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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Steens Visit

One day, we drove to the top of Steens Mountain and another day we drove the long loop. It seemed very long – sixty miles of gravel road. By the time I finished it and returned to camp, I was pretty well done with gravel for a while. Views from the top and into the gorges – Kiger, Big Indian and Little Blitzen – are truly amazing. I hope to return someday when the skies are clear and not filled with wildfire smoke. From the top, I could barely make out the Alvord Desert. It is supposed to be one of the highlights of a visit to Steens.

Kiger Gorge with a wall of smoke
The view from the top
I do love these rocks
Mountain mahogany
Big Indian Gorge
Little Blitzen Gorge
Lots of basalt
wild horses

Ups and Downs of a Road Trip

The girls and I recently returned from two-plus weeks on the road with the new (to us) camper. It was a trip full of ups and downs. We crossed many steep passes in Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The northwest has lots of mountains. We drove to the top of Steens Mountain, nearly 10,000 feet high in SE Oregon and we drove to Stanley, Idaho – a tiny mountain town at over 6000 feet in the Sawtooth Mountains. I can’t begin to name all the passes we crossed in Oregon. Highway 395 just seems to go up and down all the time.

Seeing these beautiful places was a great high point of the trip but there were also lows. Smoke-filled sky in Oregon dimmed the views of and from Steens Mountain. Hot temperatures left Luna wilted and slowed down our adventures. And since it was unseasonably hot, the rattlesnakes were still active. I suppose the lowest of the lows was two flat tired on the 4 Runner. I did manage to to get them both changed and I endured two long trips (seventy miles, one way) to the tire store, taking up two full days of the trip.

The girls and I did enjoy camping next to a river with shady trees to provide afternoon respites. Morning and evening walks were delightful. Page Springs used to be a sleepy place, visited mainly by birders and other wildlife enthusiasts but in 2020 covid year, everyone is searching for out of the way places to camp. The campground host said it had been full most every night since Memorial Day. I remember when Ken and I camped there on our honeymoon and nearly had the place to ourselves.

Morning walks along the Blitzen River
My favorite juniper tree
Sagebrush taller than me
Peter French Round Barn

Fall Camping

We took the new camper to Blackpine Lake last weekend to try it out and look for any issues it might have. It was a good time to do it as we had rain and chilly weather. We found a leak but it was probably because the fan vent was not closed up tight. And we also discovered a power issue. Even though the thing is pretty new, it turns out the battery is bad. That’s easy enough to fix. Other than that, it all worked and was super comfy. I thought we could share the couch area with the dogs but they just took up more room than they did in the old camper!

Blackpine Lake is a new place for us even though it’s less than an hour from home. It is a Forest Service campground. We’ve been up there on day outings but this was the first time we camped there. No doubt, we will return. After Friday afternoon’s rain, the light on the mountains was unbelievable. The next morning was nearly as lovely. There is a nice trail along the lake and a couple of docks for fishing and swimming seems popular in the summer. I imagine it’s pretty busy during the warmer months but we had the place nearly all to ourselves. The forest around the campground is full of lovely large ponderosa pines, doug firs and aspens too. Really beautiful trees.

Dusk
Sunrise
In this light, you can see the edge of the 2018 Crescent wildfire where it burned into the Buttermilk drainage.
That’s a BIG snag!

Something New

Recently I made a short trip, without the girls, to Portland, 400 miles away. I left one day and returned the next. Why would I do that? Well, I have been on the search for a new camper trailer since last January. It turns out that 2020 was not the year to shop for an rv, or for that matter a puppy, a bicycle or a kayak. All are in big demand in the year of the covid. Our little tent trailer has served us well for ten years but since I like to travel on my own from time to time, I just wanted something newer that might be more reliable in the long run.

I found a more stout version of a tent trailer with nice size tires and clearance that will handle rough roads. It also has a furnace! Remember those times in Utah and New Mexico when the temperature hovered in the teens? Maybe now I can weather those long nights in comfort. It is only a year old and the previous owners said they used it just six times. They never did take it off paved roads.

My friend in Portland met me at a state park in the Columbia Gorge and pitched her tent on a rocky outcropping overlooking the big river. We enjoyed a nice walk in the morning before heading off in opposite directions.

I left early and caught the morning light creeping down the rocky hillsides
Across the Columbia at Wells Dam. This is part of the Pearl Hill fire that began on Labor Day.
Rabbitbrush in full bloom.
The Yakima Canyon at Umptanum Creek. Most of that side of the canyon burned a week or so before I was there.

Summer’s Last Hurrah

We spent last week camped at Odlin Park on Lopez Island in the San Juan archipelago. The weather was mostly lovely with just one windy day and we were able to be on the water a fair amount. Sky got to try dock diving and Luna poked around the wrack line for smelly stuff, occasionally going in the water. We set crab traps, lost two of them on the windy day, and Ken fished (unsuccessfully) for salmon. We shared good food with good friends at our beachfront picnic table. The day we left, wildfire smoke from Oregon and California filled the air and we were ok with the end of the camping trip.

Expensive transportation to the islands
Our beachfront campsite
So many kinds of boats
Freight and heavy equipment travels on barges
Crab trap floats
Mangy looking crow on the beach
Cute little Mew Gull
Resilience
Madronna trees
Pelagic Cormorants cling to cliff faces
On top of a cliff