It was awesome to see Randy and Kristen rolling into the campground on Friday. We’ve known them for quite a while and always have a good time when we’re together. Craig and Randy worked together for many years at JR Automation, and although Kristen worked at the county too, she was in a different department and we didn’t meet her until she and Randy started dating.
These two were our inspiration to get on the road. In 2014, Randy agreed to work in New York on a machine installation for a year. He and Kristen packed everything up and lived in a RV for that year. After that they moved to Nevada and lived in their RV until buying a house two years ago. We went to visit them in New York and loved what they were doing. No house to maintain, new places to see and living simply. It took us a while, but we finally got there! We are enjoying the same freedom they felt when they took off all those years ago. We were so happy when they wanted to meet us anywhere for a visit.
We settled in at adjoining campsites and it felt like old times. Even their dogs Rhianna and Chloe got along well with Gus. It was easy and relaxing, our favorite kind of camping.
We made our way to Walking Man Brewing in Stevenson and Backwoods Brewing in Carson. At some point, Craig stated that the beer was very quaffable. We all kind of gave him a look and after looking it up, he indeed had used it correctly. We all busted out laughing when later we found a menu that used quaffable to describe a beer. To us it was really funny and made for a running joke all weekend.
Saturday was the Hood River Hops festival. Craig and I had found it four years ago when we were in the area and were happy to find that it was going on again. We tried many fresh hopped beers and had a great time even though it down poured for a short time.
Sunday we relaxed and enjoyed not going anywhere. Craig and Randy can talk for hours on end so Kristen and I settled into their trailer and watched a movie and drank some beer. The boys finally decided they could break from their chat to make us an excellent steak dinner. They brought so much great food and fed us well the entire time. They also gave us a 12 pack of Two Hearted which is one of our favorite beers from home. We can’t thank them enough!
We didn’t have a plan after Sunday so when we mentioned we were going to the Ape Cave a little bit north, they were in. We moved our camp to Eagle Cliff Campground and found a pretty sweet spot. It wasn’t busy, it was cheap, and we had a flush toilet right next to us. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Tuesday morning we got up early and got to the Ape Cave before it got busy. The Ape Cave is a lava tube located just south of Mt St. Helens. It’s the longest continuous lava tube in the continental United States at 2.5 miles. It felt weird walking into a big hole in the ground.
Once inside we were all in awe. It was amazing to think about lava running though making the tunnels. All the different formations, ridges and lava balls were cool. We had to climb up and over and jump to get through it. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get through it and was a pretty good workout.
After the cave, we drove up to Windy Ridge which was located on the northeast side of Mt St. Helens. Craig and I had been to the north side the previous week so it was neat to get a different view of it. As we drove up, we saw so many dead trees still standing 38 years after the eruption.
At the base of the mountain is Spirit Lake. It’s a beautiful pristine lake that took the brunt of the landslide when it erupted. The landslide buried the lakebed and raised the water level by about 200 feet and doubled the lake’s surface area. Logs and debris slid into the lake turning it into a bacteria-laden, ash filled lake with no signs of life. Logs are still visible floating in the lake today. Within 3 years, the lake unexpectedly began to recover and more aquatic life is in the lake today than before the eruption.
We all decided we were up to the task of climbing the 503 steps (Randy counted them) up to the lookout. Gus lead the way and made it almost easier than we all did. The views from the top, late in the day were breathtaking. From the lookout, you could see Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake, but also Mt Rainier, Mt Adams and Mt Hood. We were thankful for a nice clear day to enjoy the views.
Eventually the fun had to end. Randy and Kristen and their 2 dogs packed up Wednesday morning and headed for home. We are planning on spending Thanksgiving with them in Nevada so the goodbye was a little bit easier knowing that we’ll see them again soon.
We packed up and headed to Bend. We drove east and crossed the Columbia River by The Dalles. The landscape was different than we had pictured. Huge brown rock ledges with farmland scattered in and around it. We got a better view of Mt Hood and commented how different this view was from where we had been just a few hours earlier.
We made our way to McKay Crossing campground. We had found the campground on our trusty app and picked it because it said there was no fee and it’s right on a river. The 2 mile gravel road in was almost worse than anything we’ve been on this entire time. The chatter bumps were huge and going faster didn’t help at all. We finally made it there and picked a pull through. We were disappointed to find how dusty it was. Our feet were covered in dust almost instantly. We took a short walk to find a beautiful waterfall. That made us like it a little more but the thought of staying for the weekend didn’t sound good to us. Everything would be a mess.
In the morning I took Gus for his walk and came across a campsite right on the river that had been occupied the night before. It was now empty and I was so excited to tell Craig that we had to move. The site had crushed stone and wasn’t nearly as dusty as the first site we picked. Add the soft sound of the rushing river right next to it and we were sold. We got everything moved and are content to stay here through the weekend.
We took the Jeep into Bend on Thursday and went to Earth Cruiser. We had talked to Joe, their salesman, at the RV show in Portland and wanted to see more of what they have to offer. We are only 4 months into this adventure and we already know we need to change things up for the next one. Earth Cruiser seems to have almost everything we are looking for with their truck camper model. We aren’t even close to buying anything yet and will keep looking at all our options but it was fun to see their shop and watching their campers in the build stage. We appreciated the time Joe spent with us and all the information we got.
We went to a few breweries because, well it’s Bend. They are known for having awesome beer. We went to Deschutes Brewing first. We had been there four years ago but it was a busy Friday night and we didn’t really enjoy ourselves. This time we enjoyed the quiet bar and the fresh hopped beers. Randy and Kristen had gone to Worthy Brewing and recommended it so that was our next stop. They definitely had excellent beer. It was “worthy” of the stop.
We ended at Crux Fermentation Project on recommendation from Joe at Earth Cruiser. They are located in an industrial area but have an awesome view of the mountains and we happened to be there as the sun was setting. The beer was amazing and the atmosphere, although busy, was pretty cool. We could see ourselves hanging out there a lot if we lived here. They had a huge outdoor area with cornhole, picnic tables and lots of dogs everywhere. Gus was happy to be out of the Jeep and was excited by all the action going on around him.
The weather has been awesome. It’s chilly in the morning and warm during the day. It’s supposed to cool off this weekend. Hopefully we can get in some nice hikes with Gus, read a bunch of books and enjoy our nice spot free campsite.
Relaxing by the river…