Travels in America: John Day Fossil Beds, Painted Hills Division

 Our second day in the John Day area had us visit the Painted Hills Division.  I expected there to be a lot more trails to hike and less driving,

but it is certainly worth a visit.  The longest hike we did was about 1 km and had a good view over the area.  See photo to the right.  We pretty much had to drive from site to site and they are unique in their own way.  We were both a little underwhelmed with the experience and made a quick decision to skip out of going to the last area, which contained a picnic site and a sign from what we could glean.  Death Valley is a much better place to visit for a similar experience of "painted hills".  That change in plans led us to a new area in Oregon that we very much enjoyed.  Wait for the next post!

More scenery from the Painted Hills to the left.   The smoke had entirely disappeared by that day.  

Weddings

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a same sex marriage.  I rarely attend weddings - I've been at fewer than 10 in my entire life.  This will probably be my only same-sex wedding.  The wedding was held in Vancouver and included 50 - 60 guests.  It was held at a condo building with the action occurring in the "common rooms" of the establishment.  It was a joyful occasion!  One of the wives had her nephew stand up for her; the other wife had her daughter.  The Marriage Commissioner was very open about the tax advantages and government subsidies involved in "being married."  I suspect that this was at the request of the two wives.  One of the reasons for the marriage was tax advantage.    But the two women do love each other, too!  

The ceremony was followed by an afternoon of board games and karaoke.  The karaoke was definitely the most popular.  Everyone seemed to have a very good time and we ended the celebration with a dinner of pizza and salad, followed by cake and fruit.  Wedding, indeed!

 

John Day Fossil Beds: Sheep Rock Divison

 

   One of our destinations in the US was the John Day Fossil Beds which we had "flown by" via car on our way to Death Valley many years ago.  We had the opportunity to visit the town of John Day, and the museum,  which is centered on the lives of 2 Chinese,  settlers is worth a visit:  the Kam Wah Chung Museum and the building is a National Historic Landmark.  Failing to achieve a campsite in the National Forest near the town (fires had closed roads) we stayed at a state park and the next day went to the Sheep Rock division of the Fossil Beds.  Everything is totally "free" in this area even though it is part of the National Parks.  I guess this is because it is a National Monument and not a park.  We had a lovely hike through the fossil beds - this picture does not do it justice.  The hazy skies from the area smoke is visible.  The hike had a lot of variety and a side route leads you to the popular part of the site - some actual fossils on display.  At the headquarters, there is a large display of the entire area and the fossils found in it - I was impressed with all of the dioramas and the amount of work that has gone into the displays. 

 

Travels in America:  Rattlesnake Pass

We made the decision to leave Clarkston and take WA 129 into Oregon.  When you look on the map, it's pretty straight forward and I offered to drive.  One hairpin turn appears on the 50 states atlas.  Little did I know that I would encounter Rattlesnake Pass.  We got to the top of the pass pretty quickly and saw the summit sign.  Then the descent began.  I have never felt vertigo when I've been the driver but I did notice it here.  We did not  pull over to take a picture or change drivers - there were rare opportunities.  This photo appears care of a friend, Annette, who travelled north over the pass a couple of weeks later.  It's an amazing road in a very sparse area for population.  I wonder how often it closes in winter??  At the bottom, we crossed the Grande Rondo River before it travels further east and joins the Snake River.  This is an extraordinary road and very scenic - not recommended if you don't like exposure!  We arrived in OR and had more stunning viewpoints and as we made our way to Enterprise, OR.  

 Travels in America:  Lewiston/Clarkston

Our original intention was to spend a day in Moscow and we did enjoy visiting the University of Idaho's arboretum in that town.  We did not find satisfactory places for camping.  We headed south and decided to stay in Lewiston or Clarkston.  It worked out well for us because we were introduced to a long, winding road off the newer highway into Lewiston, ID.  Here's the Lewiston version of the highway into Bella Coola (only this one isn't nearly as long.)  

