Apparently Orange don't like their pay as you go customers using their phones in Canada, so I won't have any signal until I get to New Zealand… Well I may have some when I back in the USA, but anyway its not worth trying to contact me on that at the moment, so please use David's phone number instead if needs be! Or there's always good old email.
What we got up to when we took a few days off paddling.
On our way up north, we stopped at Mount St Helens and found Apes Cave which promised low temperatures – a pleasure to hear in the heat wave we were in the midst of. The leaflet suggested we would need 2/3 light sources each which seemed a little excessive so armed with headtorches and a gas lamp Cheryl had hired, we headed down and quickly put our fleeces on – it was rather chilly! The walk was interesting for sure, with lots of clambering over boulders and shimmying up an 8 foot lava tube. It was an incredible place to go in to and reassuring that it hadn't been banned for health and safety purposes. Apparently the cave was first explored by boy scouts in the 1950s, I can't imagine what they thought as they walked along this underground lava tube, it was a great way to spend a couple of hours. Climbing out the steps, the warmth soon hit us and the walk back to the car was itself a pleasant experience with the discovery of strawberries along the way.
We paused nearer Mount St Helens and climbed seemingly endless steps to get a better view at the very appropiately named Wind Ridge. From here you could clearly see the dam formed by the last eruption plus an impressive log jam. Smoke could be seen leaving the top of the volcano but thankfully nothing to worry about!
After camping at the Johnson River take out (but not paddling it) we headed up to Mount Ranier National Park where many of the roads had been damaged in floods just a few months before. However the road up to Paradise was open and from here we walked and played amongst the snow, of which there was plenty, and saw a glacier. Again it was a stunning place, but none of us fancied the walk to the summit which would've taken two days – not quite the afternoon stroll we were looking for.
The drive out took us past some impressive falls and we were asked if we were planning to run it – its funny what effect it can have turning up at a tourist sight with kayaks strapped to your roof! However, we're not that daft but it was lovely to be cooled with the mist kicking off the drop.
We soon returned to paddling again which we'll update about soon.
Heading inland, taking in Portland and crossing over into Washington.
The Oregon coastal road took us through lots of rain, past the world's smallest harbour and across the world's smallest river. However the rain pretty much took away our chances of any decent photos of these phenomenas, so we carried up the coast to Tillamook. We found the huge cheese factory and ate yummy ice-cream while watching the workers and machines making and processing the cheese ( I felt a little guilty for gawping at the people working, but its kinda fascinating too). However the much smaller Blue Heron Cheese company we stopped by in had a much better sample selection, a wine tasting area, chocolates and a petting zoo. True we didn't spend too much time out here – even the goats were hiding in their sheds from the rain – but it was worth a visit.
Lindy and Steve (who we met at a campsite in Lotus) had invited us to stay with them in Portland and so we headed to their lovely house Thursday evening. We had a great time and got to do all those little necessities like laundry and enjoy luxuries such as hot showers each morning. Steve is an excellent cook and we were treated to delicious steaks, cooked breakfasts and chicken and pasta with homemade pesto – it was tough to leave!
Portland itself is quite a funky city especially on Saturdays when it has a large arts and crafts market and a farmers market. We managed to avoid spending too much despite the best efforts of the sale in North Face but did pick up a couple of books in the US' largest bookshop. There is a large park overlooking the city with a very poignant memorial to Holocaust victims and a beautiful rose garden, which had the most fab aromas. While at Steve and Lindy's, we found out there was a drive-in movie theatre pretty close and so we took Macy to see the late night double feature picture show. The films didn't start till it was dark enough but we were lucky to get a reasonable space at 8ish. In the end it was full, with lots of families playing outside the cars – there was a good, fun atmosphere and at half 9ish the first film (Surf's Up) began. The National Anthem was played finished with lots of horn honking and some birthdays announced with cars beeping for each year of age. The films were pretty good and I managed to stay awake through to the end at half 1!
