On the Oregon Trail

Our next state to visit was Oregon. It began with a stop at Valley of the Rogue State Park. It was a beautiful campground on the banks of the Rogue River. The Rogue River begins around Crater Lake and goes into the Pacific Ocean.  Due to COVID the park hosts were off duty but every evening a ranger would drive around selling firewood. He was very generous with his wood. We were given quite a bundle for $5 on the first night and an even bigger bundle the second night because we were the only ones that bought wood from him that day. 

Our Rock Family making more new friends.

The next day we took a ride up to Crater Lake. What a beautiful and peaceful place to see. 

Since we had gotten an early start to the day we still had a good portion of the day left so we stopped at the Rogue River Gorge Trial.

Lava Tubes

Then we still had time to stop and take the Natural Bridge Trail. The natural bridge is made from lava rock and the Rogue River appears to disappear and then re-appear on the other side of the bridge. The river goes into the lava tubes and them comes out on the other side. 

Our next stop was near water again but this time it was a slightly lager body of water called the Pacific Ocean. We stayed on Tillicum Beach.

Driving on the 101 along the Pacific Coast. 

Our camping spot.

Stairs leading down to the beach from the campground. They were very close to our site.

The beach. Yes, another chilly place. 

The next day we went to the Cape Perpetua Visitors Center but it was closed due to COVID but we met a couple of the rangers there and they filled us in on some of the great places to visit. 

These are some of the views from the top of the Cape Perpetua Look-out.

We then took a hike on the Big Spruce Trail. At the end of the trail is a 500 year old Sitka Spruce Tree. 

The Giant Sitka Spruce. It used be taller but a few years ago a storm snapped off the top 35 feet of the tree. 

We then went into town and had lunch at the Blue Whale

Then we stopped at the many State Parks along the way.

One last stop at Cascade Locks. We stayed at Ainsworth State Park. The site was large but there were tracks on the other side of the road and the trains came through all day and all night long. But, they did not shine their lights at us or blow the whistle. 

The view from our campsite. You can see the remains of the wild fires that had burned there in 2017 

The next day our friend Judy picked us up from the campground and took us to see the different sites in the area. It was supposed to have rained really hard all day but God kept the rain off of us most of the time. 

We even climbed the trail to the observation bridge. 

Then we drove to the Vista House to get a view the Columbia River Gorge

Then we went to several other falls. Some we needed to hike into, 

We ended our day with lunch at the Bridgeside Restaurant. After lunch we all went back to the campsite and had a wonderful visit with Judy.