It's a Wrap!

Where did summer go?

Ronald Reagan closed many mental health institutions in 1980 with the intention that the mentally ill would be better off living with their families and less costly for the federal government moving the responsibility to the states. When that didn't work out, many mental ill became homeless or incarcerated, housing was provided in cities like Salem. People began fighting and leaving that situation for the streets once again. The downtown and roadsides in Salem have people living under blue tarps draped over shopping carts. I wasn't sure how safe we would feel in a day use area and wouldn't have a problem leaving if needed. Ten miles from the city in the middle of farms was a good buffer.

Each evening we walk the trails, watch the mink swim in Mission Lake and settle in to watch the rangers make their rounds, escorting the last stragglers out before closing and locking the gates (we have a code to get out). As the sun sets, the bats start their job of clearing the insects. We hear the owls hooting and wait for them to start catching rodents in the field across from us. On moonless or cloudy nights, it is very dark.

Bike riding in the Willamette Valley can be dangerous. Our stop at a fruit and veggie stand  is really a bakery incognito. We walked in the door to fresh cider or marionberry donut samples and many more treats were waiting in the wings.

Yeah right! Tricky, tricky.

There are still a lot of produce and grains being grown. But many farms have converted from produce to hops, hemp and wineries.

Acres and acres of hops being harvested.

Hemp for CBD oil has become a billion dollar industry in Oregon.

Bike riding wasn't our only outing even though we were in a farming community. We avoided Portland since we had lived downtown while I worked at OHSU for three months and had seen most of the attractions and enjoyed the theater a block from our apartment.

Mt. Angel

In the mid 1800s, German Catholic families and a group of Benedictine monks and sisters settled in the small town of Mt Angel. Of course, they have a brewery now.

We visited Mt Angel as they were preparing for Octoberfest. The oom-pah music was playing on the speakers on the streets as we walked through the Bavarian inspired town. With 350,000 people expected in the small town, we took a pass on the festival.
Everyone we passed looked at us with a big smile and said a big "Hello" as we walked through town.

The Glockenspiel, a four story clock tower plays four times a day telling the story of the town's history.

Rocking the Lederhosen.

Silver Falls State Park

The Trail of Ten Falls is a 7.2 mile loop in Silver Falls State Park. The rain had stopped and sun came out as we arrived for a hike and viewed some of the curtain of falls from behind.

In the early 1800s, the native people out numbered the whites in this area. When the white people arrived native populations declined due to European diseases. By the 1850s, the few natives that were left had been displaced from western Oregon and moved to reservations.

Silverton

.Silverton is a cute historic town on the way to Silver Falls State Park or the Oregon Garden east of Salem.

Silverton artists have added 15 historical murals in the downtown as in many tourist driven towns have done. 

We took the ferry to the other side of the Willamette River for a bike ride on flat roads with a few rolling hills.

Before heading home, a stop at the creamery was a treat.

We passed by a group of cyclists that were riding with Backroads Bike Tours and have seen them in the past in different locations. We had done a bike tour with VBT in Italy several years ago and know how spendy they can be. When we got home, I looked online that they are paying $3500/person for a week of touring. Ouch! I am so glad that we can do it as we go in our little trailer.

The park is mainly used by locals for riding horses, disc golf or parties in the shelters and the occasional bike camper for an overnight or two.

The horse people start arriving early each morning. Mike uses a rake to knock down apples out of the tree as a treat for the horses when they return from their ride.

Oregonians don't change their plans for rain. Most just change their attire. We often see people playing disc golf in their cotton hoodies. Fortunately, the rain often lasts a short time or is just a mist.

Taking care of the Day Use area at Willamette Mission turned out to be the most physical with trail maintenance and keeping the blackberry bushes under control.

The frequent rain has caused the river to rise only 1 1/2 feet, well below flood stage and not requiring us to evacuate.

After six months in Oregon, it is time to move on in a week. It was a treat spending time in the mountains, high desert and beaches and the people we met along the way were a bonus. We volunteered in several different positions and the work was satisfying and tiring at times. Now it is time to continue our never ending search for what is around the next corner.

Willamette Mission State Park

Our Last Oregon Park

We are all settled in at Willamette Mission State Park which was Mike's choice for our last hosting stop in Oregon. We cycled the scenic bikeway last year and wanted to ride a few more routes before we leave Oregon once again.

 Willamette Mission was the first agricultural community established in the Willamette Valley by settlers in 1834.  

The State Park has more than 1,600 acres of woodlands, wetlands, rolling meadows, and working farmland. We find new trails to walk or ride everyday.

Each morning, the horse people arrive pulling their horse trailers. After their rides, they hose down their horses, then the horses often proceed to roll in the dirt or at least stir up some dust. They are powerful and fun to watch but seem more restless when the weather changes.

The old Willamette Mission flooded and the settlers moved to Salem. Now a ghost structure stands and can be seen across the river.

