Spokane to Kalaspell

I arrived in Spokane on Friday… had some research time in the local library, then headed back to my airport motel to meet Tina… she was flying in, due about midnight… Eventually, she landed about 8:00 am… having spent the night in the Seattle airport.

We headed back to the motel so she could shower… then headed east on I-90.  While Tina had been to Spokane before, she had never walked over and looked at the falls… I found the falls fascinating and unexpected… lots of towns have rivers and parks along side… few have anything as impressive as Spokane Falls… so we started with a detour through town… walking a loop across one bridge, then back across another.

I don’t know if either of us expected how nice the I-90 drive would be… through forests along lakes and rivers.  Luckily, the day’s planned drive allowed for some time to explore, so we didn’t feel rushed even with the late start and detour…

We got off the freeway in Kellogg to look at the historic district (there were signs on the freeway for the historic district)  The first thing we found was a collection of mining railroad equipment… a common theme here abouts… Seemingly, every town has a park with a collection of mining railroad equipment… a battery locomotive without its battery, a mine car or two, the miner’s cars, and a mucker…  Many stores have a mining car… some with equipment and some ore, some with flowers…

Back to Kellogg, Kellogg was a home to a long standing successful gold, later silver, lead and zinc mine, the Bunker Hill, and mill… the town’s economy based on the jobs from the mine… The mine closed in the early 1980’s… it is now a EPA superfund site.  They have turned part of the area into a ski resort… but the old part of town is pretty sad… it hasn’t really embraced, or been embraced by the ski resort… It was all closed stores and worn buildings… I found a quote on a web site about the town’s history

The town, wanting to change it's image, adopted an Alpine theme and built a gondola to the top of the Jack Ass Ski Bowl, renamed it Silver Mountain; changed Jack Ass Gulch to Jacob's Gulch, etc. etc. etc. But there are among us, people who believe that putting a duck in a chicken house and calling "chick-chick" will not change things. It is still a duck! It is still a chicken house.  From http://www.kellogg-idaho.com/

As a casual visitor, I have to agree…  But we did enjoy the Miner’s Hat Realty building, an office in the shape of a miner’s hat with lamp attached…  

A bit beyond Kellogg we got off the road again in Wallace… again we found a display of mining equipment in a park… but Wallace is not Kellogg.  Wallace has made the transition from “Silver Capital  of the World” to tourist town… very successfully.  We stopped at the Red Light Garage for a huckleberry milk shake… They had a mining car out front… also a flying saucer…   I-90 passes through town overhead… not through town geography suggests… appearently every building in the downtown is on the National Register… forcing highway engineers to respect the community…  We liked Wallace a lot…

Back onto the highway… back to the drive… At St Regis we left I-90… we paused at the “St Regis 4 way” a collection of gas stations and tourist centers… including the “Free Montana Trout Aquarium” located in a tourist store and hamburger stand and self identified “Tourist Information Center.”  We looked around, then got back on the road towards the National Bison Range.

The National Bison Range is a US Wildlife Service’s preserve, created by Teddy Roosevelt… They have 300+ Bison plus other animals within their boundaries… a 19 mile loop drive and a visitor’s center.  Your National Parks and Lands pass gets you in for free…

We saw Bison, Mule deer in velvet, white tailed deer, prong horn antelope…   Others saw a big horn sheep.  It is a wonderful place, and worth the time to visit… It took a couple of hours to drive the loop.

From there it was about a 2 hour drive north to Kalispell, and the Kalispell Grand Hotel, our stop for the night… we saw but didn’t stop at the Miracle of America Museum in Polson… but stopped for gas nearby…

It was about 6:00 when we finally reached Kalispell… were pleased to see an airplane on a stick on the edge of town (this blog has mentioned airplanes on sticks before… on one trip they became a theme…) this one was special… it had a propeller (most are jets, ex-military jets) and the propeller had bob-wire strung in circles to give the appearance of movement.

We found our hotel… the Kalispell Grand right downtown…  but that will have to wait until the next installment…

Pendleton to Spokane

Pendleton to Spokane

Out at 8:30... The latest start of the trip... Today will be The shortest day... 200 miles and 3 hours if Google is correct.

Since I had some time, I visit the Pendleton woolen mill, explore town, get cash at a handy Wells Fargo ATM, then head out of town... Picking up Hwy 395 before getting on the freeway.

10:05. Columbia River, state of Washington...  Paused to visit McNary dam & lock... You can look but you can't get close, for this is U. S. Government property and there are fences topped with bobbed wire and signs, saying "No Trespassing"

A little while later I cross the Columbia again at Pasco/Richland… this time from Washington to Washington…

The drive north is through farming land... Dry wheat, and irrigated hay...  A sigh in Lind announces a "combine demolition derby" ...  This is a sight I may need to see… something to add to the bucket list… I might say “you are not in Kansas anymore” but Kansas, being grain country might have combine demolition derbys…  A quick web search located a YouTube video… badly pixilated, but it suggests a spectacle of spectacular proportions… In slow motion (too slow to do as much damage as expected) and in the case of at least one entrant includes an inflatable penguin.  The closest thing in my experience might be the Hippo ballet sequence from Disney’s Fantasia, only with cotton candy instead of classical music.

