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.

Detroit Lake, Oregon

A mini vacation

I never thought that I would say anyplace was drier than the desert of Arizona. But Oregon's high desert would be that place. It didn't matter how much moisturizer I put on, I was still dry. The dirt puffs up like talcum powder being tossed in the wind as we walked. During a Jr Ranger hike to see beaver activity, we were soon coughing from the dust being stirred up by the person's foot steps in front of us. It was time to move on once again.

A bee keeper biologist at Sun River Botanical Gardens gave a lively and interesting look at bee behavior. We had no idea how little we knew about bees.

 La Pine State Park was run very differently than previous parks. We just did our duties, helped out campers and texted the ranger on duty if there were any problems and there were plenty of those. 

We were surprised at the number of people from Holland and Switzerland that found their way to our little park in their rental RVs. We enjoyed a potluck, a pie day and potato day on Sunday afternoons with the other hosts and rangers.

Detroit Lake

Detroit Lake has a ghost town that could be seen during the drought of 2016. Often when the reservoirs are drawn down for winter storms the foundations of Old Detroit are revealed.  In 1938, Congress authorized the Detroit Dam to provide flood control, hydroelectricity, irrigation and recreation. This put the stamp of death on Old Detroit. The 200 person town was moved to higher ground.

We stayed at Detroit Lake for a mini vacation on the way to Stub Stewart. Arriving 10 minutes before the host potluck started, we were invited to join them when they heard we were hosts in transit. We timed that just right! The interpretive ranger gave us a tour of their interpretive resources and asked us to consider leading kayak classes at some point. Detroit Lake is a bit remote for us and Salem and the grocery stores are 47 miles away. The campground is on Highway 20 and has lots of traffic noise. Two days was more than enough listening to down shifting semis even though the lake is beautiful.

One reason for the visit to Detroit Lake was cycling the Cascading Rivers Scenic Bikeway but passed once we drove the route we had planned. The winding road was narrow with shade trees that made strobing light making it difficult to see a cyclist even with safety gear. The day was safer walking and enjoying the lake.

Driving through the farms, we could see marijuana farms taking over where once were growing watermelon and other fruits and vegetables. I guess you have to go with the most profitable crop.

A hike along the North Santiam River

We had committed to volunteer for 2 months when we started hosting and are now starting our 5th month, finding it to be a good addition to our nomadic life. We planned to try different parks and different positions (we don't clean bathrooms). When LL Stub Stewart offered the interpretivee

position, we jumped at the chance even though we had been here in May. Washington State Parks made a few offers for last minute openings but nothing fit the bill for us.

Back to Stub Stewart...

Cascade Mountains

Getting out and about

Blogging with one bar of wifi tests a person's patience taking us back to the days of dial up internet. But blogging has been a good way for us to keep our memories nearby. Looking back at previous posts, we are amazed by all of the things we have been fortunate to do, often having a good laugh at ourselves in the process. 

We have been fortunate that the temperatures in La Pine, OR have been 10 degrees cooler than usual most of July. It is the high desert after all. Waking to temps in the 40s gave us the morning to get outside before turning on the air conditioner for the afternoon.

Hiking the Green Lake Trail

 We hiked 8 miles on the Green Lakes Trail on a previous visit and had a added bonus this time, thick swarms of fat mosquitos. We picked up our backcountry permit before setting out, armed with bug repellent, which I think the mosquitos crave, long sleeves and pants, in no time sweat was running down my face. This was the first time we have had our backcountry permit checked by a ranger as he hiked down the trail in full mosquito combat gear, including face netting. The temperature hit 60 degrees and we were going uphill without a breeze.

The steps were even bigger when we returned from the 8 mile hike requiring sound effects as we lifted our tired legs.

No stopping for pictures on the trail or the mosquitos would overwhelm us.

The Green Lakes Trail runs next to the river with cascades and waterfalls most of the way to Green Lake.

Snow in July?

We made it to Green Lake overlooking the South Sister. Then it was all downhill from there. A breeze started to blow up the mountain. The mosquitos thinned out and millions of butterflies dive bombed us and I quit sweating.

After our hike, we slowly carried our chairs across the parking lot to Sparks Lake to take in the view of the mountain we had been hiking on. It felt good to put our feet in the cold water for a while and have a picnic.

Cycling the Cascade Highway

We rode some routes out of Sun River (uphill) and to La Pine (flat) from the campground that had little traffic on days that we weren't riding the dusty single track in the park.

Bend, Oregon

Bend is experiencing the same growing pains that many tourist communities are. We only visited when we needed to make a Walmart run, planing our driving route to avoid intersections without stoplights to avoid being stuck at a corner for a long wait.

Newberry Volcano National Monument

Exploring the Newberry Crater ( a caldera) is a great way to learn about  the violent, geological history that helped make Central Oregon the beautiful place it is. Newberry National Volcanic Monument has two lakes in its caldera, Paulina and East. Both lakes have hot springs on their shores. 