The morning didn't bring a lie in though as we were meeting Simon and Cheryl to paddle the White Salmon. I decided to give it a miss but got video of the others running Hussum Falls. We met a guy called Jonathon at the get out who kindly invited us back to his for some food and a place to sleep. First we stopped off at Hood River and tried the goods of a brewpub which we found out has a happy hour during the week, picked up a new neck seal for David and ice-cream for dessert. Then heading back to Jonathon's we found he had probably one of the most enviable views over the Columbia river and across to Mount Hood – it was stunning. A few beers later (including a very nice homebrew hefeweizen), great sausage casserole (thanks Cheryl!) icecream, and some kayak porn, we slept before an early start.
The boys were planning to run the Little White Salmon, but at 8ish this morning, Rick (Simon and Cheryl's friend) was still in Vermont and with his experience being the most recent on the river, the others decided to reconvene at 3ish when he was scheduled to arrive after his delayed flight. So Russell (Jonathon's friend) went to do his homework and we ran the section that had been run the day before which was good fun. A quick wine tasting and we headed back to the Little White, where the boys got on. Cheryl and I ran the shuttle and left them in favour of the pub with the happy hour which is where I'm typing this now waiting for them I'm sure David will update us all on this soon.
The river which we're watching now is full of windsurfers and kite surfers which is very colourful and pretty cool to watch.
Unfortunately I did have some not so good news this week – my beloved dog Dell was put to sleep after some illness – it's been a shock as it happened very quickly. As those of you who met him will know, he was a great friendly dog who'll be missed.
Local wildlife invades and steals our food.
(ok, we fed it)
This question is: is it a chipmunk or a squirrel?
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Carrying on our tour in Oregon we stopped in to catch a play at a Shakespeare festival, saw North America's deepest and cleanest lake and found a bargainous campsite. A tourist leaflet took us to Ashland, a town we may not have headed to, but was well worth a visit for their Shakespeare Festival. The Elizabethan theatre is open air and it was here, we watched the Tempest – one of David's favourites and one I hadn't seen before. It was a great performance, made even better by the setting sun behind the stage. The gift shop was of interest as well since they sold some English novelties such as PG Tips, Tunnocks Caramel Wafers and Crunchie bars! It was a lovely end to a day that too much time had been spent in various car places while Macy's brakes were sorted out, and the drive shaft replaced for a second time! The wrong one had been put on the first time so at least this was done free of charge…
From here, we headed to the North Folk of the Rogue which had some very interesting geological sights. Its a relatively young area, with much volcanic influence. We saw lava tubes that had collapsed, and others which were plugged. At one point, the majority of the river is hidden as it makes its way through a network of these lava tubes, and all that can be seen are blow holes giving a hint of the turbulence of the water. We took a look at one of the gorges which was thankfully blocked with a tree, preventing us looking at it from a paddling perspective any more – it wasn't nice looking. David had a look at a gorge that is paddled but again decided he didn't fancy paddling it and so it was we ran a lovely section of fun grade 3 with a 6.5 mile trail to hike for the shuttle.
Oregon's only National Park is Crater Lake, a beautiful blue lake formed by the collapse of volcanic Mount Mazama over 7,000 years ago, making it the 7th deepest in the world] and [because it's fed only by rain and snow it's one of the clearest. There was surprisingly a lot of snow still there considering its nearly the end of June, but apparently the area has an average 45 feet of snow per year! The East Rim Drive was still closed because they hadn't cleared all the snow yet, and the walk we did up Garfield's Point certainly got more challenging because of the white stuff. It was a stunning place and though we saw no ginger cats, we saw a few chipmunks again.
A book at the gift shop meant we found a campsite costing $5.50 a night which had hot showers (a true luxury while on the road) and gave us chance to refill water. It was a great find, where we tried our best to burn one of the huge logs Macy had been carrying around for us, and ate yummy pizzas prepared by our own fair hands.
The next river on our list is the North Folk of the Umpqua, before we head west back to the Pacific Coast. In the meantime, David has been putting more thought into an English Macy – he's decided a caravan inside a minivan is what we need. Maybe some more thought is needed yet!