The smoke is getting worse as I head north...  The fires are not close, but they are inescapable...

In to Spokane a bit after 1:00... I get gas on my way in, near the airport, across from the motel... Then into town, where I find the main library, and its North West history room...  I look at photos, at city directories, at a couple of subject files, and books... I move on to a targeted search of newspapers, and for a 1890 magazine... I find stuff.  The archivist asks if the smoke is still bad.

After 4 hours of research, I called it quits, walked along the river, gawking at the falls that define this place, wandered into a bookstore then drove back towards the airport and my motel...  I checked in, hauled the luggage inside, including Tina's suit case...  Then check email and such, only to see Tina's flight out of SFO is running late, and she will likely miss her connection from Seattle to Spokane...

After more than one phone call, and several web searches, the lovely Tina gives up and drives to the airport to catch her flight and beg for accommodation or for ???...  In the end, she will take her original, now very late flight to Seattle, where after a 6 hour layover she can fly here, to Spokane...  Arriving at 8:00 am.... A bit more than 8 hours late...  I suspect she will be tired.

I haul her suitcase back downstairs, and pack it away in the jeep...

I am off to dinner at a local Bar-B-Que place... The locals are string at the sunset and talking about smoke...

I will post this, upload a today's photos and go to bed...

I started my day in Alturas...

I started my day in Alturas...  Up earlier than expected, out looking for railroad artifacts... Then North out of town before 8:00

My route was along Hwy 395, a road better known for its more southern portions along the east side of the Sierras...  Here, beyond California, it is less known and less traveled...  And why I am here...

This is ranch country... Cattle and hay...  Working ranches... There still is some lumber, and the occasional tourist...

Heading north out of Alruras, I am following the railroad... Originally the N-C-O... The Nevada-Caliornia-Oregon Railway... A noticeably   unsuccessful narrow gauge line... It fell into the hands of the Southern Pacific, was standard gauged, portions used for their Modoc bypass... Today this piece is a local shortline, the rest abandoned and pulled up...  I am a sucker for failed railroads... Which has lead me here, to Alturas and Lakeview...

It is haying season... ranchers are out cutting hay, raking hay, and baling hay...

The weather has been weird... mostly blue skies, with high thin clouds mixed with yellow smoke from fires, most to the west… they are in part caused by the clouds which occasionally have produced lighting… Now headed north on 395, blue skies ahead, it is raining… and continues to rain for 10 miles…

In  Lakeview I go in search of the Victorian railroad depot, now a private home... it is not hard to find if you follow the railroad tracks...   A train came by…  Creating what might be called a photo opportunity... I may have taken pictures...

Having found the depot I stopped for gas and ice... the two commodities of necessity on the road.  In Oregon  Gas must be pumped by station staff... I am old enough to remember "full service" gas stations... I may have worked in one while in college (18 pumps) but that was then, and it is hard to let someone else pump gas... I needed ice for the cooler too... It was $1.99... Pick up you bag from the cooler in the shed... then back, headed north on 395. 

The county is empty… for some miles I drive along the bank of an alkali lake… Later I drive through a huge ranch… all buildings tan with green roofs… for miles and miles.   Smoke was particularly bad in Burns.  I turned left on to Hwy 26 at John Day, leaving 395 for a while.  

In Prairie City I stopped at the local railroad depot museum.   It was a very nice, classic small city museum… The depot was the south end of the Sumpter Valley railroad, a narrow gauge line abandoned just after WWII.   I was chasing its ghost.  From Prairie City I entered the mountains… occasionally I saw traces of the railroad, but only rarely…  This is rough heavily forested country.  At Austin I left Hwy 26 for the smaller Hwy 7… that took me to the Sumpter Valley, for which the railroad was named, and the site of a railroad museum/tourist railroad

Sumpter was a gold mining town… there is a dredge on display, open for tours… Dredging churned the valley floor, leaving a wide bed of gravel and rocks…  The tourist railroad runs down the valley from Sumpter… I looked around town, which was cute, but kind  of dead… the highlight being a deer, a buck, 3 or 4 points, walking thought a small junk yard… so much for the nobility of nature.

The railroad wasn’t running, but I spent time looking at their equipment and nosing through their junk piles (they had lots… and there was some interesting stuff found) visited the engine house took a few pictures, then returned to the road.