When Ranger Noah offered us this host position, he couldn't be sure of the end date. During our orientation, I asked him again about our end date. It turns out that we are parked in a flood plain. If the river gets too high, we have to leave. Hmmm... Right now it is running at 6 feet. If it goes to 12 the park floods. Rain is in the forecast for the next
week. Hmmm...

The Wheatland Ferry is a cable ferry on the edge of the park, crossing the Willamette River approximately 580 feet and is supported by two steel cables, one under water on the downriver side, and one overhead on the upriver side. The ferry also uses the overhead cable for steering.

The ferry carries 286,000 cars and trucks across the Willamette River each year 9 at a time. The ferry started service in the 1850s. 

We took our bikes across the river on the Wheatland Ferry for a visit to Arcane Winery celebrating Labor Day with Blues and BBQ. The round trip was $1 per bike each way, people are free. The was enough for me with 90 degree temps and humidity. But the music and food were good.

Salem, OR

 We made a visit to the state capitol and state park in Salem with a self guided walking tour.

Oregon has a state park for every occasion. 

We like to learn about the history and interesting fact of places we visit.

 In 1843 a vote was held by settlers and trappers to decide if Oregon Country (not yet a state) would side with the US or Britain in WWI. The vote was 52-50 to align with the US.

Dome of the capitol.

We drove by the old State Mental Hospital which is now a museum and was where "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest was filmed. I had no desire to tour the place. It just had a strange vibe to me. I didn't even want to take a picture.  Call me "crazy"?

 The sunsets can be stunning and a nice prelude to the owls singing at night.

I am pleasantly surprised at how much we are liking this hosting position and location.

We will keep an eye on the river.

Back at Stub Stewart

Trying not to get fired!

Oregon State Parks employs an archeologist that provide education, development and treatment of cultural resources.  One of her jobs is surveying the trails on state land for proper land use and avoiding destroying important artifacts.  Our host coordinator approached us about hiking with her once a week while at LL Stub Stewart as walking partners since hiking alone is not a good plan and there have been cougar sightings in the park. Recently, a lady, hiking alone, was killed by a cougar in the Columbia Gorge Region.

 Nancy started with a tutorial about what she was looking for. Since most of the park is on a mountain slope, she didn't expect any Native American artifacts, mostly found on plateaus and along rivers. But did expect logging artifacts which we did find a few on a ridge used to hold logs from

the valley below for removal on the logging roads. We reached 7 miles and I knew we had 2 1/2 miles to go if we turned around at that point. She began mapping out the next trails we would be walking. I said "Uncle". We offered to wait while she walked up the hill two more times and she could walkout with us. We headed to Ninja Bowl Teriyaki in Banks once we got home, eating the entire bowl. We usually only eat half and have the rest for dinner. The next hike was a short 7 miles round trip. Much better.

All of that walking and our findings were two old rusty cans and two old bottles which really excited Nancy. I was excited to sit down while she took pictures and did her documentation. 

 Cycling the farm roads during the harvest was a fun way to spend our days off or mornings before we had to do our nature tables. We filled the freezer with blackberries from along the side of the roads.

A stop at Oak Knoll Winery.

 We were sure our days as interpretive hosts were limited. I misread the flyer that we handed out in the evening as they would get s'mores at the campfire demo. I soon realized that there would be no s'mores for the kids. We snuck out to avoid the back lash. Ranger Sophie was in for a surprise. Oops!

Perseids meteor shower is a yearly event in August at Stub Stewart, a dark sky location with frequent star gazing parties at the Hilltop Day Use area. The Meteor shower brings out hundreds of people many with giant telescopes. On our first day, Sophie said to let her know if anyone was interested in helping out with crowd and parking control. We thought we were flying under the radar but she caught up with us and we agreed to help out. Our shift would be 8 pm to 11pm. I guess this was a little payback for the s'more incident. 

Once the Hilltop parking lot was full, we were to "rove" and radio when there were empty spots. We set up our chairs at the exit and watched the comets blazing throughthe sky losing track of time until an hour later we heard Ranger Ramona anounce on the radio that there was an open spot. Losing track of time, we got up and found people had been leaving and we missed them. We just pretended that they had just left and radioed that we had new openings. Oops.  At 1030, I radioed that I was

ready to go home and wouldn't mind a replacement. Good thing we are volunteers or we would be fired for sure.

 

The bat skeleton at our Nature Table.

A batty lady ready to teach the people that bats eat 600 mosquitos an hour.

 Happy Big 70th Birthday to Mike! We had a little party with the rangers and hosts and had a fun visit.

The freezer is full.

We were happy that Mike's daughter, Amanda, completed her 20 weeks of chemotherapy and looks great. She still has surgery and radiation to go. It is a tough journey for her and her family. It is tough knowing what they are going though.

Life is just too precarious and unpredictable.

Since we have a little time before heading to Willamette Mission for our last stop in Oregon, we are heading to Washington's Olympic Penninsula.