Mt. Rainier National Park

July 28, 2020 / marniesteve / 2 Comments

We’ve formally declared our love of our National Parks with a new sticker on our rig. It’s right above the map which shows the states we’ve RV’d in. We’re making progress, huh?We ticked another park off the list–Mt. Rainier National Park and let’s be honest. You can’t do Mt. Rainier National Park in a day…but we tried. We are on our way to the Olympic Peninsula and had one day at a campground about 70 miles from Mt. Rainier. We figured, why not? And we’re so glad we did it! Mt. Rainier is the tallest peak in the Cascade Range at 14,400 feet and is visible for many miles in every direction. We’ve seen Rainier from a distance, from Seattle and from the air, but never as up close as this.

There are five major visitor areas in this massive national park, and we were able to touch on two of them. We entered the park from the southwest and explored the Historic Longmire area.

Though the museum was closed due to COVID, we were able to explore a few short trails to get a feel for the park. The Trail of the Shadows, a one mile loop, included some great interpretive signs that provided some history about the area.

Up the road we encountered Christine Falls, which are framed by the highway’s bridge. We hiked the short trail to get a view of the falls from below.

Because we got an early start, we avoided the crowds that descend on this area by mid-day. That allowed us to enjoy the scenery without much contact with others, and it gave us lots of time to take pictures. See our truck crossing the bridge? We next came upon Narada Falls, which involved a short, steep downward trail to fully view the cascade. Knowing much of the infrastructure of this park was originally established in the 1890s, we really appreciated the thoughtfulness and accessibility of each feature.

Of course there were many trails that my foot was not ready to explore yet. Like so many of the places we’re visiting on this trip, we will need to return.

The second area we explored was called Paradise in the southern part of the park. We think it was spectacularly beautiful, but the fog had not yet lifted, so we saw things through a bit of a haze. Paradise is where the main visitor center is located, along with the historic Paradise Inn. The Inn originally opened in 1917 and features a grand lobby and massive stone fireplaces. Today, however, it’s boarded up, awaiting the 2021 season (hopefully).

Steve took the short hike to Myrtle Falls from Paradise and encountered snow covered trails on his way. Even though it’s late July, the temperature at Paradise, 5,500 feet elevation, was in the 40s. Imagine what the weather is like at the summit, almost 10,000 feet higher?

They say that 10,000 people attempt to summit Mt. Rainier every year. About 25% are successful. Many use it as a training exercise to prepare for other epic climbs like K2 or Everest. While Steve is curious about the higher elevations, I was happy to make it to Paradise. It made for a lovely day and beautiful picnic lunch setting.

There was so much more to explore but our time was limited. We suggest spending multiple days in the area to improve your chances of seeing the summit. July was a great time to visit as the wildflowers were in full bloom. When we return, we’ll likely enter from the east and shoot for the Sunrise Visitor Center.

We are happy to be in Washington, where the weather is cool and the coffee is strong. We’re stopping at little coffee stands along the way to get our boost. Often they include a little chocolate covered espresso bean on top and now we are kind of used to that!

We’ve got another National Park visit just around the corner. Can you guess what’s next? Stay tuned for the next blog for a full recap. As always, we love your comments!

The Mundane of RV Living

July 22, 2020 / marniesteve / 2 Comments

Our COVID-19 RV travels are continuing, carefully, in Central Oregon. We had a great two day stay at La Pine State Park and wish we could have stayed longer. The park is just south of Bend, situated right on the banks of the Deschutes River, and has a ton of easy mountain bike trails. This gave me an opportunity to get back on the bike for more than a few minutes and Steve a chance to try out trail running with his injured collarbone.

We both loved it! Flat single track along the river and nice weather made this stop one that illustrates why we love RV travel.

But let’s be real…it’s not always champagne and roses when you tow your home with you wherever you go. This blog post will focus a bit more on the day-to-day realities of RV travel, rather than the places and adventures we’ve experienced. In fact, here are nine realities of living in an RV, especially during a pandemic.

