I am glad you all had enjoyable journeys and succeeded in attaining personal goals. 2016 saw us stay closer to home by visiting only 5 states in the NW: WA, OR, ID, CA, MT. But, we did see some new places. We are sad about missing the Utah get-together but perhaps this year it will happen.
Other than my birthday trip in a January to the part of the North Cascades N P that remains open in winter, we spent 9 days looking for agates along the Oregon coast. We found some nice ones and avoided getting caught by sneaker waves. We have a Boondock Spot close to one of our favorite beaches and spent the other nights at several state parks.
April saw us heading south again along the Oregon Coast again looking for agates then cutting across the Coast Range to Klamath Falls. We visited Tule Lake and Lava Beds (nice free Campground) the cut across from highway 139 to 395 via a series of USFS roads. We were drinking along the scrub when the road took a dip and we were suddenly crossing a large Creek that was not on my Modoc N F map. We also surprised a golden eagle. For the remainder of the trip, we meandered up through eastern Oregon stopping at Hart Mt, Frenchglen, then up to Burns. From there we headed west across Christmas Valley, through the Cascades and Coast Range via 138/38. More Beach combing then home up the coast.
May was a short one, but we headed east across the North Cascdes as Highway 20 that cuts through was open. We stayed at a few lakes in eastern Washington, found a cool waterfall along the Columbia River at a Campground, shot some photos in the Palouse. We stopped in the Potholes area which has an interesting geological history. Back through the North Cascades and home.
Summer is music festival time and I camp with friends in Wisconsin at Rockfest. Johnny Depp was touring with Alice Cooper so I got to professionally shoot the first three of him. Unfortunately, I signed a release so can't post photos. The Mt Baker Blues Festival featured Savoy Brown and the Yardbirds where I am the house photographer. I get to camp in VIP with 120 which is something we rarely do relying on solar.
In September we decided to spend 4 weeks exploring Idaho. It is an amazing state and I am surprised we haven't spent more time here as it is right next door. We even went to parts of Washington we haven't been to like Molson, a ghost town near the Canadian border. Our travels took us to Ione, Roosevelt Grove of Giants, Priest Lake, ghost towns, Lolo Pass, waterfalls, more giant cedar groves, and rockhounding near Challis. We went over a few passes and hit some USFS roads. One of our faves was the Moon Pass road south of Wallace. Lots of train tunnels to pass through. We also saw a few places in Montana including Bannock, Coolidge and Bayhorse. Our favorite area was the Salmon, Challis area as there were few people. We dipped down into Oregon through Burns and again 138/38 to the coast then home. Idaho is a beautiful state with so much to see. We barely scratched a dent in a list of what to see. The only thing is that we were there during hunting season which is a long one so be advised that campgrounds and Boondock spots may be taken. Hunters were nice folks and some even shared their fave places to explore.
Our last trip was a rockhounding one including Washington and Oregon. We heard of a great place to look for Columbia Basin Agates so located it solely by luck as the one road was washed out and our maps didn't indicate a new road was built a few years ago. The folks that live along the Columbia River were nice enough to allow us to camp on their dead end road. We found some cool agates to add to our collection. From there we headed to Prineville but first stopped at Palouse Falls. Prineville area even has a rockhound map available from the BLM so we bought one plus had it on our Avenza app. We also looked around the Sweet Home area for Holley Blue agates but it had been raining so rivers and creeks were swollen. Again, across the Cascades and Coast Range and up the coast. We did stop at a beach we hadn't had much luck at and despite an angry Ocean that we constantly had to be aware of found some nice sized agates, the elusive first sized ones.
2016 was a great year and this year we hope to explore further away from home. Our trips are usually two 3-5 week trips each in spring and fall. This April we are rockhounding in Eastern Oregon, Nevada and western Utah. May and June will see us looking for wildflowers in the Eastern Sierras and exploring Lost Coast and Redwoods. My sister is moving home from Hawaii this summer and wants to try camping. So, September we will go for two weeks along the Oregon and Washington coasts. Then, we will return home to put our garden to bed then leave for 5-6 week trip to Southeast Utah to explore that part of the state before the hordes invade it. We may sneak in some Colorado places but that will probably be reserved for fall 2018.
I didn't mean to get so long winded but the words just tumbled out. May everyone get out there and explore.
