Friday after breakfast
Today was a beautiful drive from the mouth of the mighty Umpqua at Reedsport inland to where it’s just a stream east of I-5. When I got to the turnoff for my presumed destination, Tyee Campground the river was quite tame and there were lots of inner tubers. Temp is high 80’s on a Friday afternoon, perfect day for it. Too perfect. Tyee was completely full at 2:15 pm! Who could blame them! The other time I stayed here it was a chilly April day, the river was high, and it was not at all obvious that this would be a tuber’s paradise in the summer. Anyway, no home for me here tonight, so onward … I-5 is only a few miles away.
I pull over at Sutherlin OR, which seems to be just a dusty interchange on I-5. I get phone reception, which I hadn’t for the last 40 miles. My new plan is to take Route 138 from the I-5 corridor across the mountains to the US 97 corridor. There are lots of camping options. I m ready to stop at the first one – another Douglas County Campground on the Umpqua called Whistler’s Cove.
This turned out to be another FAIL. Both mapping apps were very clear that I had to continue two more exits south and take a winding set of back roads to get there. But clearly the main cutoff road from I-5 to Glide would be much more direct. Well, ha ha, joke’s on me. The campground is indeed right next to the road, but on the OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER. I could see it 150 yards away as I drove past on the wrong side. So near yet so far – sigh…
So when I finally got to the next bridge my choice was to backtrack to it, or press on east on 138. It looked really nice and I kinda wanted to do it, but I decided it would probably be a wasted drive since it’s probably full of tubers like the last campground, so … press on.
Back on 138, this unfortunate afternoon got a little worse when one of those portable highway warning signs was set up to say that 138 is closed ahead. Yuck. I press on, and sure enough 20 miles down the road it’s very smoky and in fact I can even see fire up ahead on the side of the canyon. I know Susan Creek Campground is up here somewhere, so I press on to it.
WHUFU page for: Susan Creek Campground
Very nice campground, the local Boy Scouts added amenities. It is the most deluxe BLM campground I've ever seen. Showers even!
There is apparently a waterfall a mile or so up the hill across the road.
tonight:
Still deluxe. Strangely quiet on a Friday evening, because there is a forest fire a few miles away. We are on a Stage 1 Evacuation Alert here. I can watch the helicopters fly overhead trailing their giant buckets of fire retardant.
There are spaces here! I am so happy to be able to stop. It was starting to look like I would drive forever tonight.
Smoke is pretty bad here. There is a pack of six or seven grade-schoolers staying here tonight with their families, and they are tirelessly walking/biking/skating/running around the campground loop here forever. Pretty normal stuff, except the air is so bad. As a parent I think I wouldn’t like my kids working their lungs so hard in this air, but you can’t really make them sit still either.
I wish I wasn’t such a mess, I would go swimming. Swimming itself would not be a problem, but little things like pushing myself up off the ground are quite difficult for an old guy with a fucked up wrist. It’s a real nice afternoon in spite of all these complaints.. Such a fancy place! I explore the short trail up to the “viewpoint”, hoping for a better look at the fires, but couldn’t see much.
I check out the bathroom, and … they have showers! Unheard of luxury for a BLM campground! I thought I’d had my last shower until whenever I get home, but apparently not! I am excited!
Even though we are under a Stage 1 Evacuation, campfires are still ok if you’re careful (!). A group a few sites away has pretty a pretty good Friday night party going on with a pretty big fire. Weird.
Saturday (Aug 19)
The Host lady was right, the smoke is bad in the morning. I cracked the van door once and got a van-full of smoke, so now I’m now staying sealed in the van until it’s almost time to leave. They have a notice board set up with all the latest emergency info. Route 138 is indeed closed from mile markers 48 to 53. Susan Creek is somewhere in the 30’s, so that’s how close the fire is. I am going to have to retrace my path and alter my plan.
Pretty annoying to be driving 100 miles or so out of my way, but that’s my lot today. The plan is to backtrack back down 138 to I-5 South, then cut over on 140 to Klamath Falls. I need coffee, so I will stop at the coffee place in the little town of Glide that I passed yesterday. From glancing at it as I went past, I was sure it would be a cool little hipster joint, but it turned out to be an odd little place playing (Christian?) mood music, with father and son standing attentively behind the register in a slightly creepy way. But they had wifi, the coffee was good and there was one tasty apple danish left, so they did all right by me!
After that it was just putting in the time and miles. My go-to lunch spot in these parts is the Taprock in Grants Pass. It’s got wifi and a cool location right on the river. Only 3 stars in Yelp, so they may be backsliding. Nonetheless that’s my target, which means 20 miles of surburbia to get to I-5, then 70-ish miles of the curviest part of the interstate before lunch. As always at Taprock, the fish ‘n chips and iced tea were the only things that met my price point. I am predictable.
I followed 99 along the Rogue River for a few exits to avoid I-5, then got off at Gold Point to head east. Another 50 miles of forest fire haze, and here I am at:
WHUFU page for: Doe Point Campground
Right on scenic Fish Lake. Very pleasant. Next time I will try Fish Lake Campground, which is very close and only a few hundred yards from Fish Lake Resort.
tonight:
High season this time. Night before the night before the eclipse! Only two sites available, I feel lucky to get one. There seem to be fires everywhere on southern Oregon. The air here is pretty brutal.