Many of the highlights and “must see” attractions are closed. Along the way we’ve seen tours (yes, brewery tours!) and parks that we’d love to explore. However, due to the pandemic, they are not operating. Most of the pools and recreational features at the RV parks are also off-limits. We expected this but still it’s kind of a bummer to see something cool and be unable to check it out.
You still have to do laundry! And it’s not always pleasant when you don’t have your own fancy front loaders and laundry room. Here at the Thousand Trails Bend/Sunriver RV Park the laundry room was pretty scuzzy and the machines weren’t very fast.
You don’t get your daily mail. I love getting the mail and take for granted the ability to walk outside and open my mailbox each day. Last week we had our wonderful neighbors, Nancy and Tom, send us our mail from the last month. It was quite an ordeal. Long story short, we sat at these mailboxes in the middle of nowhere for over two hours before we finally received our package, which was already a day later than guaranteed.
Some really fancy RVs have dishwashers. We, on the other hand, have a dish drainer and some cute kitchen towels!
Electric power is variable. At each stop we either have 20, 30, or 50 amps of power or nothing. This number determines if we can run the A/C at the same time as the microwave and if I can blow dry my hair while the electric water heater is on. At the Bend/Sunriver Park, an older park, the power was on and then off and then…
Steve has to “dump” regularly. Yes, it’s a reality and practicality of RV living…the water and sewer tanks must be emptied on a regular basis. Sometimes we have a sewer connection a the site but often in the Thousand Trails parks you have to visit the dump station to empty the waste.
Speaking of sewer, did you know you have to treat the sewer tank after it’s emptied? Yep, every time Steve dumps, I have to pour a little bit of this stuff into the toilet to help “break down the solids.” Yes, we’ve learned some pretty gross things on this journey.
We are big Costco customers, but can’t buy in bulk while traveling in less 300 square feet. Our 8 cubic foot refrigerator/freezer barely gives us the room to keep a little frozen food and the necessities for a few days. More frequent trips to the grocery store seem to be a reality of living like this.
We interact with very few people along the way and that leaves us missing our family and friends. Because of the pandemic, we stay to ourselves the majority of times. Luckily we like each other, but we do miss hanging out with our neighbors in the Mahogany Lane parking lot!All of this said, we are very grateful to have this opportunity and know how lucky we are to be able to travel this way and see our country. Regardless of the mundane tasks and inconveniences of RV travel, it is really the best way to see the United States up close. While the pandemic continues to rage on, we feel safe motoring along in our self-contained, moving home.

One highlight of our stop in Bend was a visit with my cousin Tom Zimmerman and his family. Wife Kelly prepared a tasty BBQ meal and we got to spend time with their three girls, Zoe, Laney, and Kira. Connecting with family, far and near, is certainly one of the benefits of RV travel. We’re in Bend for a few more days, taking care of business…oil change, haircuts, groceries, etc. and enjoying the beautiful scenery, world-renowned breweries, and endless bike trails. Even though this blog post focuses mostly on day-to-day RV living, we have really fallen in love with Bend and the surrounding area. It will be hard to leave but next we are heading north into Washington State. Until then…

Crater Lake National Park

July 16, 2020July 16, 2020 / marniesteve / 2 Comments

Crater Lake was formed over 7,500 years ago when a large eruption caused Mount Mazama to collapse and then fill with rain and snowmelt. This was our 20th National Park visit.We took a day to explore the highlights of Crater Lake National Park and probably could have spent more time if the Visitors Centers and other amenities had not been closed due to COVID-19. The nice thing about visiting at this time is that the crowds are thin and it’s easy to get in and out of what would otherwise be crowded attractions. At some times we were the only people at the lookouts.
We entered the park from the north where we are staying for a few days. The Lake Lemolo/Crater Lake North KOA has been a great base from which to explore the area. We are about 13 miles north of the National Park and right on the shores of a nice little reservoir in the middle of the Cascades.To explore the National Park we followed the advice of Michael Joseph Oswald who wrote the book Your Guide to the National Parks and drove the Crater Lake Rim Road in a clockwise direction. This gave us the opportunity to easily pull off to the right to see many views of the beautiful lake.

Crater Lake is America’s deepest lake at 1,943 feet. At one point the mountain that created it stood at over 12,000 feet, but it collapsed after a major eruption and created the crater that became the lake. And, yes, in mid-July there is still a bit of snow along the rim.

Why is it so blue? It’s not because of its depth or mineral content. Instead, it’s because blue wavelengths are reflected back instead of being absorbed by the depths of the lake. Sunlight is able to penetrate deeply into the water and the lake’s magnificent, intense blues are due to its great depth and clarity.We drove the 33 mile rim trail and stopped at all the highlights. There are waterfalls, overlooks and sweeping views. One side road took us to the Pinnacles, unique formations of pumice spires, created by erosion along a steep-sided canyon. Some of the cones are especially tall, tapering to a sharp point. Super cool. We also did a short hike, the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail, which featured the annual display of wildflowers that inhabit the area. It was only a half-mile trail, which was fine with us injured travelers.

We are picnic-lunching every day and it’s really fun to pack our food (Lentil Ceviche on the menu today) and find the perfect place to dine. Today we found a spot right on the rim where we set out our ground cover and enjoyed the views. Steve decided it was also a good place for a photo shoot.

There’s a lot more to explore at Crater Lake had we been up to hiking and/or biking at our usual pace. Considering Steve’s broken collarbone and my ailing foot, we took it easy and appreciated the views. We did spend a little time on the trails around the campground.