Oregon Journeys
Explorations in Oregon.
2022
2022 Expedition in Review
On February 27, I left San Diego on what turned out to be a 16,000 mile tour of western North America that lasted 7½ months. I began with a slow…
2022-04-26 Burns Again
Having spent Monday night at the Narrows RV Park near Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, I was ready to begin closing the gap to see my good friends in Payette Idaho.…
2022-04-25 In Malheur
The clear blue skies I enjoyed in Burns Oregon on Saturday and Sunday degraded to a gloomy gray on Monday. Still, the gloom was not so deep as to dampen…
2022-04-24 In Burns Oregon
My decision to visit the Malheur area required a long drive from Joseph to Burns that took me six hours of drive-time. I think there were five passes to cross…
2022-04-22 Friday At Lake Wallowa
It was a long drive Thursday to reach the north face of the Wallowa Mountains from Richland Washington. It rained much of the night in Joseph Oregon, where I slept…
2022-04-05 Pacific City to South Washington
Monday night I plotted a course north that included breakfast in Pacific City, perhaps the smallest of towns I’ve stopped at on this trip. The cafe, called the Village Coffee…
2022-04-03 Yaquina South Jetty
I arrived Saturday in Newport Oregon, and spent most of the day catching up with my blogging tasks, but after spending the night north of town, I wanted to see…
2022-04-02 Reedsport to Waldport
Friday night, after driving from Reedsport, I parked south of Waldport at a roadside pullout. I visited several places along the way, including the jetties at the Umpqua River Mouth.…
2022-04-01 Friday Drive to Reedsport
I spent Thursday night at the roadside on US-101, just south of the Umpqua River Lighthouse. I wasn’t out of fresh water, but I was getting low. My blackwater holding…
2022-03-31 Thursday In Coos Bay
The “Check Engine” light on the RV came on yesterday, so I needed to look into it. There is a Dodge dealer in Coos Bay, but I stopped at a…
2022-03-29 Tuesday on Cape Arago
I left Bandon Tuesday morning after another breakfast at “The Station” cafe, and headed north towards Charleston and Coos Bay. When I reached the turnoff for Charleston I was met…
2022-03-28 Two Days In Bandon
After leaving Port Orford Sunday morning (2022-03-27), I drove North and turned onto Cape Blanco Road, and I found fields full of chaparral looking plants loaded with bright yellow flowers.…
2022-03-26 Pistol River to Port Orford
After two nights, I broke camp this morning at the Pistol River Mouth and spent a few minutes at Cape Sebastian. With all my travel-yarns woven and posted, it was…
2022-03-24 Crescent City to Pistol River
My morning in Crescent City started off slow but well enough. I got a few more pictures of the horned grebe like I wanted. Then I drove up the coast…
2019
2019-08-18 Klamath Basin
The drive from Oregon to San Diego prevented me from a timely presentation of this day’s events, and of the last episode of this odyssey at Mono Lake. (Stay tuned)…
2019-08-17 Klamath Veterans Park
The story of Veteran’s Park this stay was the midges. Millions of black flying bugs too small to provide much of a meal were hovering low over the waters of…
2019-08-07 Siskiyou Summit
On my drive over the Siskiyou Summit Ridge, most birds were resistive to my efforts to find them. I had one episode with what I believe was an Evening Grosbeak…
2017
2017-09-10 Mail Boat Ride (Plus Pistol River)
I parked Saturday night in a space along the main road going south out of Gold Beach. All day I’d been parked along the South Jetty, but it was questionable…
2017-09-09 South to Gold Beach Oregon
Having booked a ticket on the Mail Boat for the 108 mile white water of the Rogue River, I had a whole day to look for subjects to satisfy my…
2017-09-08 South From Bandon Oregon
As I was finishing my last blog entry from the South Jetty in Bandon, the rocks filled up with Western Sandpipers who had loafing on their minds. It was about…
2017-09-07 Central Oregon Coast
A study on “peeping” I awoke at the north end of Coos Bay (North Bend Oregon) to a dense fog, then drove out the Horsfall Beach road. A recommended trail…
2017-09-06 Wednesday And Back On The Road
The smoke in southern Oregon continues to be a plague upon all who live there. Los Angeles, as I write has an air quality index of 68 (parts-per-million) and max…
2017-09-01 Crater Lake Trip
I drove over the Crater Lake Highway on my way from Klamath Falls to Medford. I spent the night on a logging side road north of Fort Klamath and found…
2017-08-31 Abert Lake To Klamath Falls
After my adventures at the Malheur NWR, I left Burns Oregon, heading east on US-20 and continued my zigzagging journey across southern Oregon. Reaching Riley Oregon, I turned south on…
2017-08-29 On The Road To Malheur NWR
I left Payette Idaho after staying with dear friends for 11 days, driving south to Jordan Valley, then northeast through Burns Junction. The road down the east side of Steens…
2016
2016-05-05 Klamath Falls, Veterans
When I finished with the dippers in Ashland Thursday afternoon, I drove out on Highway 66 through Keno and the old Oregon Trail to Klamath Falls. It was late in…
2016-05-04 Wednesday,Turning to Home
My nephew Chris and I drove out to Butte Falls and wandered the woods in search of Blue Grouse yesterday. We came up short for birds, but the country and…
2016-05-02 Monday on the Siskiyou Summit Road
Once again I prepared to drive over the Siskiyou Mountains from the Applegate Valley to Ashland. I hoped to see Calliope Hummingbirds, especially males. Last year when I drove this…
2016-04-29 Ken Denman and Touvelle
The Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area and the TouVelle State Recreation Area are near Eagle Point Oregon, on the Rogue River north of Medford. While visiting my family here last June,…
2016-04-28 Upper Applegate Valley
The Applegate River originates in northern California and drops into its own serene valley past Jacksonville before contributing to the Rogue River a few miles west of Grants Pass. Miners…
2016-04-24 Lower Klamath Basin
Origins of the Klamath Basin The region bordering Oregon and California is a marshy expanse of shallow lakes. Geologically, the valley is called a ‘graben’. Parallel north-to-south faults act to…
2015
2015-06-18 So Endeth The Journey
April 27, 2015 I departed my home in Poway for an expedition through eight western states, California to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and back down the coast…
2015-06-11 Siskiyou Mountains
My drive through the Siskiyou Mountains followed National Forest Road 20 from the Applegate Valley, past Dutchman’s Peak (with a detour to the lookout station at its peak) and on…
2015-06-10 Applegate Valley
Upper Applegate Road leaves Oregon Route 238 about 8 miles south from Jacksonville Oregon, and continues to just past the California border above Applegate Lake. I traveled this day along…
2015-06-09 Ken Denman Reserve
One of the most pleasant and personally rewarding episodes for me on this expedition was the stay I had with my nephew and his family in southern Oregon. I hadn’t…
2015-06-05 Klamath Falls
I pulled into Klamath Falls Oregon in the late afternoon on June 4th. After securing lodging and a meal I wandered down to Veteran’s Park next to Lake Ewauna and…
2015-06-05 Klamath Falls Run
After my refreshing, even inspirational stay at Fields Oregon <Read Saga Page>, I headed off to meet the road to Klamath Falls. The road from Malheur, through Fields and on…
2015-06-03 Malheur NWR
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is located roughly 30 miles south of the town of Burns Oregon. I arrived in the afternoon after my mud-slinging drive down the BLM Access Road,…
2015-06-02 Malheur Run
My stay in Payette now past, I headed into eastern Oregon with my eye on the prize of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The two-lane highway (US-20) parallels the…