Green on green
Everywhere you look in the Pacific Northwest is a new shade of green. It rains some days for a while making sunny days a reason to celebrate.
I am not able to add a header picture so the blue will have to do. For some reason, I can stream movies but uploading pictures from our hotspot isn't so great. While having lunch in Vernonia, we stopped at the library so I could upload these pictures. If the pictures below are blank click on the little box to see them. Just the price we have to pay for living in the toolies.
We love Sunday afternoons. The weekend crowd has cleared out and we have our peaceful place to ourselves with a few campers scattered around. I chose our last hosting location in Oregon. Mike chose LL Stub Stewart State Park for our next month as relief camp hosts. A couple of small towns are within 10 miles, hiking trails and places to ride our bikes met all of the criteria that we felt we needed while spending a month in one location.
During our interview, Sophie, our coordinator, made it clear that leaving during our 4 hour "work" days was not a problem. Some hosting positions on federal land require hosts to be available all of the time except on their days off. One more criteria met and we were in.
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| Mike deciding which trail to take next. |
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| View from Hilltop Days Use |
Just 33 miles west of Portland, Stub Stewart has over 20 miles of beautiful natural trails within the park for hikers mountain bikers and equestrians to roam. It has a really cool disc golf course and Discovery Depot are on site for kids and us to learn about the area. At night, the Hilltop Day Use area fills up with astronomy buffs as the mountain bikers head out. The star gazers glad to give us a glimpse of the stars and moon and explain what we are seeing.
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| Highest point in the park. Unfit Settlement Trail |
I wasn't sure about being a campground host when we first talked about volunteering. I thought it might be too restrictive and didn't want to deal with problem campers. We have found that it has been a good fit for us. The rangers take care of any problems, which really haven't occurred for us. They are the law and we are their eyes and ears.
We also give people assistance and notify the rangers if there is an issue. A couple was getting ready to leave on their trip from Arizona to Seattle for work when the brakes on their new huge 5th wheel toy hauler locked up. We radioed the Ranger on Duty. Even though it was a sold out weekend, a site was kept open in the event something like this arose. The poor fellow had never backed the fifth wheel up before and was pretty uncomfortable. I instructed him to put his hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and turn the direction he wanted the rear of the trailer to go. He managed to do just fine with some reassurance.
We like to check out the trials to be able to let the campers and guests know which trails to take.
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As relief camp hosts, we cover for the other hosts in the three loops on their days off and enjoy our ride or walk around the park as we change the signs and tidy up sites as we visit with visitors and are available to sell ice or wood a couple of evenings a week. We like riding the gator the 1/4 mile out to the hike/bike in camp which is beautiful and hike around to make sure every thing is tidy. We often like to double check and make a second round.
We prefer weekdays off to avoid the crowds while sightseeing, this time we are off on Friday and Saturdays. Going to Fred Meyers or Costco can be trying on those days. There are a few more people on the trails but it is only a month.
One couple asked us to trade days and be on duty on a Friday (a much busier day) and have a Wednesday off. Our Wednesday 2 in and 2 out, taking us 1/2 hour to complete, went to 30 in and 12 out which also meant much more wood and ice sales. Maybe weekends off aren't so bad. The days do fly. Sundays every one clears out and we spend the morning helping the other hosts clear out the place.
It isn't "work" and feels good to be contributing.
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| Tiny raccoon footprints. |
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| A great disc golf course. |
Oregon State Parks allows Disabled Veterans to stay in its state parks 10 days a month for free. One morning an ambulance arrived at our neighbor's trailer, a DAV. His wife had been sick for quite a while and refused to see a doctor. Finally, he called the ambulance. He later returned teary eyed saying she would not be returning home. It really does bring home how things can change at any time.
The mountain biking is on the top of the hill from our campsite which means a lot of up before we hit the cross country trails which gets the ole heart beating. The morning after one ride, the ranger on duty woke us with a knock on the door as he was dropping off our daily list of campers. It was 8 am and we were still sawing logs.
On our "on" days if we want to take a ride or go out to lunch, we put up our out for a while sign and let everyone know we are off radio.
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| There is a great Horse Camp. |
The paved 21 mile Banks-Vernonia State Trail, a multi-use trail over an old train bed, takes us across 13 old bridges and wooden trestles through glades and across streams, with wildflowers.
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| Banks Trailhead |
We were excited to ride our bikes the 11 miles to Vernonia, a tiny two block town with some pretty good restaurants that is kept busy with visitors on the Banks-Vernonia Trail.
The opposite direction from Stubb Stewart is Banks. The trail travels across a train trestle. Riding up hill on rails to trails makes me think about the old trains chugging up the pass. Then I realized it is my heavy breathing making the chugging sounds. There are hosts who's job is to keep the trail clear and in good condition.
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| Almost to Vernonia |
The Black Iron Grill with outdoor seating is frequented by the bike riders once they reach Vernonia. On our first ride, a cyclist flagged us down as we entered town and recommend the place and invited us to share his table for an enjoyable lunch before starting back home.
On the other end is Banks and the Hop Cycle Brewing Co. It is best to avoid the weekends. The folks from Portland love this place, not only for the trail but the quiet country roads making for a very nice ride.
Vernonia Lake.
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| Fixing a flat. |
We often take our gator for a "drive" up the hill to visit the hosts in the other loops and get a chance to know them at the midweek get togethers. Some have been hosting for many years and are giving us the inside scoop. One couple has been at it for 21 years. We plan to give it most of this year and see how things unfold. So far so good.
There is no TV reception except in a few sites with a dish. We don't watch enough TV to justify carrying around a receiver and dish. The Verizon is great for listen to podcasts, streaming Netflix and TV shows when we want.
We have one more week here before heading out to the ocean again.