What we got to see off the water too…
While cooking dinner at a trailhead last night, a big white truck pulled up with lots of barking coming from the back. A man got out and warned us he had 6 dogs in the back, 3 were puppies, but that they were friendly and he would try to get in between them and us. We were slightly apprehensive when he opened the boot, and certainly hadn't expected the flurry of black and white, and a little bit of brown, furry bodies that jumped out. “You didn't tell us they were collies!” For those who don't know, border collies are my favourite dogs and I have two at my mum's. Waiting very patiently till they finished their walk, I got to pet the brown and white one which was as soft as you could imagine – a lovely treat!
We stayed at the trailhead and on the recommendation of some friendly locals, took a walk in the morning which led round several different ecosystems and was very pretty. However I did have to avoid the plentiful but nasty poison oak which can cause itchy bite like rashes that seem to last forever…
From here, we followed another recommendation and went to Wildlife Images which is a sanctuary/hospital for injured wild animals. We hadn't realised we should have booked on a tour, but was lucky enough to catch one leaving within half an hour. Here we saw a massive grizzly bear (I'd be glad never to get this close to one again, but the electric fence was reassuring), a few black bears (including one taking a shower), bald eagles, a golden eagle, grey wolves and a rather cute American badger that apparently is one of the few animals a black bear will stand down from! There were lots of other animals too, lots that we had seen in the wild which was great, and the tour was pretty educational. Definitely worth a visit.
We're going to Grants Pass now where we hope to treat Macy to a little oil change. I'm sure we'll be back on the water soon though!
We've had a busy drive round central California, catching some of the major sights and generally having a fab time. Continue reading for more info!
Lake Tahoe is the third deepest lake in North America and is the subject of a song by a band called A which has been repeating in my head pretty much non stop! But anyway, it is huge (22 miles long) and is very clear. After a lovely meal at a restaurant on the beach where we saw racoons and had great surf and turf :D, the next day we decided to go for a bit of a paddle. It was amazing, as although it got pretty deep quickly, we could see all the way to the bottom with its sand ripples. When loading the boats, a guy told us that it was very unusual to be that calm out there – within an hour or so, we saw what he meant when a storm rolled in making a dramatic change to the view. It was at a great view point that we got to see most of this since Macy had a bit of a temper tantrum, overheated and cried. That wouldn't have been too bad if we had any idea what the fluids she was crying were… So we called the AAA and got a lift to Reno.
Our next intended port of call was Reno, and luckily the garage let us take Macy out to sleep somewhere that night, but we ended up spending a little more time and money in the garage than we had hoped. However now Macy has four new tyres, a cam shaft, tracking sorted and no shudder! It seems to have been worthwhile so far and the guy there was lovely so fingers crossed, thats the last time we spend in the garage with Macy…
The people in Reno decided to make a bit of whitewater recreation area right in the middle of the city and it was awesome. It seemed everyone was down there enjoying the sunshine, swimming around or tubing down the features. These were four or so wave/holes which were a little more retentive than they looked – it kind of reminded me of the Barble Bar but warmer, sunnier and well not that like it at all in fact.
From Reno, we finally made it to San Francisco but didn't find any flowers on the way for our hair. What I hadn't realised about SF is the fact the fogs are quite famous there. So although I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, I didn't actually see that much of it! Nevermind. We also drove parts of the 49mile scenic drive which has blue and white sea gulls signs that disappear at pretty much all the crucial points, and one of the highlights is the view from the Twin Peaks which for us, was rather damp and very foggy, and well pretty hard to see anything from. However it did lift and we had a great time wondering around the city, taking a ride of one of the big hills on the cable car, seeing the impressive frescoes in Coit Tower and the amzingly twisty Lombard Street Hill. We also headed to Pier 39, and found that we weren't too late to see the sea lions which entertained me for quite a while. Heading slightly out of the city, we found a cinema and watched the third Pirates of the Carribean which was a great evening – its definitely worth watching!