We heard that the Little Crater Trail has scenic views of two lakes, Paulina Peak and the Big Obsidian Flow but managed to miss the switchback to the rim. As we were walking below the rim, I started thinking that the trail wasn't very well maintained. We turned around and tried our Hiking Project app. Fortunately, we had enough bars on the phone to use the app and found that we were off trail. Once we got back on track, it was a sweet walk around the rim.

We missed the turn to take us to the wall above Mike.

Back on track.

View from top of Paulina Peak. Paulina Lake to the left, east to the right and Obsidian Flow middle.

Top of the Big Obsidian lava flow

Lunch at the grill and fishing camp on East Lake at the end of the road.

The Paulina Lake Hot Springs is a two-mile walk along the east shore of the lake, starting from the  Little Crater Trailhead. After lunch we reached the East Lake Hot Springs from the Hot Spring boat ramp, walking along the beach until we smelled the sulfa aroma. The pools are too small for soaking but we watched the bubbling up of the springs warming the lake. It was a reminder that this volcano is still active and is monitored for earthquake and increased lava pressure underground.

We avoided campground host positions originally because we thought they would be too restrictive.. Having great host partners (Tom and Mary) made it even better. We would cover for each other when we wanted to get away.

Heart of Oregon

Heart of Oregon's campsite along the Deschutes River in the day use area. They provide vocational training to youth ages 16-24 to create pathways out of poverty for youth and encourage self-sufficiency. In addition to teaching job skills, the projects help keep the community beautiful and healthy, while earning wages to stimulate regional economic growth. The park would have a difficult time running without the work of the Corp, volunteers and seasonal rangers. It takes a lot of effort to keep a place running smoothly.

Hannah, one of the seasonal rangers, lead Saturday yoga in La Pine State Park. Pretty nice. Yep those are Mike's knees on the right.

Heading to La Pine

Heading to Central Oregon

Different places fit for different phases of life. What is right today may not be right next year.

Spending time at the ocean was a nice treat. But returning to the mountains is like going home.  Mike grew up in Vermont and Deb in Colorado may have something to do with that. Stopping in Oakridge, OR on our way to La Pine State Park, our campsite overlooked the Salmon Creek. We fell asleep to the sound of the rushing water. 

I took a walk along the creek before we prepared to leave the next morning. A tiny Japanese woman joined me and shared with me her story of her journey to the US. She was so impressed that anyone that wanted to work in the US could get a job even if they were a woman or from another country. She seemed lonely and thanked me for our visit as we parted ways. I assured her that I also enjoyed our visit very much.

We are leery of turning on roads while towing the trailer when we don't know if there is a place to turn around once we've committed ourselves. I had picked out a hike to two waterfalls that I really wanted to take and the GPS showed what looked like a loop to turn around easily. So we took a chance that worked out well. Shew! I was sweating that one a little bit.

Salt Creek Falls was a short walk from the parking lot. But Diamond Creek Falls was another 1 1/2 miles. Once we stepped off the paved walkway, we were all alone, except for the mosquitos, for a lovely walk in the woods.

Our home for the next month

Not having a volunteer position booked for July, we jumped at the chance to spend a month at La Pine State Park near Bend, OR in the Cascade Mountain Range due to a cancellation. Expectations for hosts are as different as each park. Our job in the "historic" (old) section of the campground, in our opinions, is the best. The older section has much more space between sites and quieter at night. The roads are so rough, no speed bumps are required to slow down speeders. Once they round the first corner, they suddenly slow down. Great for small kids on bikes.

We turn the reserve signs each morning and picked up any paper (or unused wood) left behind. Then we wrap fire wood bundles to set out for sale. While around our campsite we answer questions but are free to come and go as we pleased.

The Deschutes River runs through La Pine SP making a great place to mountain bike or walk. The 15 miles of mountain bike trails aren't difficult but have plenty of ups and downs, winding through the trees and by waterfalls to keep us on our toes making it easy to get away without the need to drive for an outing. We come home pretty dusty each day because of the dry high desert climate. 

We have been lucky with cooler than usual temps. 

Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Newberry Volcano in Newberry National Volcanic Monument is the largest volcano in the Cascade Range. We had hiked parts of the monument on our visit three years ago and is less than 10 miles from our campsite to Lake Paulina. 

One early morning, we headed to La Pine's grocery store but took a detour to Newberry when we saw the heavy 4th of July holiday traffic on Highway 97. We hiked along the 7 mile lake trail before the weekenders got up. The trail was getting busy as we were finishing up our walk and we made it home in time to do a few of our tasks.

Paulina Falls

Paulina Lake Trail 

The month is flying by and we sleep well at night. A pretty good place for this phase of our lives.