Camping in Paradise, July 17-19

A small video of the McKenzie river. It's fast and cold, but crystal clear. It's very popular with rafters. Paradise campground is right of the McKenzie river.

Just a few pics of the river.

Of course there are big trees too.

We hit the trails Saturday morning while my friend Doug was sleeping in. For the record he was up before me Sunday morning.




The trails were well maintained and had the usual great scenery like this huge plant, they look like they belong in a dinosaur movie. I usually find then in small marshy areas, not sure what they are.

This little guy was right next to the trail and kindly stood there so I could take his picture.


After hitting the trails for a couple of hours we headed back to the campground and Doug was up. Doug and I had planned to head up Buck mountain and visit the mine with the cabin above. We also figured we could pick up some firewood up on the mountain, since the campground's $6.00 firewood bundles were more like kindling. We went in Doug's rig so Julie could use mine to run to the small store about 20 minutes down the highway for more ice for the cooler. It was in the 90's so we wanted to make sure the food stayed safe.

So up Buck mountain we go, it's pretty hot and dry. We are about 4600 to 4700 feet.


We make it to the mine and are happy to see no tweekers in the area. As we start to head into the mine I realize Oh crap! My maglite is in my truck. Undaunted to head inside I would take two steps and take a picture with flash and then take two more steps.

This worked until we were about to ran into beams partly fallen across the mine, so we decide to back out and head up to the cabin. Doug had never seen the cabin.

The cabin has also been propped up to keep the one side from falling down with new beams.


It looks like someone has stood back up the old cast iron stove and connected the stove pipe. Also you can see new plastic covering a window.


The table has been patched up and is upright.


Does not look like much has been done to the floor though.

Here is the crapper.

I think this is called Indian Paintbrush, it was near the cabin.

We head back and I stop to take a pic of the Three Sisters across the way.

Now Doug and I really start the firewood search. We find some from wood along the main road, but head down some side roads in search of wood. We go down this one spur road and the winter snow melt and rain has not been kind to it. We continue down to the end of the road and find some nice chunks of firewood. We head back up the road figuring that we have enough firewood now. Part way up things sound different, we get to the top and I tell Doug "I think we have a flat tire". He hops out from behind the steering wheel, he says "Oh yeah..." I get out and look, holy crap there is a 5 inch tear in the side of the tire. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of it, but I didn't. So out comes the jack and off with the lug nuts, but the damn tire will not come off. Doug jacks it up a bit higher, but the jack and rig take a tilt backwards. This is still not the best spot to do this. Better put the lug nuts back on and pull ahead about 10 feet or so. So Doug pulls his rig over to a better spot and jacks it back up. Off with the lug nuts and still the tire will not come off. Doug uses a big rock with the floor mats as cushioning to pound on the wheel. We try kicking it and wiggling the tire and wheel. Finally it breaks loose and we can see that there was a bit of rust that had bonded it on. We are relieved now that we have it off. We are 15 miles from the nearest pavement. We put on the spare and make tracks down the mountain. We make it to the pavement at the bottom of the mountain and we hear a faint sound that does not sound right. We get out and check the spare, holy crap again... a few of the lug nuts are loose to the touch and they are hot! Looks like did not get tight enough or worked their way loose. We would never have heard the noise of felt any vibration while we were on the gravel road on the way down the mountain. Most of the ways down the mountain if you were to go off the road; you’re not going to stop before going a few hundred feet down. Doug tightens up the lug nuts we drive 50 feet and tighten them again just to be sure. Doug says "Okay, no more weird shit". We made it back to camp with a story to tell.

Our biggest piece of found wood burning nicely. Not sure it was worth a tire though... Fire good!

July 4th at Pendragon's Pool

A little video of the pool.



I think I'll call it Pendragon's pool. Hows that Kail?

Yes, that water is that clear. It felt great too. After cooling off and a little lunch I started checking out the nearby plants and flowers.

Not sure what it is called, but it's pretty.

Devil's club

Devil's club, this stuff is nasty! I have seen this stuff a lot bigger than this one.

I think these are salmon berries.

Some strange kind of puff balls.

Gear Review: Swedish Mil. Mora Knife

I would highly recommend this Mora knife. I ordered two from Sportsman's Guide a few weeks ago when I was looking for lighter knife to go in my pack. They are much lighter than the KaBar I was carrying. Don't get me wrong, my KaBar is still a great knife. The just under a 4 inch carbon steel blade is just right for most tasks. They come with a plastic scabbard with belt clip, but it's not the greatest. The knife sort of clip into the scabbard, there is nothing else that holds it in place. It might be fine if you use it on your belt just around camp, but I would not trust it staying in the scabbard if you had to bushwhack. The scabbard is great for my uses inside an outer pocket of my pack; SG says it weighs 4 ounces. If I find a decent replacement for the scabbard it will go on my belt. I think this is the best knife for its price, SG sells them for:

New Swedish Mil. Mora Knife

$11.97

That's right, $11.97! They sell a 2 pack of these knives for $24.97; I'm not sure why you would want to pay more for each knife by ordering the 2 pack. Do the math. Just order the single and change the quantity in your shopping cart.

