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Exploring Fred's Favorite Places Upriver
On Monday we traveled along the Rogue River stopping at some of Fred's favorite places. First, west down the highway passing a shop called "Pat's Hand Tied Flies." Fred's family has had plenty of time to develop their routines about this. "How sad! The poor little things can't even wash their faces!" And "Why does Pat want to advertise his cruelty anyway?" And so on. Then to what they call "the bone store" in Shady Cove.
Shady Cove is a friendly little community ("The Jewel of the Upper Rogue") of about 2,500 and is pretty much oriented on supporting the hunting, fishing, rafting and hiking tourists. Oh, and, as I learned from their web site, in August they have a Spam parade. I wonder why Fred never mentioned this? Well, he did take me to the bone store, so I guess it's okay.
The bone store is actually called High Country Arts and has many fine things made mostly of antler and wood by local artists. Hardly any bone, unless you count the place where the antlers are apparently tugged out of the skull, called the "crown." There are cufflinks and shaving sets and coat hangers and drawer pulls and towel holders and cribbage boards and flatware and mirrors and bolos and many other things. Here's a link to the lamps to give you the idea. Be sure to click on a picture to see a larger version. There is a least one museum-quality piece, a four-plus-foot elk antler (NFS) which they say was recovered in North Dakota in the 16th century. That's one side, the full spread on the live elk would go at least nine feet. I would love to know the history of this piece, but there were no owners there, only a hired clerk. She did get into the spirit enough to help me measure it, though. And there was for sale a two-and-a-half foot moose antler for $280. Only the one side, maybe the hunter kept the other one. Anyway we didn't buy anything as we had many more stops to make that day.
(For those of you not in the U.S, and that includes Canadians, here is how we classify these animals. This is a moose and this is an elk. The moose antler has a sort of palm with tines and the elk is all prongs.)
Next we headed up the river toward Crater Lake. Now came the magical part of Day Two, which was the Avenue of the Boulders, at Union Creek.
This is a smashing place (the word surely comes to mind) for clambering around and finding pumice, hanging in the hot weather and bathing your feet in the water, or climbing along the river seeing what's there. It was a bit of a hike in, but on a nice path made by the power company, undoubtedly in exchange for some concession somewhere. Since Fred's father worked for the power company, Fred knows a lot about hydro-electricity in the area. For example, he showed me the foundations from an old hydro plant built in 1911 and pointed out where the flumes were and are (most of this water is now diverted for drinking water not power). He also told about the dam half a mile upstream (which IS for electricity) and what the warning horn would sound like and how many minutes we would have to climb out of the draw if they had to release the water.
Fortunately, the warning signal did not sound. It would have spoiled the mystical, communing-with-nature mood of the place. And, I might have drowned. My clambering skills are not as sharp as they once were. Still, Fred only had to haul me up one section and that was the fault of the Legislature.(Okay, it's a stretch, but if I hadn't spent all those years in high heels walking the marble halls of the Capitol, my knees would be in much better shape today and probably capable of pulling my weight up when the knee is above my waist. Or--maybe not.) These boulders are 10 - 12 feet in diameter, the water is bubbling and lively, the trees, bushes and ferns are gorgeous, especially the Pacific madrone with their bright orange peeling bark and smooth, shiny trunks. There's sand and little backwater puddles--a very special place. So better pictures than words for it:
Peeling madrone
NOT as pretty as it really is. |
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Walking down the path
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Boulders! |
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| Across the River |
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| Down River |
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Back on the road again, still heading north. We passed the Rabbit Ears, two pinnacles that are the remnant core of 7 million year old volcanoes I think you have to get out of the car and hike to get your own picture, so this one is from the web.
The gourmets among you may remember I have previously reported that the greatest restaurant for pie in Oregon (or maybe the Pacific Northwest) is on this road--Beckie's. Of course, we stopped for pie; I had huckleberry and a glass of milk, Fred had blackberry with ice cream. Then came a another thing I hadn't seen before. Just beyond Beckie's (I mean you walk there) is the Rogue Gorge. This is the narrowest part of the river, a spectacular, albeit small-scale, carved chasm only 20 feet wide. This is a 500 foot stretch of the river that drops 40 feet. Which isn't really so much in a right-angle triangle but is very impressive "in person."