Heading east, it was obvious that there was a much closer fire…  I couldn’t find any local information on the radio…  Local radio has become a series of rebroadcasts of clips about video games, political talk shows and here, PBS… the only local thing is the commercials.

Hwy 7 met Hwy 83, a freeway at Baker… I stopped for gas at the truck stop near the highway… it was chaotic… Hwy 83 to the South was closed, there was a fire, maybe an accident too… no one was sure… there is not local news source to look to… I got gas, and headed north on Hwy 83… rumor at the gas station suggested there was a wheat field on fire along the way but I didn’t see it…

I am spending the night in Pendleton Oregon... about 2 hours up the road, in the next Best Western... (there is a song by David Swindel, called the “Next Best Western”… Lucy Roche sings it… ) It is a good place to pause on my journey.

I am writing this in the local brewpub, the Prodigal Son...  I am drinking their Ella, an IPA...  In part based on Cascade hops... I am a sucker for Cascade hops... I am happy... I have ordered a Ruben... They make their own sauerkraut... All is good.

Day 2, Lava Beds National Monument

I left the motel  in Shasta City at 7:51… doors closed pulling out of the parking lot… of course I wanted to stop for gas… and got away from the station at exactly 8:00…  (this would have been exactly on time on plan if there was a plan instead of a vague concept…)

Instead of approaching Lava Bed National Monument from the north, I came in from the south… from McCloud, over Medicine Lake road…   atop the Medicine lake shield volcano… the volcano that provided the lava to create Lava Bed National Monument… 

Back to my route… it took be east via Hwy 89, through the old railroad and logging town of McCloud… now a collection of B&B’s and a hotel, all in former logging company guest buildings with a bit of railroad track a couple of derelict cars and a water tank, close to collapse.   Nearly abandoned logging towns are not unusual in California… but this one was a big show… a going concern buying big diesel locomotives and modern railroad cars into the 1970’s…  Its world changed quickly.  In town I stopped at the Forest service office and bought some maps…  I had to pay cash… they don’t do plastic…  $20.43 for two maps… I didn’t want to head into parts unknown without a decent map or two.

Back east on 89 through the community of Bartle… then take a left on the first logging road… it also had a Forest Service and a county number… but at its core it was a logging road, a paved logging road… It passed over the recently scrapped McCloud Railroad, through lava beds… lots of lava beds, through a tree farm named Stump Flat… then more lava beds… spectacular lava beds… at Medicine Lake the road changed to one lane with regular pull outs… then to dirt… then the signs said it was closed, but the signs were small and off to the side, I had checked with the Forest Service and with the NPS neither of which knew of any road closures, and this was the route, and I had already gone 70 miles and didn’t want to backtrack…   The so I pressed on,  finding a couple of guys with bobcats working on the road… they waved me through…

I reached the park boundary at mile 75, after 2 hours and 25 minutes of driving… 

I hiked to Mammoth crater, just inside the park boundary… it was also the take off point for the “Big Nasty Trail” (really, the official name printed on the official map and brochure)…  I didn’t do that one…   Then down to the visitor’s center where I showed my magic card, (The America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Pass, the best deal in the world for park junkies) but also had to do a Cave safety and two or three minute bat disease awareness conversation... There is a fungal disease, white nose syndrome, decimating bat populations east of the Rockies... They are trying to keep it out of the lava tubes.  The awareness program is well handled…

At the suggestion of the naturalist, I did two caves,  Mushpot, 770‘ long, lighted, and paved, and sentinel, 3280’ long…  not lit, not paved, but considered an easy cave...  plus it can be done one way, coming out a different place than you entered. 

Left the visitor's center area... and headed down to the battle field area... for this was the site of the Modoc Indian wars… the only Indian war in which a general was killed…. First to the site of the Army’s Gillems camp...  Gillems was the original commander of the troops fighting here… he didn’t dislodge the Indians, but didn’t get himself killed either… Then out through the park entrance gate, but not out of the park.  Then to Canby's cross, on the spot where he (General Canby) died… then to Captain Jack's stronghold...  I ate lunch at the picnic area at the stronghold parking area... Sitting with a French couple...  They had the only shady table and invited me to join them.  They had read about the caves, but didn't know about the Indian war.  We had wonderful conversations about their travels in American, about why French cheese doesn’t taste the same here, and about squirrels… they hadn’t seem much wild life this trip, and when a grey tree squirrel visited the picnic area it was a high-light for them.

