Pilot Rock and Drag Racing

Well day number four of Chris’ vacation was another jam packed adventure filled day!

We started off doing some work in the garden and puttering around the house.

Then we headed south to Ashland to go on what is described as a moderate hike to Pilot Rock. This time we decided to take the Suburban, rather than my low slung sports car, and it is a very good thing we did! The road up to the parking area for the hike is a much worse than yesterday’s rocky, bumpy single track road. Low slung cars run into problems like this:




Some car knocked a hole in their oil pan and leaked all the oil out of their motor. This happened because they were too low to the ground in their car for the road conditions. Good thing we took the ‘burb!

Pilot Rock can be seen from far and wide across the Rogue Valley and from Northern California. I have posted pictures we have taken of Pilot Rock from both Emigrant Lake and the top of Roxy Ann. Pilot Rock is the remnants of a basalt lava flow. Pioneer settlers used Pilot Rock as a “pilot” to find their way through the Siskiyou Mountains from Oregon into California.



According to both my handy dandy new GPS app on my phone and the hiking literature, the peak of Pilot Rock is about 5900’. From the top you can look out over the entire valley in a breathtaking 360˚ view. The parking area for the hike is at about 4900’, so the climb to the very top is about a 1000’ elevation gain.




I did mention the literature said “moderate” hike, right? Ahem.




The main part of the trail is really an old logging road, very easy and mild climb. Partway up you hook a left onto part of the Pacific Crest Trail, which you follow for about 300 yards.




This is where you should stop if you have any brains in your head or you are smarter than me. If not, you continue on up a very steep, slippery, rocky “path” for another 600 vertical feet. At this point, I stopped.

I was not in shape enough or crazy enough to continue on up the basalt rock columns. This part of the hike is called a “scramble” and a “hands and feet climb”, neither of which sounds “moderate” to me. Chris on the other hand is always looking for a challenge and wanted to get to the top. I hung out on the vertical (almost) Cliffside and rested and enjoyed the spectacular view while Chris continued on up the basalt.



He took some great photos from where he stopped. He basically said that he stopped before going through the straight up narrow chute to the very peak. In this picture you can see two people coming down where he decided to not go.



They are hard to see, but they are right in the lower middle of the picture.

People have died up here climbing on this rock outcropping, so he decided not to chance it. In fact, he said he felt like he should have a helmet and some ropes in order to really make it happen.



Glad I stayed put!

Honestly, at that point I was more worried about getting down. You can see from the angle in this photo how steep the terrain was.



It was also very, very slippery. Chris and I kind of worked together to get back down the 600 vertical feet of slippery rocks and gravel. From there the hike was simple and relaxing.

It was not exactly “moderate” though.

It was GORGEOUS. The views went on forever and were spectacular! The sky was an incredible blue and at the height we were at we were above the tree line and could see forever in about a 180˚ arc from where I stopped. To the south we could see Mt Shasta, the lava cone and much of the Northern California Mountains. Due West we could see the Mt Ashland and we could also see Emigrant Lake.





It was truly awe inspiring; and I was extremely proud of myself for making it as far as I did. Progress!




After we got safely back down to the truck, we dumped what was left of our water on a smoldering log leftover from some moron’s campfire. Seriously people: when out in the gorgeousness of the wilderness and wild PUT OUT YOUR CAMPFIRE all the way. Cold.

On the rocky, bumpy, single track road out we saw a couple of little creatures hanging out.





Cute!

Then we stopped and looked back at where we had just been…and we could see the moon starting to come up over the hillside. Amazing!



From there we decided we were thirsty, again! This time we stopped at the Paschal winery in Talent, Oregon. The winery itself is beautiful set in the foothills with a gorgeous pond and a real live swan!






The tasting room is very well done and has several outdoor seating areas for sipping wine and enjoying the view. Chris and I shared a ten wine taste of five whites and five reds. The wines overall were a little too smooth and tasteless for me. They had a Muscat that was pretty good and their Riesling wasn’t too sweet; Chris enjoyed the Tempranillo, but several of their reds were a Tempranillo blend, so I wasn’t that fond of them. Even their Syrah was missing the big spicy bold taste that I like in a Syrah. In addition, they were pretty spendy wines. Prices averaged above $25.00 and a glass was $7.50. It seemed a bit steep for wines we weren’t in love with. Granted a couple of them were young vintages (2009), but I have been drinking young vintages for the last two weeks, so that isn’t much of an excuse.

