It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

It seems like every summer at the end of a road trip when we return to California the place is burning up.

There's a huge fire in the foothills southwest of Williams, California. I hope it doesn't become as destructive as some of the ones of recent years.

Stuck Inside Of Medford With The Ashland Blues Again

For our last night on the road we stayed in a hotel in Medford, Oregon. The next morning we hightailed it out of there and went straight to the Greenleaf Restaurant in Ashland for breakfast, followed by a walk in beautiful Lithia Park. No disrespect to the good people of Medford, but what else could we possibly have done?

In a previous post I extolled the virtues of the marionberry pancakes they serve at the Greenleaf and this time they did not disappoint. If I knew of a Shakespeare sonnet about excellent food, I would quote it here.

Failing that, I hope Bob Dylan won't mind a slight rewrite:

Shakespeare, he's in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells
Munching on some pancakes
He says they're really swell

Back To The Family

Yay! My family is awesome!

We spent a day with my brother Jackson and my sister-in-law Wendy. They live in Portland, Oregon. We had a great hike and picnic lunch in the Columbia Gorge up the river from the city.

I'm very fortunate to have a family of people who love and care for each other so much.

Roll On, Columbia

The Columbia is a great big wide river, full of water from five U.S. states and one Canadian province. It's been thoroughly tamed by dams such as the Bonneville and Grand Coulee, so it's truly a working river, providing electricity, transportation, commerce and recreation.

Even though the Columbia is not Wild and Scenic, it's still a beautiful place.

Back In The U.S.A.

We crossed the border into northern Idaho and we're back in my home country. We had lunch at a lovely spot on the Pend Oreille River.

We timed things exactly right because when we returned to the U.S. we had exactly one Canadian dollar left (worth about 77 cents at the current exchange rate). Dad let me keep it as a momento of our trip.

Monster Truck

According to the sign in Sparwood, British Columbia this is the world's largest truck. It can carry 350 tons of stuff. I'm glad it didn't squash Dad's car.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site

Of all the places I've visited on my travels, this one has by far the coolest name. If I ever start a hard rock or heavy metal band, the name of our first album will be Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

This is a place where First Nations people hunted the buffalo by stampeding herds over cliffs, thus the name. Those poor bison... but they do give lemmings a bad name. Unfortunately, we arrived too late in the day to check out the museum, but we did get to look around the site.

Red Rock Coulee

If you're ever in Alberta, just take a short drive (about 25 km) from the town of Seven Persons, which has apparently increased in population since its founding. What you'll see is really cool: a bunch of large red boulders called sandstone concretions, some of the largest in the world. It was also quite windy. We were too far away to see the Rocky Mountains, but we could see the Sweetgrass Hills just over the border in Montana.

The 49th Parallel

Dad and I crossed into Canada at the Wild Horse Port of entry in southeastern Alberta. It's a little tiny building in the middle of open prairie. It's my second trip to Canada.

The border guards ask a lot of questions and they never smile. But when they were finished they said "have a nice trip."

Patience

The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana...

My dad is a major Lewis and Clark nerd... I am very patient with him...

'Nuff said.

Big Sky Country

When you cross the Continental Divide in Montana and start heading east it's a whole new world. The rolling prairies seem endless, the sky huge, and I can almost hear the thunder of millions of ghostly bison hoofs.

Travelers' Rest

When you camp out in Montana, expect any kind of weather and you won't be surprised. A torrential rain storm kept us holed up in our tent for a few hours, followed by sunshine the next morning.

We're continuing to follow both the Nez Perce and Lewis and Clark over Lolo Pass. In early July 1806, the Corps of Discovery rested here for a few days before splitting up their group for the eastbound journey home. How do we know exactly where they camped? Well, historians have long known that the soldiers were supplied with "thunderbolts," a cure-all laxative laced with mercury, by Dr. Benjamin Rush (a signer of the Declaration of Independence thirty years earlier). Within the past few years archeologists discovered evidence of a latrine with high levels of... mercury. So they put two and two together. I never knew that being a historian meant digging around in 200 year-old poop.