After lunch, our French visitors moved on to the visitor center and the caves, while I hiked the strong hold…  back on the road, I drove by Hospital rock, another Modoc War site, then paused a couple times at wildlife overlooks… mostly birds on Tule Lake, but I did see a swimming muskrat…   Beyond the lake was the monuments remote  petroglyph site… sadly protected by chain link fence and surveillance cameras…  and well marked with modern carvings…

From there it was about 50 miles to Alturas… initially on small farm roads, before reaching the big two lane highway… the highlight of the drive was a guy pulling a boat trailer which had a catastrophic tire failure… a complete blowout, tire leaving the rim, gone, no rubber…  This however did not deter our hero from continuing on for the next 10 miles at speeds up to 65 miles per hour on the metal rim…  He only stopped to get out and inspect the wheel after visiting the California Agricultural inspection… 

I reached Alturas 20 miles later… and explored the one time railroad headquarters town… The trains don’t run here anymore, but the track is still in place for now… There is a wonderful 1917 stone railroad headquarters office building, a stone depot, and other items of railroad history interests…  Maybe better, I encountered two truck loads of Forest Service fire crews… pulled over at a city park, napping in the shade on the lawn…  they had clearly been out on a fire, they were catching up on needed rest… and still had most of a season to go…

I checked in to my motel (the Rim Rock Motel… nice, older traditional place… well reviewed and in expensive… I am very happy with the choice)  It had its “NO Vacancy” sign lit… Then found dinner down the street at the Brass Rail, a Basque resterant… I am very full and happy as I write today’s blog post…  Coming back from dinner I sat outside and typed… an realized the fire crews were my neighbors at the motel…

Breaking away

I am traveling again, so posting again... this trip to Glacier National Park... more on the planning later...

I got into the car at 11:29, and was moving as the clock hit 11:30… This was a bit earlier than expected and a good omen… Traffic was clear… even where it shouldn’t be… I was passing through Berkeley at noon, 28 miles in 30 minutes through San Francisco and over the Bay Bridge.  At one hour I was in Fairfield, 64 miles out.  

Just beyond Vacaville I turned north on I-505… a surprisingly fast road… at 1:00 I was passing the exit for Zamora, 102 miles from home…  a bit later I-505 merged with I-5 and its traffic, particularly trucks… there were trucks passing trucks, trucks driving in the left lane, trucks passing RV’s towing cars... I was frequently having trouble making the speed limit.  The weather was weird… high thin clouds mixed with smoke from fires… weirdly humid, not as expected in Northern CA.

On a whim, I got off I-5 at Orland, taking Hwy 32 across the valley towards Chico… I was hoping to catch a tour of the Sierra Nevada Brewery. It wasn’t quite 2:00 and I was 173 miles from home.

I reached the Sierra Nevada Brewery at exactly 2:30… 196 miles from home in 3 hours… the tours for the day were full… I picked up some beer for the cooler, and headed north on Hwy 99, the old main road up the valley.

Beyond Chico Hwy 99 is a 2 lane road… not a divided or limited access highway… It was a refreashing change… Hwy 99 meets I-5 in Red Bluff… I picked up gas before getting on I-5, but the pumps were limited to $50.00 when you used a credit cars… this left the jeep less than full.

Back on I-5 the press of traffic affects driving style… The traffic was the too many trucks, the badly driven RV’s with their cars in tow, people trying to get somewhere fast, and people driving too slow.  One blue prius would drive too fast, then too slow as the driver took a phone call… One RV (without a towed car) wanted to drive in the fast lane at less than the speed limit… and was shaking his fist at people who would pass him.  It was the worst kind of street theater.  There was a big fire burning east of Redding… the column of thick yellow smoke making it obvious, but no mention on the radio…

Things thinned out quite a bit beyond Redding as we climbed up along Lake Shasta… the lake was very low… the drought is here, and water isn’t and fires are… Welcome to the west.

Looking for information on the fire I find Jefferson Public Radio… for this is the State of Jefferson, a historic idea that very north California and a bit of southern Oregon are too different to be included in their respective states, are too far from their respective state capitals and so are ignored… There was a semi serious attempt to succeed from and form a new state in 1940, complete with armed men and roadblocks.  It fell apart in the shadow of the war.  The concept has new life, now that the “6 states” proposition apparently made the ballot… Jefferson is one of the 6 states proposed in the measure.

I pulled off at Dunsmuir to look around… It’s a classic railroad town… the depot, turntable and shed for show plows all still in place… in a narrow valley with the town climbing the canyon wall above.

Back on I-5, Mt Shasta visible ahead, with wisps of snow clinging… Mt Shasta still has some glaciers, reported to be growing… Glacier National Park is the goal this trip, so a mountain with a glacier is a good omen.

I get to Shasta City at almost exactly 5:00, 440 miles from home… I drive through, find my motel, and settle in… I have dinner at a local Mexican place…  The town has lots of outdoors outfitters and crystal shops, and more than one engineering firm specializing in steam restoration… along with motels and such, but while the little downtown was livly at 5:00 on arrival, by 6:30 they had rolled up the sidewalks.  I went to bed early.

Tomorrow I will head to Lava Beds National Park… I am trying to get in the back way via dirt roads…

Randy