Then we made a quick detour by Diamond Lake to have lunch and see how their fish-poisoning project was coming along. The lake has been overrun with the tui chub, an introduced species (bait that got away) of tiny, bony, little minnows. They over-breed, eating all the food and causing lots of organic material (fish poop) and subsequent algae bloom which chokes out everything (except the tui chub apparently), makes the lake unpleasant and the trout fishing nonexistent--not a good thing for a recreational lake all set up with a lodge, grocery store, cabins, camping sites, hiking trails and bikes and boats to rent. Diamond Lake has had the tui chub problem for over 10 years, but this year they finally got through the permissions necessary to apply rotenone and kill all the chubs--and all other fish, insects and spiders. It's a selective poison. So I guess there will be frogs and snakes left but nothing for them to eat. The water was drawn way down, the poison applied and the dead fish scooped off. Except for the one-third of them that sunk, but no one is worrying about that apparently. There is, however, a great deal of concern among environmentalists about what this 8 to 12 month draw-down means to the local wetlands. Next year the lake will be re-filled, the trout will be restocked and the cycle will start again, requiring the poison (or something) to be re-applied in another several decades, because humans *never* get smart enough to stop this cycle. It's just the way we are, I guess.
For the evening, we had dinner reservations at Crater Lake Lodge (the most special part of my thank-you gift from Fred), but had plenty of time to take a turn around the lake before then. I've written about Crater Lake before and it's still amazing and blue and the deepest lake on the North American Continent. It is a 6 mile wide caldera which was created by the eruption and collapse of Mt. Mazama almost 7,000 years ago. It is overwhelmingly beautiful. This time we drove around the rim-drive clockwise, a totally different experience than when Sheila, Jeffi and I did it counter-clockwise. The volcanic formations on the north rim are even more varied and wonderful than we saw before, but there's no place to stop and take pictures. I'll just describe one -- a five-foot boulder made up of tiny little balls of red clay, no bigger than marbles or cherries. With some patience, it seems like you could pick them off in an afternoon and destroy something that's been there for thousands of year. But *I* wouldn't, would you? Maybe that's why there are no parking places.
One of the things we were doing on this trip was looking at all the different kinds of evergreen cones along the way. We stopped at a white-bark pine stand, an interesting alpine tree, all gnarled and bent at this elevation and subject to the very strong winds that blow off the lake.  We should have know what we were in for, when as we drove into the lot, a chipmunk stood up on a log and dared us to get out of the car. It took a LOT of searching before we found anything other than eaten-up cones that looked like little brown, hairy corncobs. Check out this chipmunk's dining room table  . Eventually we found some good ones, all glistening with sap on the edges and then some of the clean, smooth beige of spruce cones. It's a national park and you're not allowed to take them away, just admire them, so the chipunk's winter supply is still there, just shuffled around a little.
After a bit more exploration and admiration of various cones at various places around the rim, we went to Crater Lake Lodge for the sunset and dinner. The lodge, was built in 1915 and has been totally restored in the last 10 years. The beams are massive and everything else is exquisite, including the service and the food. Fred had lamb kabobs, I had halibut and we shared a grilled artichoke appetizer. When we asked the waiter if it was possible to get the recipe, he said, "Of course, please consult the web site, then ask the chef, Therese, known as Terry, to e-mail it to you. She will be delighted."
Terry didn't respond to my e-mail. In fairness, the restaurant was closing in a week, and perhaps she didn't have time. But in keeping with my commitment to give you recipes when I can, here's my best guess.
- Cook the artichoke
- Cut in half lengthwise and remove the choke
- Marinate for a while in an oil and basalmic vinegar combo with garlic and ginger
- Drain and grill cut-side down until slightly brown and crispy
- Turn and grill another few minutes, drizzling with marinade Serve with a creamy sauce, like Bearnaise with maybe a bit of lemon zest
The desserts looked good, too, but we said, "No, thanks, we've already had dessert today." And the waiter said, "Ah, you've been to Beckie's."
One other interesting thing about the lodge presents something of a sour note. The staff, although all polite and professional, said it was NOT a good place to work. The lodge is run by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, which runs about 20 national facilities including Yellowstone and Zion. we didn't find out specifically why this company was so bad, but all of the young people, both talked to and eaves-dropped on were consistently adamant on this point. They felt like they weren't appreciated or listened to and had been promised things that weren't delivered. I don't know what I expect you to do with this information. Just tuck it behind your ear in case we need to start a campaign about it, I suppose. After all, we can't run the national parks without all those young people willing to live in dorms, far away from any modern amusements and sometimes in significant danger. Why, I read an article just the other day about a young man who got "bumped" by a buffalo (accurately an American bison) at Wind Cave National Park and spent three days in the hospital. The animal didn't charge him, you understand, just shouldered him out of the way. He was hogging the salt lick or something.
After our wonderful dinner, I kept Fred awake driving back to Lost Creek Lake by singing and asking questions about anything I could think of. One I didn't ask was "why do they use young lodge pole pines as snow plow guides?" Because I already know the answer, it's cheaper than metal and easier to replace.
Tuesday was our un-planned day, but Fred, of course, already had a great plan. That's next.
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