How can there be sand dunes and a Marine West Coast climate in the same state?

Astoria, Oregon

Sitting in the historic Coffee Girl inside Pier 39 where the employees of Bumble Bee tuna used to get their java. There is a museum here now and other small shops. The Oregonians are real coffee aficionados. I am finding it hard to find decaf coffee. Here at the Coffee Girl the lightest coffee brew is medium roast. To get to the pier I drove over a wooden pier bridge and can hear the croak of harbor seals on the headwall. Two large container ships are at anchor in the harbor and a Coast Guard vessel just passed by on it’s way up the mighty Columbia River.

Critters in the park

 the ultimate selfie

I am abandoning my campsite as the mosquitos are the largest and most ferocious I have experienced. The mosquitos must be wired from sipping all of the espresso that they have here. Florence, Italy has espresso bars where you step up and put your foot up on the railing and swig down a demitasse of espresso. Well here there are espresso drive thru’s. Gotta get that jolt!

No wonder there are marijuana shops everywhere so that people can mellow out from the espresso. I have a good mind to try the stuff for the first time in my life! I just asked a man next to me how to spell marijuana as spell check didn’t recognize the word! He runs a dungeness crab place here at the pier. He says the marijuana is strong and to only eat half a brownie as it is very strong here.

Now, you must be wondering when I will get to the subject of this blog. I have a degree in Geography and as I travel the coast of Oregon I wonder how there can be the Oregon Sand Dunes Nartional Rec Area and a climate known as the Marine West Coast Climate. The dunes run for 40 miles and apparently are the largest expanse of coastal sand dunes anywhere in North America. Some of the dunes are as high as 500 ft. There are several areas where board sand surfing and dune buggies are allowed. You can take a “Dune Adventure” or rent a buggy/ ATV yourself. The National Rec Area web site says “Tides, wave action and strong coastal winds move the sand up to 2.5 miles inland.” The basis for it all is the Dune Sheet of Marine Sandstone underlying the whole area. The seasonal change of wind direction reshapes dune sculptures and ridges. Some of the dunes are covered with vegetation. I climbed up to the top of one dune in the pouring rain. I was barefoot and wanted to see what was on the other side. I was rewarded with views of endless dunes and a mad looking ocean. Then I had wet, cold feet.

The Marine West Coast climates are typically found to the west of large mountain ranges that cause fronts to collide and release all of their precipitation. Wet warm air from the coast rises and cools as it goes over the mountains. This causes the water in the air to cool and condense, resulting in rain, drizzle, and fog on the seaward side of the mountains. Then drier air proceeds inland. This is known as the rainshadow effect. This results in a very special climate. This climate moderates the summer heat and the winter cold but it is known for being typically rainy and foggy. So I won dared how there could be sand dunes and this climate together. The sand dunes are not formed because of heat and dryness so they both can be compatible. This climate is also down in Chile. In the US it ranges from Oregon all the way north through British Columbia. All I can think about is rain (wet tent), humidity and grey skies. 

foggy and rainy

Lewis and Clark came down the Columbia on the north side of the river and first saw the Pacific at Disappointment Point. They didn’t like it there and crossed the river to found their winter fort at Fort Clatsop. My campground is just down the road from the old Fort. They went a ways down the coast to boil sea water to make salt and found a beached whale at Cannon Beach. They needed oil for the winter and their trip home so they boiled down the blubber to make oil. 

Cannon taken from the south

Cannon Beach from the north

I am reading three books: 1) The Journals of Lewis and Clark. It must be the original version as the spelling is almost indecipherable. 2) I am also reading Mark Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi” and discovered the name “Mark Twain” was taken from a nautical term pilots used on the river. 3) The third book is a biography of Jeddidiah Smith. I stayed at a campground in CA by that name and traveled down the Smith River canyon. He was a beaver trapper and made the first trips to California and then up the coast to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia. I get into my snuggly bed at night, don my head lamp and read myself to sleep. 