I am still feeling pretty decrepit, and the really bad air doesn’t help, so I just hang around the campsite all evening, no walk down to the rocky lakeside or anything.
Sunday
When I leave I drive a half mile further on the access road to the Fish Lake Resort to pick up ice (my new lifestyle), and get a cup of coffee while I’m at it. It turns out the other National Forest campground – Fish Lake – is right here! I will try it next time. It would be pretty sweet to have a cafe with beer 200 yards away.
Fortified with coffee and a Kind bar, the drive to Klamath Falls is pretty nice. I am passing through on Sunday as I always seem to do … so my beloved Daily Bagel is closed, as it always is. I also know from all those other Sundays that my other option Nibbley’s closes at 2. It’s 12:15 by the time I hit the far western end of town, so I balance my desire to go slow and enjoy the quaint little lakeside community over there (and the 30 mph speed limit!) versus my desire to make NIbbley’s before it closes.
I make it. They only serve breakfast on Sundays, which is presented to me by the seating person as a possible Big Problem. But of course breakfast all day is just what I want. Why can’t everything work out this well.
Before leaving Klamath I backtrack a few blocks to Fred Meyer, where I get my beloved Giant Sudoku in a different newspaper (the Oregonian, which has gone way downhill in the last few years).Then off to Lava Beds. I am shocked to see that there are actually rangers in the entrance kiosk! Thus I have that quintessential National Park experience where the cars pile up behind you while the joker in the car in front of you asks fifty questions of the kind and patient kiosk ranger. I hadn’t seen a car in 20 miles, now I’m in a four-car traffic jam – aargh!
WHUFU page for: Lava Beds Campground
Really nice place, quiet and well maintained and a beautiful situation, on the side of a high hill overlooking a huge, arid valley.
Wildlife refuges right down the hill.
tonight:
This is where I will experience the eclipse! A nice site still available at 3 pm.
There were available sites! Good ones in fact. B-31 is real nice – reasonably level, the parking space is reasonably shady and the picnic table is in a very pleasant little copse of trees. Even got a little view of the valley.
Monday
Eclipse Day! The eclipse here is supposed to be 91% of total, with peak about 10:08 and starting and ending an hour-ish before and after. I therefore set my alarm(!) for 9-ish, because one of the most thrilling parts of the eclipse experience is that first time you look at the sun through the glasses and instead of a whole disc, there is a little mouse nibble taken out of one side. Then it grows and grows!
It was pretty cool, not epic, but pretty cool. I watched the first half from my campsite, but I know that the Visitor’s Center is having come kind of program, so I packed up, and after as close to totality as we’re going to get I drove up the hill to there. They had a telescope set up and you could see sunspots.
My overall review is that next time I should make the commitment to see totality. 91% means that at the darkest we’re still getting 9% of the sun’s light, and that is still a lot of light, so the darkness wasn’t really very dark.
Anyway, I hung out at the VisCen till a little after 11, when the last tiny nibble of moon shadow had left the sun. Then I started heading south. Yelp had told me that there is a new restaurant near Bieber. I had halfway decided to detour that way to check it out, but right before I got tothe turn-off point I remembered that it is Monday, and sure enough the new place is closed on Monday. Glad I figured that out, because driving to it would have meant a 20 o so mile backtrack to literally the only other place to eat on this road, namely good ole Oney Burger in Adin. Always such a slice of local color. Burgers aren’t so awesome five hours later, so I got a nice grilled chicken salad to go for tonight’s dinner. Easy drive to:
WHUFU page for: North Eagle Lake Campground
A real find! About a mile off Route 123, at the deserted top end of Eagle Lake. Its a beautiful scrub and pine forest looking out over the lake and the wide valley. Pretty close to Susanville.
tonight:
Didn't want to go all the way home today, so here I am, hunting shade on a piney high desert hillside. In typical high desert fashion, it's harsh and uncomfortable here until the sun goes behind the hill, then it's really pleasant.
After fifty miles of No Service on my ATT phone, this campground miraculously has pretty decent reception, good enough to run Personal Hotspot!
I had a really nice afternoon/evening here on my last night on the road. It was pretty hot when I got here, but in the shade of the van it was quite nice. Just read and type and do puzzles all afternoon.
Tuesday
It’s overcast this morning, an extra blessing! It makes it extra pleasant to hang out, and it’s a reminder to be thankful it wasn’t overcast yesterday for the eclipse as it apparently was for most of Marin. That would have been a bummer.
Anyway I eventually get going and head for Susanville. I’m feeling quite leisurely today, so I decide to finally track down the elusive Lassen Ale Works and see what it’s about. It turns out it shares the same address with an old timey saloon (The Pioneer?), and has no noticeable signage of its own. Weird. It was nice enough, especially by Susanville standards, but not special. It was a cool room, but the service and food were indifferent. I had the good sense to not order a beer.
Then it was a well-fed last 85 miles to home.!