It's Been Awhile, but We've Been Busy

In the trees

It's been a long time since we've posted hasn't it?  Miss us?  Probably not, but we've been super busy since the last time we had Wi-Fi.  We somehow were able to get 3G and a phone signal while in Diamond Lake Campground...weird, but true so a few posts went up on Facebook while we were 'roughing it'.

We left Seattle over a week ago and headed towards  Crater Lake National Park.   Crater was on 'the list' of places we felt we should visit since we were "close".  After driving on yet another Scenic Byway we landed at Diamond Lake, OR.  Literally.  We never thought we'd stay over a week in one spot, but we did.  The weather has been absolutely perfect since we arrived in Oregon...low to mid 70's to 80's and nights have been pretty cool in the mid to upper 40's.  Before the computer batteries ran dry we wrote about our first few days...here's what we've been up to:

Arrival Day 7/23/2012

We had not figured we’d be in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains past one day much less eight.  We had been looking for a drier area since leaving Seattle and Mt. Rainier behind on Sunday.  After spending the night in Portland, OR our sights were set on a scenic highway to Crater Lake National Park and the surrounding Umpqua National Forest in the Cascade Range.  It was chosen mainly due to the local weather forecast…mid 80’s with low’s mid 40’s and ZERO percent chance of rain.  It has been dead on correct with bright blue skies since our arrival and it’s supposed to remain so for the next 10 days.   Not sure we'll ever leave.

Cooper and Cindi's Mornin' Coffee

We pulled into Diamond Lake Campground late in the day.  It’s a very pretty lake with snow-capped Mount Bailey across the lake from the campground.  After wandering a bit we picked out our site by the lake and set up camp.   Once that was done we decided to make our neighbor Tom jealous by sending out a picture of us enjoying a Foster’s Extra Special Bitter in the late day sunshine.  Who could resist.

As the sun got a bit lower we discovered the second most hungry mosquitoes of the trip…tops still go to the Beartooth, WY ones.  We decided that in order not to be entirely covered in bites we’d need to use our screens on the canopy.  Thank goodness we decided to bring them along so we could enjoy our evenings without the smell of Deep Woods Off.

Day 2- 7/24/2012

Today we discovered that the area we've chosen is chock full of waterfalls.  Who knew?  After our breakfast we headed out to see what kind of hikes were available.  Thankfully the Ranger had several brochures...but honestly who can resist the “Thundering Waters” brochure.  The surrounding area boasts over 24 water falls…located on the Row River, North Umpqua River, Little River or South Umpqua River.  Today we hiked two:  Toketee Falls and Fall Creek Falls.  Tomorrow our plan is to hike Grotto Falls and at least 2 more in that vicinity.
 

Toketee Falls

 'prevention device'

Our first hike today was a really short warm up hike for us…at only ½ mile it was a fairly flat, easy hike along the water.  The picture we had in “Thundering Waters” was sad to say misleading.  It looked as if we could hike out to the base of the falls.  Nope…well if you had a death wish you could probably get all the way down the mountain side and climbed out.  Maybe.  The trail took us through an old-growth forest along the North Umpqua River.  After getting past the 200 steps we arrived at an overlook from which you could see the falls, but not really tell that it dropped over a sheer wall.  That was a shame because the brochure’s picture showed the rock face and surrounding greenery.   Sadly from our perch above you could not appreciate its true beauty.

Toketee Falls

 

Tight fit for 2

Don't look up

The next hike took us further down the road to Fall Creek Falls.  The hike was over a mile through more old growth forest.  Massive trees, huge ferns and some type of moss were all along the creek and trail.  Very lush feeling exactly how we imagined a rain forest.  The trail passed through a very narrow crevice and opened up as it ascended up the mountain side.  The actual water fall reminded us of Cascades out in Giles County, VA…same basic shape, but not quite as wide with far larger trees.

Fall Creek Falls

He'd rather jump it!

Cooper needs help

At this point Cooper decided that he needed to dip his toes in the cold water at the waterfall’s base…except the crazy dog wouldn’t actually go for a true swim.  The trail wandered all the way to the top of the falls and once again we tried to get Cooper swimming in the deep pool.  The dog figured out he could go around the edges rather than swim across so Bill took off his socks and shoes to drag Crazy into the water.  Coop must be missing that particular Lab gene because after 2 swims he figured out he could leap to shallow water.   He’s still fascinated by the creeks, lakes and rivers just not so much when he can’t feel the bottom.

Happy Hour was spent once again on the shore of Diamond Lake looking across to Mount Bailey's snowy top…a perfect ending to our blue sky day.

Day 3  7/25/2012

Rainforest hike

Another day another set of waterfalls…Yasko and Grotto.  These were quite a distance away from our camp site.  As we were heading down the road we came up with our new motto:  "the journey is the destination."  It seems a good way to explain our love of driving back roads…or any road really.  We seem to discover something entertaining or interesting on all the roads we travel.

Timber

Today’s road out followed along the Umpqua River until we reached Glide, OR.  We drove out 16 more miles when we hit the National Forest Road which surprisingly was paved for a few miles before becoming gravel.  It went through a good portion of recently cut timber…and almost got ourselves clobbered by a lumberjack and his HUGE delimber.  He was so busy he did not notice our presence.  Thankfully we noticed him.

Huge trees

Yasko Falls

Finally we reached our first destination at the Lake-in-the- Woods campground…Yasko Falls.  The map claimed it to be a moderate ¾ mile hike which seemed simple enough.  The trail moved through yet another old growth forest of huge trees.  Virginia does not grow these behemoths…wow, no way could we take a chain saw to them.  It was an absolutely beautiful trail- various flowers, ferns, mosses and so much green.  The trail ended at the bottom of a 60 foot waterfall which cascaded down a set of huge boulders.  It looked like thousands of miniature falls all hitting the pond below.

Swimming finally!

We were so far off the beaten path that we had the area to ourselves.  Cooper even got to practice his swimming off leash...don’t tell anyone that we broke the rules.   He’s still missing that Lab Gene, but he did take 2 passes across the pond before he called it quits.

Grotto Falls

Averaging almost 200 mpg!

Once back in the car we retraced our path out to reach our second falls…Grotto.  One of the Park Staff told us about this one yesterday.  She claimed that she thought it was the most beautiful and you could walk behind the fall.  It was mentioned that it had a cave behind it that you could explore.  We had to do this one…it’s not often one can walk behind a wall of water.  Of course Cindi became 'concerned' about the car's gas situation since we were well under her comfort zone of a half a tank of gas.  'No problem' was mentioned quite a few times as we coasted back down the road...conserved quite a bit according to the car's computer.

View from behind

Walking behind the falls

Shower time

The Grotto Falls was really off the beaten path, but it was well worth the drive.  As you see the falls you realize that you can indeed walk behind them.  The water was really cold...although if the campground didn't have hot showers we may have been tempted.

Tomorrow we tackle Mount Thielsen.