Johnny Quest and Dora the Explorer

I know the stories are coming slower during these beautiful summer days but I’m busy out enjoying summer. I have always been intrigued why more people don’t get out and use the natural recreation Southern Oregon offers. I have to laugh to myself when I’m out hiking some deserted trail into some high mountain lake or very seldom seen waterfall. The environmental community would make you believe that thousands of Americans would be flocking to our region if we allowed these big wilderness land grabs to occur like the Kalmiopsis Wilderness area. Sorry the mass of “starved for remote wilderness area hikers” didn’t come. It was a ruse the environmentalists used to lock our forests away from the producers of lumber.

I by no means am a Johnny Quest type but I am taking advantage of where I was fortunate enough to be born, in Southern Oregon. I believe the reason I venture into the surrounding mountains, hiking, biking and exploring is partly due to me finding out, after Grandma Mary passed away, that she never visited Crater Lake. That revelation was mind boggling for me to except, so I don’t, I take adventures. After Larrieann and I first met in K. Falls I made it clear to her that I wasn’t the “set around and watch stupid shows on T.V. kind of guy”. Larrieann by no means is the “Dora the Explorer” type either but together we have climbed Mt. McLoughlin, Mount Thielsen and the South Sister out of Bend. On top of the South Sister there was still an active glacier when she and I and my trusty dog Pep trekked to the summit. I remember Pep lying down in the small freezing cold lake fed by the melting ice slopes and slurping up his fill of water. One of our favorite hikes is into the headwaters of the Rogue River, nestled on the slopes of Mount Mazama, the birth place of Crater Lake. The famous Rogue River does not start as a small trickle of water in some unnamed ravine; it literally bursts from the heavily forested floor as a fairly large creek.

Right where the cold water of the Rogue River flows out of the ground is where Larrieann and my new hiking buddy; Stryker helped me spread Peps ashes when he got tired and needed to go back home. This too is where I am planning on having my ashes spread when it “is my time” to go home also.

Larrieann has ridden her own bike with me around Applegate Lake, Diamond Lake, and the 33 mile Crater Lake Rim loop. Together we have ridden, using our tandem bike, down through the Avenue of the Giants (Redwoods) on the Northern Californian Coast. She rode one leg, of a seven day Cycle Oregon Bike event, from Canyonville to Wolf Creek with me also. A couple years ago I got the bright idea that Larrieann and I should ride the tandem from the north entrance gate, near Diamond Lake, up to the visitor’s center at Crater Lake for lunch. Did I mention it is up hill the whole way? It took us over five hours to make the 19 mile journey from hell. I don’t remember feeling anybody pushing on the pedals on the rear seat after about the fourth mile of winding up hill. One of the funniest things about that unforgettable trip was the lunch we enjoyed once getting to the park restaurant. Twenty seven dollars for a sandwich we split, bowl of chili for me, side salad for Larrieann and a couple cold drinks. We laughed the whole time we were enjoying the high priced food. Five hours to pedal up the mountain to the Crater Lake rim road but only thirty minutes to get back down to where we had parked the van. We were flying when we tipped over the edge and headed back to our starting place. If some innocent animal would have leaped out in front of our decent we would have died in the ensuing crash for sure. Afterwards we both made a note to self, Don’t Do That One Again, while it was beautiful but in the same breath a killer.

My hands down favorite outdoorsy
thing to do with Larrieann is to go
on our nearly annual, what we call our  “Waterfall Weekend”. We pack some supplies into our dog hairy van and head off into the Cascade Mountains to leisurely hike in and visit as many waterfalls as we can find and explore in a weekend. I think we would actually go more often but the darn van isn’t reliable running anymore so we take a gamble of getting back home when we venture out these days. There is nothing better then snuggling together in the back of the van on a crisp star light evening, listening to a roaring waterfall as it lulls you off to sleep. Both Pep and Stryker thinks it is a swell time also, hence the dog hairy van part.