Calla lilies grow everywhere

Lovely Oregon beach in the sunshine

Sensory Overload - The Roads I’ve Taken

Next Gas 179 Miles on Route 140

Route 140 from north of Winnemucca, NV to Klamath County, OR was a complete surprise. My physiography book says I drove though the northern tier of the Basin and Range Area of the US. "It is distinguished by isolated, roughly parallel mountain ranges separated by desert basins, generally almost flat. There is no run off to the sea." I read that description after I had driven the section and I can attest to the fact that the basins are FLAT! It was a high elevation sage desert. The temperatures were in the low 60’s but come June it will be a very different place. The thermometer will rise and everything will dry up and it will be a different experience to drive it then. There was a 179 mile stretch of road with no gas and it looked like one of the loneliest places on earth! But it was still beautiful in it’s own way. The FLAT basins were endless. One section of road went 30 miles without even a bend in the road. I didn’t see any wildlife but there were caution signs for mule, cattle, elk, and mountain goats.

When I think of Oregon I think of pine trees and I was not disappointed. I moved out of the Basin and Range section into the Columbia Plateau.It was still high desert but the slopes were covered with the huge Ponderosa Pine and other fir species.

Road side plaque with drawing of Mt Mazama

Scientists think the volcano called Mt Mazama used to be at least 12,000 ft high until it blew most of it’s top. What is left is the cone of Wizard Island in Crater Lake. Nothing can prepare you for the color blue of that lake. There were some Steller’s Jays flying about and they have an iridescent blue color that seems to complement the lake.

Back on the road, from Crater Lake to the Redwoods, the shortest route is over US 199. It it a 2 lane highway but it is possible to drive at expressway speeds. There was one 80 mile section with no posted speed limit. Once you hit the California border to the southwest, the highway becomes The Le Mans Racecourse. It is amazing scenery because the highway follows the steep sided valleys carved by the Smith River. The Smith is one of the only large US rivers that has not been damed and it flows relentlessly to the sea. Route 199 takes you from the high mountain plateau to the Pacific Ocean on one heck of a ride..

The next road made me laugh and shake my head with wonder, as I had done so many times along the way. I made the left turn into the Jedediah Smith State Park which is part of the Redwoods National Park. I was immediately engulfed by stately Redwood with mammoth trunks. The light could only filter through and the campground road wound it’s way among the tall trees. The forest felt almost primeval.

My home away from home

Bear Box

This tree is small compared to some

But you can't see it's top

Today was a road of a different sort - a Klamath river tour by fast jet boat. The outside temps were only in the mid 50’s and the boat captain made sure to execute some 360’s where the boat stands on end and produces wonderful waves that get everyone on board wet. The highlight of the trip was seeing a pair of nesting Bald Eagles.

Cloudy but scenic 

This morning I had two impatient Steller’s Jays watching me eat breakfast, They wanted an opportunity to pick up any crumbs I had left behind. But alas, the park instructions are to leave no crumbs and to put everything, including tooth paste, in our locked cars or bear boxes. This is black bear country and the park does not want to let the bears know that there is food available in campgrounds.

The Pacific near Crescent City, CA

Tomorrow I will be hiking through several old growth forests and then on Sunday I will start my slow moseying up the Oregon coast. Just the few pictures I got here in Crescent City tell that I will we stopping at every overlook for pictures.

I lost the Mountains and “Thank You” Miss Ormiston

There is a significant elevation gain from North Platte in Nebraska at 2802 ft to the Flaming Gorge area up at 6700 ft in western Wyoming. It is a gentle climb over hundreds of miles so the elevation gain is not very noticeable. In Wyoming, I-80 sneaks south of the Laramie Range then sweeps north of the Medicine Bow and south of the dome around Rock Springs. There are no mountains! When I got directly north of Denver, Colorado I expected to see what I would see from Denver; the front range of the Rockies. But after reading my physiography book which I have brought along, I found that I had been traveling up something called the Wyoming Basin and there are no mountains. Today I got within 100 miles of Salt Lake City before I saw the foothills of the Wasatch Range. Ah, finally real mountains!

I had traveled very close to “South Pass” and I had the misconception that when the trappers found the “South Pass” in southern Wyoming they had found a narrow “v” shipped valley in some large mountains.

An interesting phenomena occurs in Wyoming, as I-80 crosses the Continental divide in two places. In between is something called the Red Desert and has no outlet to either coast. The South Pass is just to the north of the Red Desert, whereas I-80 crosses to the southern side of the Red Desert.