After getting home and recharging a bit we decided to switch things up from nature and beauty and head to the Champion Raceway here in White City for Friday Night Street Legal Drags! I love a good drag race. The imports and sport compacts do nothing for me, but give me a loud, American made big block and I’m lovin’ it!



As you can see, the place was packed.



Actually, like many activities here in Southern Oregon, it was not busy at all. After about an hour there were some people sitting in the stands, and a couple other families (4 total) joined us on the grassy hillside, but that was it.

It cost $20 to get in, $8 for beer and we got over 2 hours of motor sports excitement. In Portland, at PIR, it would have cost $20 for parking alone.

We even saw this guy kick the pants off several other cars.



Yay for the Baja bug! This wasn’t his best run, but it was pretty dang good for a Baja!




At this point I’m feeling pretty worn out, but am loving the fact that we are packing so much fun stuff into Chris’ vacation. We really feel like we are wringing every last drop of adventure and fun out of his time off. It is a great staycation so far!

I’m almost afraid of what he is going to come up with to do for tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Squaw Lake

Yesterday’s adventures consisted of two hikes! We are really getting into this whole vacation and exploration thing.

I was told by a friend about two small lakes near Applegate Lake in Applegate, Oregon. The lakes are called Big Squaw Lake and Little Squaw Lake. Chris and I decided to go check them out and do a little hiking.

We headed out and found our way to the Applegate Dam and across the lake. We knew that after we got across the dam it was an 8 mile road up to the hiking trail and Big Squaw Lake. What we did NOT know was that 6 miles of the 8 mile road were a twisty, turny, tight, single lane gravel road. Uhm, did I mention that we were in my little Nissan 300 ZX? Yah.

I was driving. I do NOT like driving on gravel roads, let alone twisty, turny, tight, single lane gravel roads with big drop offs on the side! It is not a strength of mine. I may have many strengths, but that is not one of them. However, I did it anyway. I was a nervous wreck and totally sweaty by the time we got to the top, but I managed it either way.

Chris said he saw *another* bear running up the hillside above us, but I was too busy trying to not drive off the edge of the road to be looking around for bears.

Once we got to the top, it wasn’t difficult to find the trail path and head out around the lake. It is not very big, but it is very beautiful.












Apparently, there is another trail that leads off of the main path to take you up to Little Squaw Lake, but we never found that path. Even after we got home and looked at some better maps we aren’t sure how we would have gotten there from where we were at. Oh well, it gives us a good reason to go back and try again.

The Lakes have camping, but it is pack in, walk in only and no motors on the lake, either. Very quiet and peaceful. We saw fish in the lake, though we weren’t sure what kind. There were some people camping, fishing and swimming, but all in all in was very secluded. (Read primitive!)

After we got done at Squaw Lake we decided to head back over the dam and go to the Hart-Tish recreation area on Applegate Lake and hop on the Collings Mountain trail to find the Bigfoot Trap.

On our way we saw this in the road:




Anyone have any ideas as to what kind of snake this is? Diamondback? Rattlesnake (no rattle)? We are not snake experts!
The Bigfoot Trap was built in the late 70’s in an effort to capture a Bigfoot. I wanted to see the trap, and it is only about a mile hike round trip.

Well, we hiked up the trail for a bit, this one was much more single track style than the one around Squaw Lake, and came across this:




We thought this was what was left of the Bigfoot Trap. We were a little disappointed. The Bigfoot Trap is supposed to be 10 feet tall with a big metal guillotine style door (now out of operation). This was it??

NO. Turns out, after we got home and did some more research, this was NOT it. Just past this debris pile the trail forked. We weren’t planning on doing the longer hike (6+ miles) so we thought that this was the trap. As it happens, if we would have taken the left fork of the trail for another little bit we would have actually come across the trap! SHOOT!

Now we have two reasons to head back up the Applegate area. We have to figure out how to get to Little Squaw Lake and we have to actually hike all the way to the Bigfoot Trap! Cool…we have another adventure ahead of us to look forward to.

Back on the highway, Chris decided his feet were sweaty and his socks needed some drying out, so he created a “wind sock”. (insert eye rolling icon here)




I, on the other hand, decided I was thirsty, so we stopped at one of the older wineries in the Rogue Valley, Valley View Winery, which just happened to be at the base of the Applegate Road highway, to do a little wine tasting. It’s not tacky to go wine tasting in your hiking clothes is it??



