Wonders of the west. (LA to PNW and back)

[Southwest Dave]

Hi Buck. I hope one day that I may be able to bring my Grandchildren out to this wonderful part of the world you call home. I hope you are back on the road with the family soon.

Hi Utahtea, good to see you on the forums ! Alabama hills are great, to get the opportunity to stay overnight is even more special.

Dave.

[Liquidroofrv]

Really amazing! I really enjoy a lot by reading your post about the wonder of the west. Thanks for sharing

[Lifemagician]

We never had the chocolate with them..... any old cracker or even plain biscuit will do. No need to have a special brand. I love them with Marie biscuits.

Lifey

[Southwest Dave]

September 22nd.

The long days may have caught up a little, it was 8:30am before we were up and about this morning and it was slow going, eventually getting back on the road at 11:15am. We headed back to Crater Lake and took the east rim drive to stop at the various viewpoints along the way, including a short walk to 'Sun Notch' for views of the 'Phantom ship'.







The lake was stunning with it's deep blue waters and glorious views and lived up to my expectations and some ! We were delayed a little while by road works, we were head of the line and passed time having an interesting chat with the young man on traffic control. He was interested, as was I, in discussing how our way of life and standard of living compared to that of the USA. It was time to move on and by the time we exited the park it was around 2pm with about 230 miles ahead of us on US97.

Deschutes National forest.


We made pretty good time and were soon passing through Bend OR and stopping in Terrabone for more gas, prices have dropped right down to $2:59. A huge difference to California prices. After topping up the tank we took a small detour to Smith Rock State park to take a break from the road for a little while and have something to eat in the RV.

Smith rock State park.
DSCF0914

The Crooked river runs through the Canyon.


We were back on the road at 4:30pm, having wished we had more time to hike in the canyon but it was a lovely spot to relax at. We continued on US97 to Madras and then took US26 through the Warm Springs Indian reservation which had recently experienced wild fires over a large area. Although it was mainly bush and scrubland the evidence was clear as we drove for miles with charred remains on either side of the road. We then started to get our first views of Mt Hood as the sun began to set.





We then approached Mt Hood National forest and headed north on OR35 and Dee Highway (281)
to Lost Lake road. Lost Lake road is about 15 miles long, one way in and one way out to Lost Lake resort and campground. The road was twisty and steep in places which made it quite challenging in the dark but eventually we got to our campsite at 8pm. Good job we had a simple dinner of stew and potatoes and it wasn't long before we were once again eating around the campfire. The campground was in woods well away from the resort and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, we heard the odd critter but didn't see another soul. We also opened a bottle of wine Mark and Megan had given us back in LA and very tasty it was too !

Todays Mileage. 278. Total 1329 miles.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Wowee, you captured some great road shots!

You know I will be featuring some of them soon on the RTA front page!

Fantastic!

Mark

[Kinless]

Bringing back fond memories of our own trip to Canada using this route back in 2011. Not sure if it was along your way, but you have already passed Lava Beds National Monument on the northern edge of CA by Tulelake. If you have any fancy for caving into tunnels made by ancient lava, that's an excellent place to go.

I trust you're using coastal Hwy 101 when coming back south, hehe.

[Southwest Dave]

Mark Sedenquist. You know I will be featuring some of them soon on the RTA front page!

Yep, no worries. I will have to dig around my photos and find some other road shots for you.

Kinless. Not sure if it was along your way, but you have already passed Lava Beds National Monument on the northern edge of CA by Tulelake. If you have any fancy for caving into tunnels made by ancient lava, that's an excellent place to go

Hi Joey. Lava Beds National Monument was on our radar, but could not be worked into our timescale along with a lot of other things !! We travelled along US97 and was hoping to briefly explore a lava tube known as Pluto's cave but that also went on to the 'Another day' list.

I trust you're using coastal Hwy 101 when coming back south, hehe.

It would be daft not to, although I guess we will have to wait and see. ;-)

Dave.

[Lifemagician]

Did you not end up taking that lovely back road from the Redwoods to Mendocino? Eleven years ago when I drove it, but all the views are still fresh in my memory.

Lifey