"Due to COVID-19," is a phrase I have written about 400 times over the past year. However, it still holds true.
Due to COVID-19, all of our travel plans have been restricted to road trips this year. Thanks to Ember, we truly do not mind that change. This Spring Break we took to the road and headed in the direction of things we knew would be open or at least would still be beautiful even if they were not as open as they once were in Pre-COVID times. As you could have guessed, we headed to Oregon!
We started the journey in Northern California. The original plan was to camp the first night near Lake Shasta where we spent a really great weekend House Boating back in last September. However, as we approached the campground the road was closed. Like, closed closed by armed guards blocking off the bridge over the Shasta Dam. I have no idea why but we took the hint and we had to pivot and drive further north. Thanks to Google we found the place that will now probably be our most favorite place to camp at the base of Mt. Shasta. Lake Siskyou Camp Resort is a private campground that has more than 200 campsites. For us, in April, it was perfect. The entire campground had reopened the day before we got there and it was still EMPTY! That first night we camped with zero people around as far as the eye could see. It was great. Mt. Shasta is the second highest peak in the Cascade Mountain range and one of our favorite landscapes.
On Day Two , we left Mt. Shasta in our rearview and headed into the Umpqua River Valley in Oregon. To get into the valley we had to head up in elevation past Crater Lake and through the snow. We have visited this area a few times over the past few years and knew we wanted to camp at Toketee Lake Campground to be central to some of the most beautiful hikes and waterfalls we have ever seen. We hiked through thigh high snow to get to Whitehorse Falls waterfall.
On the way back to camp we came across two dudes and a pick-up truck stuck in the snow. They had been trying to go off road and got stuck. We pulled over to help. Ryan was happy to get a chance to use our Max Trax and I was happy we got to use them without our van being the one that was stuck. I did not get any photos but it was about 15 minutes of wheels spinning and snow flying and then they were out and on their way. It was a great exchange of good karma.
When we got back to camp, our good friends Pops and Lucia met us for some campervan adventures. Pops and Lucia have a Mercedes Campervan and have had quite a few grand adventures themselves. We were glad they were able to meet up with us for some of our trip in Oregon. We hiked to Toketee Falls on Day Three and had a wonderful day at camp.
Day Four, we drove through the rest of the Umpqua River Valley and were devastated by what we saw. The wildfires of the summer had ripped through the valley and seriously wiped out more than 1,000,000 acres and was one of the most destructive wildfire seasons on record. The stark contrast of what our memories held from our trips through the valley in years past and what we saw on this trip was Heartbreaking. The restoration crews were hard at work when we drove through, we headed west through the valley and up to Silver Falls State park just outside of Salem, OR.
On Day Five, we hiked through Silver Falls State Park. This was a fantastic park with several waterfalls. In fact there is a trail called The Trail of Ten Falls which does not even hit all of them. We hiked to North Falls where you can pass behind the falls. It was awesome! After the hike, we headed into Salem to check out the cherry blossoms at the capitol. We headed west and stopped at a great Cidery along the way (Salt Creek Cider House, we were big fans of the Rebel Rose and the Freedom). We have had many Oregon wines and heard that Oregon's wine country through the Willamette Valley is something to rival Napa, but we hadn't really thought of cider being as amazing as it was too. This place was adorable (except for the crazed chickens chasing me). After the cider stop we hit the coast and stayed the night in a beautiful hotel we had stayed in once before at the Inn at Otter Crest. We took a needed shower and went to bed listening to the sound of the ocean.
Day six was our adventure down the coast. In case you didn't know by now, We Love Oregon. We stopped at the Cape Perpetua Lookout as we have done on every trip along the coast. It is still stunning. Then we continued south to our next camping location, Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, where we met back up with Pops and Lucia and enjoyed a wonderful meal she made for dinner with friends.
The next morning we headed south and said good-bye to Pops and Lucia and to Oregon. Day seven was spent driving past the cranberry bogs of Ocean Spray and down past Brookings, OR. As we crossed into California, we decided to take a little detour into Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. This is where George Lucas fell in love with the redwoods and the ferns and filmed the Forest Moon of Endor home of the Ewoks in StarWars. This is also where Ryan had camped with Pops before, but we have never been able to camp there together. We decided to try our luck and ask them if they had any open spots for the night and figured we could rearrange tomorrow's plan if it worked. Well it did! We got an amazing spot right by the river and spent a beautiful night under the giant trees.
The "let's check out Jedediah Smith" detour actually led to even more detours. We were so happy in the trees that we slept in and missed the window of time that we could have driven down Hwy 1. Let me explain... Hwy 1 is under construction, always. The road work in the section we needed to get through was beginning at 9:00am and would last until 1pm on Day eight of our trip. We arrived at the construction stop spot at 9:02am.... (insert eye roll here) Therefore, we could have waited in Crescent City California all day, or we could turn Ember around and head back into Oregon and head east to meet up with Interstate 5 in Grants Pass, OR. We decided to go back to Oregon! It was a beautiful drive along the Smith River and into Ashland, OR. This detour put us back at the foot of Mt. Shasta and so we decided to stay at the Lake Siskiyou Resort Campground once again. We spent some time by the lake and enjoyed the serendipity of ending up where we began (both by accident)
Day nine was the drive back home. After a wonderful adventure into our favorite state and seeing the most beautiful places, once again, we waved good-bye to Mt. Shasta and headed back into the city. Spring Break is one of the best inventions ever. We came back refreshed and relaxed and ready to finish up one of the longest and craziest school years of my career. As you may know, I am a planner. I like to plan and have a plan and stick to that plan. I color code our itineraries for trips and I like to stick to those plans. I do the same for school. This school year has taken my color coded plans and shaken them upside-down multiple times and stepped on them. However, Ember (and Ryan) have taught me that changes in "the plan" sometimes can lead us to new amazing places we didn't even know where there. This Spring Break was filled with beautiful and happy changes in the plan. And it was wonderful.
