Wagon Train

Back in the Black Rock Desert on June 7 we were camped out on the playa, and saw a cloud of dust in the distance. Over time the mirage of blobs floating above the sand materialized into a horse-drawn wagon train that slowly passed our site. It took them enough time that we could walk out and say hi to the teamsters. They were on their way to Silver City, Idaho from somewhere in California. I was even offered a job as ‘swamper‘ for one of the wagons, but I have our own ‘wagon train’ to take care of!

The 5-wagon train appears out of the mirage on the desert.

Close enough to see some of the teams are mules, some are horses.

The train continued into the distance towards their destination.

We headed back to our 'wagon' to return to Bend.

Davis Lake Canoeing

On August 16 we loaded up all the gear for a beautiful day up in the high lakes. We stopped at Davis Lake, unloaded the canoe and headed out on the calm waters. It was a very warm and relaxing day.

SSSSSmokin’

On August 15 we organized all the necessary tools and proceeded to spend the day tending the smoker and pressure canner to can 15 pints of wild caught Alaska Sockeye Salmon. Unfortunately we can’t brag that we caught the fish ourselves, we just caught the really good sale at Albertson’s!

A total of 5 fish, each over 3 pounds, two racks, completely filled up the smoker!

One hour of smoking and the fish looked and smelled great!

After skinning and removing big bones (and of course tasting delicious bites!) it was time to can.

July 26 -BBBB (109 miles)

Bend to Brookings and Back on a Bike!

We decided to have a little adventure in these dog days of summer and make a camping trip along half of the “Corner to Corner” route that Robert and Mark took last summer (see August 2009 Archives). To take Mavrik along we had to have the Jeep which also carried all the camping gear, water, food, etc. But, I wanted to ride my motorcycle as well to experience some of the adventure of the Corner to Corner concept. Robert did major maintenance on the Suzuki DR 350 including a new turn signal and rear tire and we gathered all the gear and packed it (tightly) in the Jeep and were ready to start out on Monday, July 26.

A hail storm delayed our start for about an hour. At least it cooled the temperature from 90 to 70!
Robert rode the motorcycle the first 35 miles on the pavement, then I took over and got soaked in a rainstorm as we passed Wickiup Reservoir, with Mt. Bachelor in the background. This picture is from a previous trip.
A sign forest, which way do we go?
We took Windigo Pass road and crossed the Pacific Crest Trail in a cloud of mosquitoes.
Our first campsite, the Forest Service’s Toketee airfield, the most open area to avoid the mosquitoes!
We were rewarded with a beautiful sunset reflected on the clouds over the airfield.

July 27 – Toketee to Skookum (57 miles)

We woke to a dewy morning and moved the tent and contents to the sunny runway to dry out.

Mavrik found a comfortable spot in the sun, but I think he was wishing it was a couch!
We packed up and got on the road, but took time to spot and sample some of the ripe wild berries.
We passed a picturesque mountain marsh.
We had great views looking east over the Rogue-Umpqua Wilderness towards the Cascades.
Mt. Scott is in the distance, on the east side of Crater Lake.
We took a lunch break on the Castle Rock Fork of the South Umpqua river, and took a dip in the cool clear water.
We meandered the logging roads and passed several rock formations before finding our correct route.
We detoured to take a look at Skookum Pond and found a great campsite for the night, and NO mosquitoes!
Another great sunset!