I know that by today's standards Dr. Rush must seem like a quack, given his "cures." But just consider that 200 years from now Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the starship Enterprise will be saying the same thing about our modern medical methods.

A River Runs Through It

Idaho has lots of rivers that we've had the good fortune to follow: the Payette, the Salmon, the Clearwater. Fishing seems to be very popular in these parts.

I'm standing in front of the confluence of the Lochsa and Selway Rivers, which come together to form the Middle Fork of the Clearwater. Back in the 1960s a huge dam was proposed for this area which would have rendered the spot where I'm standing underwater. Luckily, Congress put the kabosh on that hare brained idea with the passage of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. (I've been told that back in the mists of time, before I was born, Congress actually did useful work.)

Thanks to the efforts of previous generations I can experience this area much as Lewis and Clark did when they passed through in 1805 and 1806.

White Bird

Part of our trip involves following the Nez Perce National Historic Trail as it winds through several states. The White Bird battlefield in Idaho is set in a meadow in a spectacular canyon. On June 17, 1877 the U.S. Army, still smarting from its defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn less than a year earlier, failed to stop the Nez Perce in their flight into Montana due to their having refused to move to a reservation.

I've always admired the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) tribe because they prefered peace over warfare, but they were tough when forced to fight. Chief Joseph showed not only military, but moral leadership.

Oh, Why He?

O.K., O.K., that was the best bad pun I could come up with...

We camped at the same spot we chose on a trip four years ago, at the Rome crossing of the Owyhee River in southeastern Oregon. Even though the Owyhee is considered to be one of best (and most remote) rafting and kayaking rivers in America, its waters are calm and placid here.

It's the longest day of the year so we have plenty of daylight hours to use for adventuring.

Behind The Jefferson Curtain

As anyone who has spent time traveling in far Northern California knows, there is a secessionist movement afoot up here. From roughly Tehama County up through (possibly) southern Oregon many folks seem to like the idea of breaking away and forming the 51st state of Jefferson (named after our 3rd president). They even have a flag with the same colors as my Oakland A's baseball cap.

Now California is a prosperous state, but not all regions are faring equally well. Life can be tough in far flung rural areas and many residents here feel ripped off and not listened to by Sacramento.

Though the notion of snagging two new U.S. Senators might be tempting, would a new state government (seated in Redding?) really be able to make a go of it? What effects would statehood have on the local economy (who would pay for roads and schools, etc.)? I dunno... we'll see.

I'm Full Of Surprises

We are definitely taking the slow scenic route on our journey northward this summer. After camping at pretty Blue Lake in the Warner Mountains we took the Forest Service road down into Surprise Valley in far northeastern California. (Fun fact: so far we have logged more miles on gravel roads than on freeways.) The photo doesn't quite capture this, but as we descended there was a stunning view of Lower Alkali Lake with clouds perfectly reflected in its still waters.

We had a nice second breakfast in Cedarville.

Back To The River

It's Day #1 of our road trip and Dad and I have had a very chill day indeed. We decided to camp in the early afternoon on the banks of the North Yuba River in the Sierra Nevada. Nothing much to report here except that it was super relaxing with a refreshing light rain in the afternoon.

Power Spot

Mt. Shasta (14,162 ft.) in Northern California is a pretty cool place.

No, I didn't climb to the top but I made it up to 8,000 ft. on a day hike. We saw lots of people geared up to go all the way to the summit. That looks like fun, but first I need some practice with an ice axe and crampons.

Despite rumors I've heard, we saw no signs of Bigfoot, gnomes, hobbits or extraterrestrials here.

Summertime

...and the livin' is easy.

Memorial Day weekend is one of my favorites because of the promise of many adventures to come over the next several months.

I had a nice camping trip with Dad and Pam Cohen. Nice weather and very relaxing.