When I left the Flaming Gorge area this morning, I located the valley of the Henrys Fork River where the first Rendezvous was held in 1825. The valley is wide and at least 25 miles long. There are cattle ranches and irrigated fields in the valley now. It is surrounded by a series of high bluffs and hills. A little father on I went through the town of Fort Bridger on the Blacks Fork River. Jim Bridger set up the trading fort in 1842. Four Trails go through Fort Bridger: The Oregon, the Mormon, the California and the Pony Express. Jim Bridger’s fort was certainly located in a great spot for business and must have been a welcome sight to the trappers and pioneers.

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Henry's Fork Valley

When I was a kid in Bernardsville, NJ, I used to get on my bike and go down town to the public library. Miss Ormiston was the librarian and I was deathly afraid of the woman. She was a big buxom woman who wore a bun, glasses on her nose and those old black heels with tie up laces. She was a formidable figure and I had to pass by her elevated check out desk on my way to the children's book room. But once I got there I was fascinated by a series of books with orange covers that covered famous figures in America. I particularly loved the ones about the west; Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, the Pony Express, the wagon trains, the buffalo hunting, the cowboys, the Union Pacific. I read them all and I had to brave the severe Miss Ormiston to check the books out!

 We played cowboys and Indians and watched western movies as kids. We each had our gun and holster with caps that sometimes went off. We were steeped in all things western. I attribute what I know about the west to those orange books. So “Thank You” Miss Ormiston.

I talked to a friend who remembers the same set of books and neither of us can remember ever having a formal course in that period of American History.

Ponderosa Pine Bark

Yesterday I followed a National Scenic Byway around the southern end of the Flaming River Gorge, a National Recreation Area. One of the viewpoints of the gorge was up at 7000 ft and there I found the Ponderosa Pine growing. It can be a massive tree and has a bark that smells like butterscotch or vanilla. I love the patterning in the bark.

“Too thick to drink and too thin to plow” - Observation on the Roadways

Part of this story is about the “Great Platte River Road.”  The streams and creeks flowing eastward out of Colorado became known as the North and South Platte. They combine here in North Platte to become the Platte. The Platte flows into the Missouri and that in turn into the Mississippi.

From my reading, historic plaques at rest stops on I-80, and now here in North Platte where I am camping, I have discovered some nuggets of info about the “Great Platte River Road.” This river system is considered one of the greatest “roadways” to the west. It was used by fur trappers, emigrants, military expeditions (to among other things, wipe out the Indians), gold seekers and the Mormons. The Oregon and Mormon Trails followed the rivers as did the Pony Express, the Union Pacific, the Lincoln Highway and now I-80. I have discovered here in North Platte the World’s Largest Railroad Yard. Apparently some 15,000 rail cars transverse this location on any given day. Apparently Wild Bill Cody had a farm here.

The French as the first Europeans, found and named this waterway back in the 1700’s but the Oto and Pawnee were living here for ions. The French named the river the Nebraskier but the Oto word for “flat” took over the name. Two quotes I saw yesterday on a roadside plaque were pretty descriptive: “The Platte is a mile wide, but only 6 inches deep” and “it’s too thick to drink and too thin to plow.”

There is another roadway of sorts here, known as the Central Flyway. Numerous species of birds use this flyway but the most noteworthy are the Sandhill Cranes. Apparently more than 80% of that species stops here on it’s way each fall and spring. I just missed the cranes which come through here up through April.

It was spritzing when I got in last night and set up my tent and dining tarp. It poured and roared with thunder and lightning during the night but today is sunny and windy. I forgot how the winds can blow out in the west. My campsite is next to I-80 and a motorcycle and go-kart facility. I am the only tenter. This is my neighbor.

 

 My dining tarp is called a “sunshade” by the manufacturers and I was curious to see how it would fare during the storm. Because it’s poles are only air filled chambers, I came out this morning to find it’s legs had collapsed sideways sorta. The air had not come out of the chambers, it just needed to be propped up correctly. Stability is not it's strong point! But everything was dry underneath. Note to self: “This was a stupid thing to rely on!” I thought I would give it a try as it is very easy to put up and take down. My tent has alcoves that extend from both the front and rear doors, so push come to shove I can always cook there if it is pouring too heavily. Or I brought a small tarp and two poles to rig a cover if all else fails. 

oops

The Mountain Men

Departure day is upon me and I am so excited, especially since I ran across this picture today of  Moraine Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. It is on my trip itinerary. I think this view is AWESOME.