Now we're sat in a village very near the San Andreas fault, and are heading up north to catch the last of the Californian snow melt rivers before the snow has all melted – we'll definitely have to come back in a non drought year! Its all going great, sorry for the delay in updates and thanks to all those who have emailed, its lovely to hear how everyone's doing.
In my less than four minutes I have on the free internet in the library, I have the good news that Macy passed her smog test very well and so we now have her registered to us and new licence plates! We celebrated with some rather yummy milkshakes, and a slight change of plan. Tomorrow we're going to head to Six Flags theme park and then down to San Diego. Have just found out about a roar and snore thing at the wildlife park where you can camp out overnight near the animals so will look into that more.
Still no paddling as yet, but soon especially now we have a road legal Macy! 😀
Well we haven't quite left LA yet due to Macy needing a little more work than we hoped, but fingers crossed we should be heading out today…
However we did get to spend our first night in the back of Macy in the mountains – true it wasn't far off the beaten track but it was still kinda cool to get out of the city. Having dropped Macy off this morning, we caught a Dash bus and found a Kinkos which is where I'm writing this now. So not the most exciting day so far, although we did print our tickets off to Six Flags – it would seem a shame to come to California and not do one of the theme parks! In terms of paddling, we're waiting till Macy is ready and we can pick up a guidebook and head inland a little.
Where we stayed last night was a little nerve wracking at first because of the very strange loud animal noises we could hear. At first we had no idea what they were until David remembered we had driven past a wildlife sanctuary! The views this morning were lovely with the moon hanging over the mountains, and I'm looking forward to heading over to more areas like that.
Last night we headed to Walmart where we were able to pick up enough luxuries for the van such as pillows! I'll be relieved when she passes her smog test and we can head off.
“How do you get your kayaks on the plane?” is a question I've heard several times, but it's getting easier to transport a boat: airlines are starting to realise that planes are big and can hold several kayaks; it's the taxis at the other end which can be more of an issue. Having got several flights with the BA-Quantas alliance, we told our travel agent our plans and she was a star in getting agreement that we could take out boats with us. I've travelled with a kayak before, and my choice last time was my Kingpin, which is short, narrow and rather light. Each time I look at my Mamba, I see that transporting a creek boat may be slightly more difficult. David and I considered not taking boats briefly but figured one of the main purposes of the trip was to do lots of paddling so it would be silly not to take essential kit with us and so it is I'll be lugging a long, rather heavy, bright green kayak with me. So much for travelling light! Adding another weight to my pack will be the medication I need to take. I've had insulin-dependent diabetes since I was nine – far longer than I've been kayaking – and I'd like to think we generally get on quite well. If I treat my diabetes right, then usually it doesn't hassle me, although there are always surprises along the way. Sometimes it can be interesting paddling white-water since exercise lowers blood sugars while adrenalin raises them. Trying to work out the best way to ensure I have my insulin and bits, has been rather confusing. Some people recommend talking to the manufacturers, however they'll tell you while they supply the product in that country, they couldn't tell you how to actually get hold of it. Others suggest taking all medication with you, but I guess the holidays they're talking about don't usually last 12 months. Since my Mum is visiting us in New Zealand, the best option for me seemed to be to take six months supply with me and then have my Mum replenish my stocks when I saw her. This was all fine until my doctor informed me that their recommendations was to only prescribe a month's worth of medication for anyone leaving the country. However, he thankfully decided to go with his duty of care and prescribe me the necessary amounts, even though he got a slapped wrist because of this. It's unfortunate that I seemingly put him into a difficult position and so I'm still looking for the answer of how best to deal with these circumstances so I'll know for next time!
I'm very fortunate to be travelling with someone who knows the day to day effects of my diabetes and who is willing to carry spare equipment and medication for me. I'm grateful to all those who have been so supportive of my plans, it's been fantastic to have encouragement even from people I've not met. Having such a condition may add its own element of challenge to the trip, in a similar way that taking a kayak around with me might do. However I believe the preparation that David and I have done will help deal with the worst of it, and that sometimes travelling light isn't the best way to go.