Rocky Goes to Alaska

Day 103, 5 September 2015

Crater Lake to Ashland, OR 97 miles

We were greeted by bright sunshine and glistening snow in the morning. It was a chilly night, but the sun warmed it up nicely later in the day. Just outside the park, we discovered the Rogue River Gorge. Nice canyon with wild rushing water and a submerged section where the water flows through a lava tube under the rock ledges. And there was a very nice little hike to the several lookouts along the river. The road itself, Route 62, is actually very scenic, cutting right through a huge Douglas Fir forest. We found our way to Geoff and Patty’s place in Ashland. We met them on the Great Loop on their boat, Osprey. (By coincidence, Patty and Al grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same grade school and high school, although at different times.) They have a very nice home that they built on 6 acres, with a babbling brook running through the back of their property. Their driveway was one of the nicest campsites we’ve found on the whole trip.

Rogue Gorge

Rogue River Gorge

Waterfall into the Rogue River

Natural Bridge

Natural Bridge area

Rogue river - not so rogueish here

Creek at Geoff & Patty's

Happy hour along the creek - awesome!

The trail back to the house (after a couple of wines :)

Day 104-105, 6-7 September 2015

Ashland area

Geoff and Patty took us to the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a mountainous wilderness refuge with dramatic rock outcroppings, trails, and meadows, and we enjoyed a great breakfast at the Green Springs Inn. Geoff helped us repair our bathroom door that got derailed on some of the recent rough roads. Geoff shared with us some of the watermelon and vegetables out of his garden. And we explored Ashland a bit. Very nice town, quite artsy, with two breweries, lots of cool little shops, and an Elizabethan theater – in fact the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was going on, and we watched the Green Show, an outdoor performance by guest musicians they put on six nights a week during the summer. We visited some wineries to sample the fruits of the Oregon earth. And we enjoyed Geoff’s famous grilled pizza. Thanks to Geoff and Patty for including us in their weekend family activities. We really enjoyed our visit. And happy birthday Madison!

Great setting for breakfast

Main street in Ashland

Round theater

Band playing Green Show outside the theater

Band member dancing

Audience member dancing

Enjoying the Dana Campbell Vineyard

Beautiful Vineyard

Yum!

Spoils from Geoff's garden

He even gave us personal watermelons!

Day 106, 8 September 2015

Ashland, OR to Lassen Volcano National Park, CA 171 miles

It was a very nice sunny day, so the drive was quite pleasant and scenic. We passed Mt Shasta along the way. At 14,179 ft, it’s the second highest mountain in the Cascade range. Also a volcano, its last eruption was in 1786. It has seven named glaciers, and there are four overlapping volcanic cones, giving it a complex shape. The nearby town of McCloud was named after one of the members of the first female party to climb the mountain. We camped in Lassen National Volcanic Park at the Manzanita Lake Campground.

Mt Shasta

Shasta River

Manzanita campground at Lassen Volcanic National Park

Day 107, 9 September 2015

Lassen Volcanic National Park to Vacaville, CA 205 miles

We hiked the loop trail around Manzanita Lake and saw black-tailed deer, many birds and ducks, and some Swiss motorcyclists. Lassen Peak is one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world. Its last eruptions were between 1914 and 1921, with the largest explosion on May 22, 1915. The eruptions paved the way for the creation of Lassen Volcanic National Park in August 1916. A plug dome volcano forms when lava is too thick to flow great distances. A steam blast shattered Lassen’s plug, creating an avalanche of melted snow and rock down the east side. We drove the 30-mile Lassen Highway to explore the park. Chaos Crags and Jumbles has remnants of a rock slide racing nearly 100 miles an hour. Kings Creek meanders through an expansive meadow at the foot of Lassen Peak. Brokeoff Volcano disappeared slowly from erosion. And Sulfur Works is a gurgling pit of boiling mudpots in a hydrothermal area near the highway. From a 50 degree evening in Lassen, we worked our way south to Vacaville, where the temperature was 101 degrees, where a dip in the pool was quite inviting.