There is little left to do except food shop and pack the car. Since everything fit on my last trip, I am confident I can make it all stay below the window sills on this trip also. I need to clean the windshield and set up my auxiliary GPS. My new wide truckers rear view mirror is in place to help me see my blind spots.

I went to charge my trusty “Coleman Hot Water Heater” and discovered it was “trusty” no more. Luckily for Amazon Prime my new one arrived today and is getting its initial charge. The charge makes the propane light which then provides the energy to pump and heat water for dish washing and showers. I didn’t want to “leave home without it.”

In reviewing my itinerary I discovered a really cool thing. It is a bit of a story to get to the point but here goes. All winter I have been reading up on American History and read the biography of Alexander Hamilton (yes, the broadway show source), then several books of historical fiction about the Revolutionary War. Then I read two books about the bison (buffalo) in the west and how they were hunted and virtually decimated except for a rare few in Yellowstone and a few other places. Then I started to wonder how the west was really settled and I discovered a group called the Mountain Men. 

The Mountain Men were lone beaver trappers who roamed the upper West on the Missouri, Yellowstone and other western rivers. The movie "The Revenant" was about Hugh Glass who was an early Mountain Man Then I read several histories about others such as William Henry Ashley, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, John Colter, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Andrew Henry, and Jedediah Smith. John Jacob Astor funded a Fur Company to buy furs from the trappers. I am now reading about Lewis And Clarks’ expedition and discovered that they ran into at least 11 of these Mountain Men on their 1804-6 expedition. The lone trappers soon started working for several companies such as Astor’s that competed for the precious beaver furs. The Mountain Men were hearty souls who only had muzzle loading single shot rifles, pistols and knives for protection and hunting.

It was an incredibly strenuous life for these men as they often trapped in territory in which no white man had ever traveled. They had to kill what they ate and had to deal with often hostile Indians and grizzly bears. They traded with some Indians and lived with some Indians part of the time. It was an arduous thing to trap the beaver in the colder months when their fur was the best and then transport their hides back to civilization for sale. They had to resupply too and then they did it all over again by going back to their beloved solitude in the mountains. 

The fur companies started to lead wagon trains out to meeting places in the west in order to resupply the trappers and buy their furs. These meeting places turned into yearly meetings in the summer at various locations in the upper west and became known as "The Rendezvous.”. Their first Rendezvous was located in McKinnon, Wyoming in 1825. Rendezvous were held almost every year until 1840 when the beaver had been played out. Guess where I plan to camp on May 13-14th? I will be at the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in Green River, WY, located just a few miles from McKinnon, WY. I am psyched. In fact I will be driving through McKinnon on my way to Salt Lake City. 

Writers found their way to the Rendezvous and sent their fantastic stories of the west back east. It was about 1840 when the beaver had played out that the wagon trains started to arrive on the plains. All of the wonderful stories about the west had inspired the homesteaders to make the trip west. Only a few trappers knew of the passes to get over the mountains and thus signed on to be guides and hunters for the wagon trains. One of the Mountain Men discovered the South Pass in western Wyoming which turned out to be the easiest route across the Rockies. (“easiest” being a relative term here).

The Union Pacific Railroad, the first railroad to go across the country, used the South Pass route. I don’t think the current I-80 uses South Pass but I will cross the Continental Divide very near that location. All of this will happen during the first few weeks of my trip as I hope to be in Salt Lake by the 15th. 

I discovered that there are many current day re-enactors of the Rendezvous, held all over the upper west in the US and Canada. The participants perform the same competitions that went on at the real Rendezvous. James Beckwourth describes: "Mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, target-shooting, yarns, frolic, with all sorts of extravagances that white men or Indians could invent.” (James Beckwourth was a mountain man that dictated his life’s story to a writer named Bonner who produced the book “The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians.”)

My next real blog post probably won’t be until I get to Flaming Gorge or Salt Lake.