finally...on the road

Hi all,
I’ll try to keep this short – nobody but me’s interested in all the details, but I’ll hit the highlights – and include anything that made me say ‘wow’! Plus the bigger problem is, I left my power cord at home, so I’m limited in the amount of battery life I have left in this thing until my power cord arrives ‘general delivery’ in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. (Naomi had to send me something else, so I asked her to put the power cord in the box too.)
I left Wednesday morning 7/25, passing by the Sutter Buttes, Castle Crags and Mt Shasta on my way up to Eugene, Oregon. Made me remember how much beautiful scenery is right here in my own backyard, just a few of hours away. Had an uneventful time in Eugene, visiting family friends and my mother-in-law’s gravesite, and I got one quick 3-mile hike in. Dorkily, I’d relied on my memory of the Prius’ oil-change schedule, thinking it was 7500 miles like most new cars, so I didn’t change it before I left. Wouldn’t you know, it’s actually 5000 miles, and it pinged me on my way up to Eugene. Fortunately I was able to find a 10-minute oli-change place and get it done very quickly, with an added bonus: the guy changing my oil had grown up in northeastern Oregon and had all kinds of friendly advice on where to drive, hike, and camp.
So given that advice, Thursday noon I headed up the freeway to Portland and then east along the very beautiful Columbia River Gorge. A friend had told me to stop at Multnomah falls, so I did and hiked up to the top of them. (I think someone said they’re 300 feet.) So I was able to get another 3+ mile hike in. Further on, I saw a bridge called ‘Bridge of the Gods’. Well, I’ve gotta cross something like that – I’m a sucker for good marketing. Ended up on the Washington side of the Columbia river for 20 miles or so, and I can now add Washington to my list of states I’ve covered on this trip. One thing I was blown away by (pun intended) was the hundreds of windsurfers and kite surfers on the Columbia river. Some day I’ve got to try that…
Once I cleared the gorge I was in the desert of eastern Oregon and it was 102 degrees. I was heading for a place called Wallowa Lake that the oil change guy had told me about, but was running out of daylight. One of my cardinal rules for this trip is ‘no night driving’ – not because I hate to drive in the dark, but because the purpose of the trip is to SEE America (and MEET America and HIKE America). Besides, setting up camp in the dark is no fun. So as I stopped in Pendleton to gas up and have a bite to eat, a local woman saw me poring over the maps and gave me a suggestion on a closer place to camp. (So far, people are VERY friendly!) She was right – it was a beautiful, peaceful (in fact, eerily quiet) spot in the Umatilla National Forest at about 4000’ by a lake.
The next day I headed out towards Wallowa lake. But they were having their huge annual festival that weekend so there was a lot of people and no place to camp. So I backtracked a bit to another hike that a forest ranger had recommended. It was 9 miles round-trip, with a 2000’ elevation gain, to a pristine alpine lake called Chimney Lake. Worth every step, although I quickly found out how out-of-shape I still am. After the hike I headed north through a corner of Washington and into Idaho. I passed a lookout for Joseph Canyon so I stopped for a photo. Impressive! Looks like a scaled-down version of the Grand Canyon. Continuing my drive, I discovered that I had to drive down one canyon wall and back up the other to get to my destination, so I got the close-up view. Again I was running out of daylight but found a forest service campsite just in the nick of dusk. ‘Pink House’ camp is alongside the Clearwater river and I was able to pitch my tent just yards from the shore. Spent a peaceful night listening to the water pass.
Day 4 found me travelling alongside the ‘wild and scenic river’ route between Lewiston, Idaho and Missoula, Montana. 200 miles of curving highway with a river alongside. Absolute heaven for all of the fly fishermen, motorcyclists, and bicyclists I passed. In the middle of the drive I stopped and did a 7-mile hike into the Bitterroot mountains (I think). Another strenuous hike, so I got my cardio exercise in. When I started the hike it was about 80 degrees but when I got back in the car 3 hours later it was 99. And, arriving in Missoula, it was 102. Guess I can’t leave the Sacramento summer behind yet. After two nights of camping with no shower facilities, I sprung for a motel and was able to make myself a presentable hominid for the next few days. Apparently motels are in short supply on summer weekends up here because of the casinos (there are dozens in town) so I had to search a bit to find a room. But I DID find a place with WiFi, so I’ll finally get to post this blog.
Plan for tomorrow is to head into Glacier national Park, which looks like about 175 miles from here. I’ll camp and hike for a couple of days and post another blog when I get back to civilization…
Last note: got a chance to be a good samaritan by jump-starting another car - but had no idea how to do so with my hybrid Prius. Fortunately the user manual was pretty helpful, so now I know how to do that again if I need to.