It was a gorgeous winery, with a beautiful view. We tasted 6 wines. I enjoyed their Viognier and the Cabernet, while Chris preferred the Tempranillo. I have yet to find a Tempranillo that I like. They have that big bold dry that coats my tongue and I just don’t care for it. The Viognier was slightly sweet and crisp. Their Chardonnay screamed out for a good cheese to go with it. The Syrah, Claret and another red that I can’t recall the varietal were all decent, but I didn’t think they were earth shattering. Either way it was a fun way to wrap up our hiking adventure.

Day 3 of Chris’ summer vacation was a great success. We have started off Day 4 slowly, with some coffee and computer time. Not sure what we will be getting ourselves into today but I’m sure it will be great!

Shasta Lake

No single image can really portray the vastness that is Lake Shasta.



Lake Shasta, also known as Shasta Lake, is an artificial lake in Northern California. It was created by the damming of the Sacramento River in 1948 by the creation of the Shasta Dam.

Shasta Dam is the second largest dam in the US (Wikipedia). Shasta Lake is fed by three main tributaries, the Sacramento River, Pit River and McCloud River, though there are many smaller tributaries feeding it as well.



At its longest point Shasta Lake is 35 miles long. It has over 350 miles of shore line, and an amazing amount of water. It is over 500 feet deep in places and has a full pool capacity of over 5000 Gigalitres. It has a surface area of 30,000 acres.

What all this means is that Shasta Lake is a very, VERY large lake with a whole lot of surface area to go play and get lost in. People do get lost on Shasta Lake. There are several “arms” of the lake and it can be confusing as to where you are and where you think you are heading!




So why the history and geography lesson on Shasta Lake? Well because Chris and I took our boat there for our latest adventure!

You may recall that last year we drove down with our friends and visited the dam and the lake, but we didn’t have our boat with us. We just viewed it from the sidelines. Not this time!

We packed up the ‘burb and the boat and took off Tuesday morning for a couple of days of boating relaxation. Shasta Lake is really indescribable. Beautiful. Majestic. Amazing. Huge.



We had HOT sun, about 100 degrees both days. The water was very warm, clean and beautiful. The boat launch was empty. The lake is so huge and has so many little coves, inlets, nooks and crannies that we had no problem finding places to anchor and hang out without anyone else around. We were there mid week and really…the lake was empty. Oh sure, there were people out there, but it was like having the place to ourselves.




We spent Tuesday afternoon on the lake, camped overnight at Antlers RV Park and Campground in Lakehead, California (a really great campground if you ever go: inexpensive, clean, friendly people) and hit the lake again for a few hours Wednesday.



(view from campsite)


We had a lot of fun!











I have to say that this was the highlight of the trip for me:











Yes, those are REAL LIVE Bears; a mama bear and her two cubs! It was incredible. I heard all this ruckus coming from the shore as they moved down the hillside through the brush. I couldn’t see anything though. Then all of a sudden….she came out of the brush and OMG! Amazing. Amazing.

I’m not sure how far away they were from us distance wise, but not that far.



So cool. We kept our distance and they kept theirs. She didn’t linger with her babies there, just long enough for them each to take a dip in the water. Then they moved off and we didn’t see them again. Truly spectacular. Our first ever WILD bear sightings!

We did see a couple of bald eagles as well, but never in a spot to take a good picture.

It is about a two and a half hour tow for us to get to Lakehead, which is not too bad. Our old Suburban handled the haul well and the boat is running excellent. We are thankful to have gone and seen such a beautiful place and to have arrived back home safe and sound with no troubles.

We saw some beautiful views on the way there and back, too.

Mount Shasta



Castle Crag (northern CA)




Shasta Lake was an excellent relaxing way to spend the first couple days of our vacation.

More adventures soon!

Shamelessly Stolen Pasta Salad

Shamelessly Stolen Pasta Salad

Years ago, perhaps about 12 or 13, I was treated to a delicious and very simple pasta salad recipe by my friend Jenni.

Since that time, this pasta salad has become a summer staple at our house and is my “go to” recipe for large gatherings, camping, pot lucks, etc.

This recipe makes a very large salad, so make sure to use your largest bowl. I always manage to convince myself I don’t need my largest bowl and start in my smaller large bowl and then have to transfer everything to my largest bowl. Better to just start with the largest bowl!

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Super Simple Summer Pasta Salad … credit Jennifer (Brown) Laiblin

1 bag pasta, your choice of style (I prefer Rotini style)
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
1 15 oz can black olives
1 bottle Italian salad dressing
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cool water. Add pasta to your LARGEST bowl.

