Independence Day in Oregon

Using one of the camping apps, I discovered a great place to camp in Oregon: Harney Fairgrounds in Hines, OR (east/central part of the state). “A great place” because it was empty, cheap, & had what looked like a new bathroom/shower facility. I’m sure this would have been an entirely different experience if they had been having an event so checking their calendar before going might be a good idea.
It turned out, when I decided to stay a second night, cars began arriving on the property, and it dawned on me that the date was July 4. So, I got a free fireworks show. I always love pulling out the tripod to photograph fireworks.

Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier NP was a surprise. I knew very little about it before I went and found it to be very, very beautiful. When I visited in June of the year, there was still a good bit of snow and water flowing *everywhere*. Also, lots of wildflowers, which I love. The only wildlife I saw were marmots, but I always enjoy seeing them. It was also very crowded at that time, so I don’t know if a different time of year would be better for a visit. I definitely recommend a visit at some point, however.
(no photo captions this time; I may add some later)

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

After a “false start”, I made my way to Silver Falls State Park where I had been planning to go for a long time. It has a seven-mile trail on which you can see ten waterfalls! (Waterfalls have always been one of my favorite photographic subjects.) Since I had to leave Sadie in my vehicle (with the A/C on), I wasn’t able to see all of the falls but really enjoyed this hike. Water, water everywhere–and ferns, moss, and lots of green. My kind of place.
As usual, more info in the photo captions.

Crater Lake National Park

At first, I tried to disperse camp for my visit to Crater Lake, but the road into the location I found online looked too dicey for my rig. Instead, with the help of employees of a state park, I found myself at the Forest Service Williamson River campground. To my delight, when I arrived, I discovered they weren’t yet charging a fee, but that changed later on in my short stay. It was a basic but nice campground.
Crater Lake was amazing. I’ve never seen water so blue. Remarkably, my visit during the first week of June was still too early for all the roads to be opened. (The yearly average snowfall is 41 feet!) One advantage of road closures was that we were able to walk on the Rim Road–and I was able to take Sadie. It was great to see so much snow but I want to go again later in the summertime so I can explore the entire park.
After my Park visit, I found another route to the dispersed camping area and moved there before proceeding to my next destination.

Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve

Next, I headed into Oregon, first to see the National Park site, Oregon Caves. Found a nice, basic forest service campground called Grayback just down the road from the Caves. May was a good time for strong water flowing through the adjacent “Sucker Creek” and also for blooming dogwoods. The cave tour was worth the time & money, in my opinion. Pretty area.

Smith River NRA/Panther Flat CG

I traveled north from the Redwoods intending to make it out of California sooner rather than later. It ended up that I stopped at Panther Flat Campground in extreme northern California and enjoyed views of turquoise-colored Smith River National Recreation Area along the way. (I just learned something; I thought all NRAs were a part of the National Park System, but this one is National Forest)
The camp host couple at Panther Flat was extremely kind. First, they let me park at the cg entrance for several hours on multiple days so I could get sun for my panels (most sites, including mine, were/are shaded) and then, they stopped on their way out of camp to ask if I needed anything from the store. They later returned with the milk for which I had asked and wouldn’t let me pay them. It had been 10 years since they started hosting and they were retiring right after they trained the new couple (who was camped one site over from me). I’ve met a lot of nice people on the road.
See captions for more info.
Next up: Oregon.

Redwoods SP/NP Area

Certainly, the Redwoods state and national parks and coastal areas are beautiful but unfortunately, my bad California luck continued in a big way here. The memories are still fresh several months later, so I will not choose to record those unfortunate events here since the goal is to ultimately forget what happened. Instead, I’ll only mention the good–and usual beautiful–parts and then we’ll move on. (More info in the photo captions.)