Friday, July 11, 2014

On to Oregon – New Friend – Salt Creek Falls

(Crescent, OR) Hi 84 Lo 59 – Yesterday we had a beautiful trip from Redding, CA to Crescent, OR.
Capture

Oregon is another new state for Tumbleweed. We now have only four more states to complete all 48 states, and we’ll have that done by the end of this summer.

The highlight of the trip was seeing Mt. Shasta. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)

IMG_8554 (1024x682)

Mt. Shasta is a 14,179 feet high volcano that’s part of the Cascades Range. The prominence is 9,822 feet, which gives it a very imposing appearance as you get nearer to it.

IMG_8546 (1024x682)

Our route circled around it from the west, giving us a great view of it’s north side.

IMG_8581 (1024x682)

We took the opportunity to find a good spot to pull over and get a photo of our home with the beautiful mountain in the background. It’s now our new header shot, as you can see at the top of this blog.

IMG_8579 (1024x682)

We crossed the border into Oregon, which is new territory for both Dee and me. Neither one of us has ever been north of the San Francisco area, so we were excited.

IMG_8601 (1024x928)

Once we got into Oregon the terrain turned very forestry, with magnificent evergreens all around us.

IMG_8590 (1024x682)

We arrived at Big Pines RV Park in Crescent, OR around 2:30pm. It’s a very nice park, which we’ll tell you more about this weekend. We’ll be here for four nights.

Today we headed about an hour west to the small town of Oakridge, OR to meet a new friend. Dee met Miriam in the RV-Dreams chat room. She lives in Springfield, OR, and she and her 13-yr old daughter Sarah plan to start a full time lifestyle in the near future. We met up at a local pizza place in Oakridge, where we spent a wonderful 2 1/2 hours getting to know them. Aren’t they a beautiful pair?

IMG_8639 (1024x682)

Thanks for driving all that way to meet us Miriam and Sarah, and all the best as you near your dream of RV living.

Miriam told us about Salt Creek Falls, which was right on our way back to Crescent. She said it was worth a stop to see them, and she was right. The falls are on a tributary of the Middle Fork Willamette River in the Willamette National Forest. They are just off the main highway, with a short walk from the parking area to a viewing platform.

IMG_8694 (1024x682)

The falls are 286 feet high, the second highest falls in Oregon after the Multnomah Falls.

IMG_8670 (1024x682)

IMG_8677 (1024x682)

IMG_8674 (1024x682)

There was a trail down to the bottom of the falls. We walked about halfway down, which gave us a view of the falls from a lower perspective.

IMG_8663 (682x1024)

We didn’t go all the way down because the trail was very steep and we were worried about our knees surviving the climb back up.

Back at the top we took a short walk on a trail that went upriver.

IMG_8688 (1024x682)

We got a nice view of the top of the falls.

IMG_8685 (1024x682)

IMG_8687 (1024x682)

We’re so glad Miriam told us about Salt River Falls. It was a beautiful sight, and reinforced our initial opinion that Oregon is one beautiful state!

IMG_8695 (1024x682)

A major mountain in the area is 8,744 foot high Diamond Peak. It was right on our route today, and it was strange seeing so much snow on top in the middle of July.

IMG_8700 (1024x682)

IMG_8697 (1024x682)

Of course, it was cooler up in the mountains (high 60’s) than down at Crescent, where it got to the low 80’s today.

It was another wonderful day, the kind of day that makes us so thankful for the opportunity to enjoy this great lifestyle. Our initial impressions of Oregon is very positive, and we’re looking forward to see more of this beautiful state.
See you tomorrow.

7 comments:

Phyllis said...

I can well understand the knee thing. But you did good!

Gypsy said...

When you are driving from the north you come to a parking area with a good view of Shasta. According to the signboard, there are two glaciers on the north face of the mountain, and I was so excited to be able to make them out. I am very interested in a camping trip to Willamette National Forest and hope I can do it this fall. I agree that Oregon is a beautiful state, although the eastern part is mostly high desert.

Donna W. said...

So saddening that Sam cant walk as would love to do something like this. beautiful pics

Joe and Carolyn said...

Glad you're finally getting to the neighborhood. We're heading Monday to Columbia River RV Park north of Portland in Woodland for a week. Then we will head back to the coast at Astoria. If you get around those places drop us a line. It is nice over here on the coast.

DreamCatcher said...

Im so glad we had a chance to meet. Enjoyed the short time together. Dee, your crocheting is beautiful - thank you for blessing me with one of your amazing pieces. Jim, I really appreciate your vast wealth of knowledge, suggestions, ideas and thoughts for getting us on the road full-time. It was wonderful meeting you both. It was funny, as we were heading back home, Sarah said that was cool meeting them,they are from online and fulltime rv'ers, so it was like meeting celebrities!

Unknown said...

Welcome to our beautiful state. I hope that you have a wonderful time while you are here.

Bob and Jo said...

You are gonna love Oregon.

St. Patrick's Day - Council Meeting - Concert

 Shalimar, FL   (Hi  63  Lo 47)    I'VE BEEN ASKED THAT THE FONT IT TOO SMALL. JUST DO A CONTROL +  AND IT WILL ENLARGE. CONTROL   -(min...