The Snake River divides the states of WA and ID and Lewiston is location on the ID side, while Clarkston is on the WA side.  We thought this road looked pretty impressive.  Little did we know what we were in for on the other side when we travelled over Rattlesnake Pass.  Here's the view of the Snake at Lewiston/Clarkston:  

Travels in America: Idaho Biking Trails

We basically spent 3 days exploring Idaho on a bike.  The first day, as mentioned, was at Farragut State Park and we avoided Idaho State Parks following that night.  The next day we had picked up groceries and parked in Coeur d'Alene where there is a lovely bunch of trails, many of them relatively new.  There is the State Centennial Trail which travels through the city and then seems to follow the I-90 to the WA border.  We experienced a wee bit of this at the end of our vacation in Spokane, because the trail connects to the Spokane River Trail.  We chose to travel on the Coeur d'Alene Lake trail which took us close to the lake for a solid portion.  Then we went through the central part of the city and it could have been better marked, but it was really quite lovely.  There are not a lot of building cranes currently located in downtown Coeur d'Alene.  Rather than take the State Centennial Trail,  we chose to follow along the Spokane River and went through a couple of neighbourhoods that were new with large homes.  The fall colours were gorgeous on that day.  I'd definitely recommend this trail to others.

More than 10 years ago, we had experienced the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes on 2 separate occasions out of Plummer, ID and out of Cataldo, ID, on the I-90.  This time, we parked at the town of Harrison and rode up to Rose Lake which we had reached from Cataldo 10 years ago.  It was a nice ride and the trail is in good shape - might be great to try it during spring migration.  One thing we did find was that we think they are working to "reclaim" some wetlands and so we did have to ride past a 10 km section of brush burning and equipment tearing up the area.  The total ride that we did was 30 km each way and most of it was very good.  A state highway is audible, but it wasn't that busy.  It was good to see how well used the trail is - we encountered more than 60 people on the trail that day - mid-week in October.   It's amazingly FLAT!  Highly recommended. 

Travels in America, 2024 Part 1

 IDAHO STATE PARKS

We left on a 2 weeks holiday to hike and bike in various areas of Idaho, Oregon and Washington states.  No specific destination was in mind but we knew of a couple of trails in Idaho that we wanted to visit and one in OR and in WA.  Basically, we followed our nose.  

The first night we stopped at Farragut State Park near Coeur d'Alene, ID.  Generally, we've liked the national and state parks throughout the US on previous visits.  We couldn't "register" for camping until after 3pm but we picked out a site and rode our bikes around.  There were lots of views of Lake Pend'Oreille and there were numerous roads and trails for biking.  Our bikes did not like the obstacles on  some of the trails, but there were plenty of options.  We stuck to the roads most of the time.  

When we registered for camping we were a bit shocked to discover that the price was $65USD.  In Idaho, if you are "non-resident", the price is doubled - a regular campsite is $32 for a resident, plus tax.  In Canadian money, this is close to $100 for a single night of camping?!  As a result, we did not visit more state parks in ID and I'd suggest that the prices are too high for Canadians to consider.  Fortunately, this did not occur in other states that we visited.  

The National Forests are good places for camping and we were a bit surprised to find out that the campsite we located called Beauty Creek had already closed by October 8th.  We parked at the entranceway and the bathrooms were still open (with toilet paper!) and it was quite a nice spot.  Of course, the Beauty Creek had completely dried up - this whole area was in great need of rain.  There was a pretty good hike up a hillside to some good views but I had no idea if I had enough time to actually "hike" it before dark.  I opted for one viewpoint.  The next morning we did do a lovely hike above Lake Coeur d'Alene near the campsite.  

Our third night of camping in ID took place at the trailhead on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes near Harrison, ID.  There were no signs stating no overnight parking and a bathroom was at the location we chose.  We observed our best sunset of the entire trip.  The 2 "free" nights rather made up for expensive camping in the state parks.