Add chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and olives to bowl.

Top with Italian dressing. Stir well and refrigerate. After about an hour, stir again.

When ready to serve top with shredded parmesan cheese.

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Okay, so that is the basic recipe. Here are some other tips or suggestions.

You can use any type or style of pasta. I like the Rotini style because it is easy to eat and holds onto the dressing well. If you choose to go with a whole wheat style pasta be aware that it will really suck up the dressing, so you may need to have a second bottle on hand to “freshen” up the salad.

Speaking of dressing, you can use any kind of Italian dressing that you like. I have used everything from the cheapest dollar store dressing to Newman’s own style. Currently I really like Kraft’s Tuscan Italian. It has a lot of good flavor without the super tart bite that many Italian dressings have.

Also, this is just a base idea. Feel free to add more or less of the vegetables, your own variety of vegetables or additions to suit your tastes, or use what you have on hand. For example, I like to add some dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained, chopped red bell peppers, or green beans blanched and cooled and cut into pieces. The options are really up to you.

The parmesan cheese is a great addition, but if you don’t have any, don’t add it. I frequently make it without the parmesan cheese.

If you really wanted to go “Tuscan style” on this, change out the black olives for some Kalamata or other good olives, and add a bit of feta cheese.

I get compliments on this recipe everywhere I take it. People who don’t normally care for pasta salads love it. I encourage you to try it out for your next big gathering. Remember, it makes a BIG bowl, so if you make it for yourself you will be eating pasta salad leftovers for a week!

Thanks to my friend Jenni for sharing this recipe with me all those years ago. I think of you every single time I make it.

'Zuki 'xplorin'

‘Zuki Exploring

Several months ago Chris decided that he was ready to be done dirt biking, and ready to sell his AWD Rally Bug and move on to something else. I was surprised that he was ready to sell the Rally Bug because he loved that car so much.



We had fun racing it, but honestly, it had turned into a hanger queen. We haven’t raced in years and have no plans to race anytime in the near future. The car was great, but he had gotten his fun out of it and was ready to move on. He wanted something more suited to our lifestyle now and here in Southern Oregon. He decided on a Suzuki Samurai 4x4.

We have had fun heading out and running around in it. It has a very short wheel base, so it is kind of fun to drive around. He put some new gearing in it so that now that thing will climb darn near anything without too much effort. We have a little off road area not far from the house where we run out to every so often for a half hour of fun.

Today we decided to go on a longer trip and headed up into the hills to the west of Medford and Jacksonville. This is an area with a lot of dirt bike, ATV, cycling and hiking trails, along with miles and miles of forest service roads. We stuck to the roads and just went exploring.

First stop was this lookout point. The flat “hills” in the distance are the Table Rocks, which we have hiked and I have posted about in the past.






As you can see we were pretty overcast and cool today, but the clouds were really high. They broke up by late afternoon and we warmed up a bit and had some sun.

From the lookout point we headed off on another spur road, and then another, and then another. We came across an active logging operation, freshly cut trees everywhere. We came across an older clear-cut on a very steep hillside. We found an old road that was overgrown by grass and bushes. Chris found a spot to do a few doughnuts, too.

For it being a nice summer day we saw NO other dirt bikes, off road trucks, or even ATV’s. We saw two enduro bikes and riders, one little pickup and two parked cars. That was it. We were out there in the hills in a very popular area for over 2 hours! Crazy! This is one of the reasons we like living down here though. No crowds!

When we came down out of the hills we weren’t exactly sure where we were going to pop out at. We certainly wouldn’t be coming down the same was we came in, as we had traversed over several ridgelines. We popped out very far north of where we started. We started out in Jacksonville and ended up in Gold Hill, all through the foothills.

We had a great day, lovely picnic lunch and enjoyed ourselves. Chris found one road that would make a good rally road, and even though we weren’t in the rally car, Chris put the ‘zuki through its paces out there.

The only downside to the whole trip was at the lookout point there was a ton of garbage, beer cans and miscellaneous other junk. I really wanted to clean it up but we didn’t have anything to transport it all in. We decided the next time we head out we are going to bring a garbage bag with us so that we can help clean up after the lazy morons who ruin the beauty for the rest of us. In fact, I think I’ll go put a garbage bag in the lockbox right now.



Hope you all had a great Saturday, too! Feel free to comment with your own Saturday Adventure!