-- Oregon Mike

4th of July Gold Hill

Julie and I decided to head up to Gold Hill for the 4th of July and then relax at the pretty pool we had found in June. Okay, so it was really more like... I talked her into going to the pool and forgot to mention going all the way to the gold mines. ;-) I planned to take you folks with inside one of the mines, but above the mine is an old cabin that has been semi-taken over by tweekers. As we went down the road that leads to the mine I see some shady types, so it is best to turn around and come back a different day.

Here is a pic of the cabin that is above the mine from a previous trip. I will be back in the area in mid July for a camping trip with my buddy Doug I Plan to revisit this mine and cabin then.

Here is a pic of what the tweekers have done to the cabin and this poor old cast iron stove from a previous trip. Very sad.

Here is a pic of the mine below the cabin from a previous trip. When Doug and I go back, I will take pics from inside. The mine goes into the rock about 40 feet back and then opens up into a large sphere.

Onto another area a little higher up the mountain...


Just past an open quarry style quartz mine the road heads down and the road gets really bad, these pics don't really show how back it is. I tried to take pics that would show how nasty the road is. I walked down the road this time to take the pics and found an old pair of pliers that must have bounced out of someone's truck. I also found a rubber hose from an engine, two different parts of two different mufflers, and a washer.

About halfway down.

A view looking back up the road. My 4x4 Toyota Tacoma has made it up and down this road many times, it's a great truck!

The pliers, marked "BlueBird No. 25"

Unknown wild flowers near the quartz mine.

More unknown wild flowers near the quartz mine.

It sure is hot up here, 90 degrees or so. Time to head down the mountain a bit and revisit the magic pool too cool off.

June 27th relaxing little river trip.

Or titled "How I ended up on the couch with frozen peas strapped to my knee."




Starting out Sadie thinks that she wants to stowaway in mom's day back.



This was just to be a quick trip up to the river. Julie lays out on the "beach" and reads her book while I look for rocks and snorkel. The water is pristine... About as clear as snorkeling in Hawaii but with big smart trout that let you get within a foot or two and with one twitch of that tail, they are gone. I think they laugh at the worm on the hook. "Hey buddy, we get lots of food here and I'm not going to fall for the fat worm on a hook. How do you think I got so big?"

Julie does not have the best balance and does not have my natural talent to hoping on rocks/climbing/etc... Which she freely admits. When we first dating and we went to the coast I was poking around on the rocks and tide pools and she asked me what are you a freaking gazelle?

I make it easier for her to cross the river by going first and sling a rope between two trees. I help her across and she likes the sunny spot fine. I then go back across for the rest of the gear. Folding Lounge chairs, her camera, radio, lunch, etc... about 4 trips total. No big deal, river is pretty small here and I have crossed the river/swam in it/snorkeled/chiseled rocks underwater/panned in it/sluiced it/etc for years...

I should note here that I have a knack for finding what other folks lost. Julie laughs when I get out to adjust the tarp in the truck bed and find a rock chisel laying nearby. Score! I have found all kind of things.


On my last trip across the river this time with my stuff. Two masks and snorkels and my water shoes in a mesh bag. I was just wearing cheap sandals and had been slipping on the rocks in the river a fair amount. I was in a hurry to build Julie's "nest" so that I could relax with doing my thing. Not that she asked me to do it. A bit more than halfway across I slip big... whoa...ahhh..whoa... AH-DAMMIT! My knee hits rocks in two spots as I drop the mesh bag in my hand into the river. Julie rushes over and asks "do I go get the bag or help you up?" My brain is thinking OUCH... My knee is thinking we are not doing anything for about a minute. I tell her just help me up my camera is in my pack (which is half wet) and that the bag will get hung up on the rocks. I did not want her to break an ankle running after my snorkel bag. This is real time folks, no fiction. That's when you know you really like a girl.




So I recover somewhat.... and start to poke around. I slip around some more. Looking for my stuff. It did not get hung up on the rocks nearby like I thought. I head further down stream, by this time I have picked up a beaver walking stick. It makes the river travel a bit better. I search the river looking for my bag with my snorkel gear. Also I look for special rocks/sticks/treasures. Nothing... Damn it! Then I come to a nice spot with a deep pool about 300 yards down stream. Whoa we are talking calendar picture time. In the pool I see a strange dark spot... I use my beaver made stick to snag it. It is the mesh bag that my snorkel stuff was in, minus everything that was in the bag. Damn those trout!



Pool start




One end of the pool



other end of the pool

So it's kind of funny. If I would of put ON my river shoes maybe I would not have hurt my knew and not dropped the snorkel bag. If I had my mask and snorkel I could have snorkeled the pool.

If I would have not been in such a rush things could have gone better

I made some new friends.



Look close.





More friends





They were huge fans flying all around us, kind of like a welcoming committee. I wish I could have taken more pics of them, but my camera battery died. There were lots of different colors of butterflies.

So I ended up on the couch with a bag of frozen peas taped to my knee. I guess sometimes you have to give something back. I am always finding stuff up there that people have lost. Maybe someone will find my masks and snorkels and put them to good use.