and jump on the bed, and if she was smart enough to figure it out, would have crawled under the sheets to hide.  I laugh now when I think of yesterday afternoon when one of the squirrels was dropping cones and hitting the roof and I watched Grace hiss at Dave (as if it was his fault) and ran into the bedroom.  I bet she will be glad when we move from here!  Poor cat.  They say within two weeks there will be snow here, and with the frenzied activity of the squirrels, it will be a long, long winter.

Crater Lake - Part 2

We ventured back into Crater Lake National Park yesterday, driving the rim road east bound so we could capture photos with the sun behind us and the lake at it's bluest.  And we were not disappointed.  The first stop we did was at the Creetwood boat landing and trail where you hike down to the lake and you could swim in it, fish, or take the 2 hour boat ride.  We had no plans to do any of that but try to find a nice viewing area somewhere along the switch-back trail down to see the boats.  These boats are 40 feet long and can hold 37 passengers and 3 support people and one is a park ranger.  It's a narrated journey and we were told from our trolley tour's ranger that people get into trouble hiking down to the boat only to discover that they need help getting back up.  Only way to rescue them is on a gurney pulled up on wheels, and we saw wheel tracks in the trail.  Ooops.

40 foot boat ride

We continued our trek stopping at various locations to view the lake.  I cannot explain how blue it is - deeper than sapphire, bluer than blue.  Just beautiful.  And awesome to see once you understand the history. There is Phantom Ship; Wizard Island formed after the big eruption which is a small volcano inside Crater Lake with a 300 foot wide crater at the top and the island is 764 feet tall; a tree that has been floating in the lake for last 100 years; the pumice outflow is over 100 feet deep around the rim that today nothing has grown in an area called Pumice Desert.

Pumice Desert - 100 feet thick of pumice

We hiked the Phantom Ship overlook trail which climbs up to the rim of the crater and can get a great view of Phantom Ship.  Had a picnic lunch on the rim looking out over the lake.  Breathtaking.  After the lunch break we decided we wanted to visit the ranger information center at Rim Village so continued to the Village only to turn around and scram out of there - it was so slammed with cars and people.  Lined up onto the road to get into that area.  Unbelievable.  Talk about a downer.  Glad we visited the park a couple days ahead of the holiday weekend.  Many of the viewing areas near the Rim Village was so packed with cars that people were parking on the dirt on the edge! of the road.  Yikes.

Drawing of  Phantom Ship

Phantom Ship from Overlook

Something to think about - in a couple of weeks it will be snowing here.  And a week ago the lake was smoked in due to two wildfires burning in southern Oregon.  Talk about timing!

Wizard Island - 764 foot tall island

Glad we visited Crater Lake National Park - wasn't originally on our plans but it was certainly a Wow factor.