We did a couple of hikes in Newberry National Volcanic Monument.
The visitor center:
Relief map:
A short one-mile hike through the lava field behind the visitor center, “Trail of the Molten Land”:
A picnic lunch:
Sign:
Another short hike down to Paulina Falls:
Paulina lake:
Paulina visitor center:
Relief map:
Sign:
We visited Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.
Crater Lake is Oregon’s only national park. We’ve been there a few times before, and no doubt will be back many times.
If you haven’t been to Crater Lake, you haven’t experienced the color blue.
One thing we haven’t yet done is drive all the way around the lake. The East Rim Drive is closed most of the year; it only opens late in summer, it feels like only for a few weeks, though is probably longer. One day we’ll make it at the right time!
Here’s a map showing the open and closed portions:
Crater Lake sign:
Road:
Snow:
Crater Lake:
Picnic:
Boat:
Road closed:
Snow:
Crater Lake:
Crater Lake:
Crater Lake:
Crater Lake:
Crater Lake:
Crater Lake:
Visitor center:
Store:
Relief map:
Crater Lake Lodge, currently being renovated:
Squirrel:
Crater Lake:
We stayed at Thousand Trails Bend-Sunriver RV Campground in Bend, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Sites: Good, Amenities: Bad
The amenities are definitely tired and in need of upgrades and refurbishment, but the campsites are all nestled amongst the pines which is nice. We were able to snag one of the very limited 50 amp sites, which was a bonus. Our site was also quite large. After I cleaned up all the trash left by previous campers, it was quite a nice spot. Not having a sewer connection is the main limiting factor for us, so rather than stay two weeks, we only stayed six days. Even still, the next time we want to visit Central Oregon, we’ll be back. We camped at Bend-Sunriver RV Campground in a Motorhome.
The RV park map; it’s a little hard to tell the blue 50 amp sites from the green 30 amp sites, but the 50 amp ones are limited to the lower-right corner of the map:
Our site:
Fire pit:
We got a harness for Paladin, and have been getting him used to wearing it. During this stay, we briefly took him outside for the first time. Unsurprisingly, he was somewhat freaked out by the experience. We’ll do more practice later:
We added another National Park sticker for Crater Lake:
Burger and chips:
Toasting marshmallows:
S’mores:
A squirrel visiting our site:
Also a rabbit:
Let’s look around. The entrance:
A little lending library:
Town marshal decoration:
Lightfingers Lew:
Blacksmith:
Seating area:
Country store:
They have a propane tank, but no longer fill propane for guests:
Wild rabbits:
Horseshoe pits:
Pond:
Mini golf:
There are a couple of swimming pools, but both are empty (and have been for some time, by the sounds of things):
Other RVs, yurts, and cabins:
Rabbits:
Little Deschutes River snakes by the park:
Me following our coach when leaving:
A line for the dump station; since there was no sewer connection, we (and others) wanted to dump our waste tanks before leaving:
The dump station:
Exiting:
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 140 miles from Dayville, Oregon to Bend, Oregon.
We drove our coach 140 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Dayville, Oregon to Bend, Oregon.
The map route, heading southwest:
When departing we toaded up (i.e. hooked up our truck to our coach) on a road outside the park:
We had an issue where the airbag suspension wasn’t reaching travel height; in the end we decided to start forward anyway, and suddenly it reached the right level. My theory was that since we were heading downhill, there was too much weight on the front, until we leveled out. An important lesson to always get to travel height before moving (which we almost always do; this was an unusual situation).
Dayville Cafe:
Mesa:
Picture Gorge; scenic, but a little nerve-wracking in a 40-foot coach:
A nice meadow and barn:
Paladin:
Hills:
Another nice meadow and barn, the kind of place we might like to have as a home base one day:
Lake:
Tastee Treet:
Horse sculptures:
Mountains:
Redmond sculpture:
Thousand Trails entrance:
They were replacing the entrance barriers:
We visited John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. It consists of three units; we visited the Sheep Rock Unit and the Painted Hills Unit:
Viewpoint:
Picture Gorge:
Sign:
Picture Gorge:
Peak:
Who was John Day? Just a naked guy who never went there:
Visitor center:
A peek into a lab:
James Cant Ranch. Maybe he should have given up, then:
Picnic lunch:
On the way to the Painted Hills Unit:
Painted hills:
A quick update on the three-stage water filters we got a few months ago; it was time to change the filters. Here you can see the difference between the old and new filters; they definitely seem to be doing some good!
We stayed at Fish House Inn & RV Park in Dayville, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Fantastic boutique campground
This campground truly is a gem. It’s a small park tucked away in a small town, with all the charm that conjures in the imagination. All the sites are back-in and surrounded by well-manicured lawns and many big trees. Reservation and check-in were all done online and were very efficient. No phone service, but we were able to find enough sky through the trees to get a decent Starlink connection. We camped at Fish House Inn and RV Park in a Motorhome.
The RV park map:
Our site:
Utilities:
A cat visited our site:
Dinner:
A convenience store by the park:
With a single gas pump:
Pony Express:
Fish House Inn sign:
Fish House Inn:
Gather sign:
Bathroom:
Dry camping and tent sites:
Other sites:
Rainbow:
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 196 miles from Caldwell, Idaho to Dayville, Oregon.
We drove our coach 196 miles, about 4 hours of driving (plus a couple of hours of waiting), from Caldwell, Idaho to Dayville, Oregon. It felt really good to be back in Oregon!
The map route, heading northwest:
Leaving the RV park:
Roadworks:
Paladin’s expression seems to say “a travel day AGAIN?!”; we feel that; three days in a row was a bit much; we plan to avoid that in the future:
Happy enough sitting on the back of my chair:
Crossing Snake River from Idaho into Oregon:
Welcome to Oregon:
We stopped at the rest area just after entering Oregon:
Check out time of the RV park was 11:00 MDT, check in time at the next destination was 16:00 PDT (unusually late), and travel time was about 4 hours, so we needed to wait a couple of hours. So we hung out at the rest area:
We had a super-classy lunch of hotdog buns with bologna and American cheese:
Our coach and truck:
We also visited the welcome center and wandered around the rather nice grounds:
Flowering prickly pear cacti; probably the last we’ll see of those for a few months (other than the one we have in our coach):
Oregon Trail info:
Then back on the road; nice Oregon bridge artwork:
Love’s diesel and DEF stop; $6.419 for diesel is rather a lot, though we paid less, thanks to a fuel discount card:
Turn to Bend:
Barn:
We followed this haymaker for a while:
And discovered a new dash indicator: after following that farm equipment with our hazard lights on, a “Check Info” light came on the dash, with a message on the display saying “Turn Signal On”. Apparently that appears if you drive more than a mile with a turn signal on, as a reminder for people who (somehow?!) don’t notice leaving it on. The message can be dismissing by hitting a button:
Hills:
Old building:
Fun fact: there is a portion of Oregon that uses Mountain time. So we entered the Pacific time zone further into the state:
A pleasant lakeside stop:
Our coach and truck:
A picturesque lake (actually Murray Reservoir):
Our truck and coach:
Back on the highway:
Sleepy Paladin:
Nice hills:
An idyllic meadow; this is the kind of place we could see ourselves settling down one day (for at least half the year):
Log building:
Mountains:
A wagon by a viewpoint:
Prairie City:
Cute little purple flowers:
I seemed to be a barn-pics mood:
The town of John Day:
Hills and John Day River:
Welcome to Dayville, “our fossils are friendly”:
Our destination, Fish House Inn and RV Park:
