One of the Meetup groups that I belong to organized a trip to Champoeg State Park for a “First Day Hike”. State parks all over the country host ranger-led informational hikes and many waive entrance fees for the first day of the new year. Once we signed up for this hike, John suggested we camp at … Read More →
Finally, I am ready to write the post about the final stop on our 9+ month van-traveling adventure. It is very, very late in coming, but as I mentioned before, it is hard to recap those final few stops. But today (December 23rd), we are once again in the van, parked in a National Forest, … Read More →
Our last few urban stops were short and stressful due to the difficulty of finding overnight parking, but we needed to make sure our visit to Portland was under better circumstances so we could give it a fair evaluation as a place we might call home. By appealing to our network of friends via Facebook, … Read More →
Immediately upon entering Oregon, we found a different culture. A family spending a sunny afternoon playing at the beach had a bucket to pick up trash and leave the shore cleaner than they found it. A man walking on the side of Highway 101 also appeared to have a bag of collected trash. A simple … Read More →
When dinosaurs roamed the earth during the Jurassic Period 150 million years ago, a group of conifers thrived in forests covering what is today Europe, Asia and North America. As the climate became cooler and drier, these conifers were restricted to just three geographic regions and the three redwood species we know today evolved from … Read More →
Our “short” detour off Highway 101 to California’s Lost Coast turned into a full week of exploring the Lost Coast and King’s Range, staying for free in primitive campsites and at trailheads. After this week of privative accommodations we were low on food and water and had been out of contact with the outside world … Read More →
As many of you know, we have been relatively stationary for a few months now. I have comprehensive notes about the amazing places we stayed at the end of the trip, and so many pictures to share with you. Something has prevented me from finishing writing about our experiences to share them with you on this blog. … Read More →
For our final day in the King Range National Conservation Area we hiked the most accessible of the “Crest to Coast” trails, which leads from the crest of the mountain range down to the ocean. We hiked the Horse Mountain Creek Trail, 4.2 miles one way with a 1,700 foot elevation drop from top to bottom, plus … Read More →
After inspecting the seashore from the town nestled in the middle of California’s Lost Coast, it was time to explore the mountains that rise up from the coast. These mountains are the reason that this stretch of prime waterfront land is “lost” (to development). From Shelter Cove we drove up the winding mountain road that I … Read More →
Friends and family often ask us how we choose our destinations. We set out on our trip with a few main goal posts that set a general direction to head in, but we make many, many stops in between. We choose these stops by pulling up a map and looking for a big green spot (parks … Read More →