Work Day

31 July 2010
Saturday

Awoke to a BLUE sky. The only haze in the air today came from about 800 campfires in the park. Last night the ranger asked us if we wanted any firewood. We declined saying that we didn't want to smell like smoke. "Good luck," he replied. "Everyone else will have one going." And then we watched as pick-ups arrived ready to camp with at least 1/2 load of firewood.

We got a late start today: It's Saturday so we slept in. After a leisurely breakfast we left but decided to take a detour into the day-use area because we noticed how very calm the ocean was. It must have been a day like this when Balboa named it PACIFICO back in the day.

As a bonus we met a very nice former combat medic who solved our timing problem by recommending a side trip to Crater Lake National Park via the Redwood National Forest. Since we had entertained the thought of each of these destinations, it was easy to rework the itinerary.

Next chore: laundry.

Then it was off to see the giant redwoods. What an impressive and impossible-to-put-into-words view. From here we ventured back into Oregon and arrived at Crater Lake National Park. The  campground was full so we made reservations and then went into the Rogue River National Forest and found a great Forest Service campground called Final Bend right on the Rogue River where it is a cute little stream. We almost decided to stay here for the duration.

Talk about a dark night!