Colliier Memorial State Park Logging Museum

Thursday, June 22, 2017

While we thought we were waiting for the car to be repaired today, we took a drive up the road to this Logging Museum.  I am not particularly interested in machinery but the flier we had said there were also cabins, etc. 

Our first stop was to the picnic area just beyond the Museum where I could have stayed all day.  The lovely forested area had many picnic tables along the creek called Spring Creek.  

What a beautiful sight.  Several people were enjoying the park area and others were on the creek with their kayaks paddling along with the current.  

It was so peaceful and serene.  

You will also notice how clear the water is here.  We could see the bottom very clearly.  Beautiful.  Not something we are used to with the very muddy Rio Grande where we live.  Even on clear days it is not this clear.

Returning to the Museum 

we began our walk around observing the many pieces of machinery which meant nothing to us.  However, the Museum also is along the side of Spring Creek.  

Ron has an “eagle” eye and spies a huge bird’s nest up at the top of a very tall and almost dead tree.  We can barely see the bird in it and decide it is a baby bird awaiting its Mother’s return with some food.  Not sure what type of bird but eagles do nest in this area of the country.

We walk along the Loggers Village and see many different types of log cabins.  Each one is built differently in terms of how the logs are laid, etc. and were used by different types of people (loggers, trappers, sheepherders, homesteaders, etc.). While they are similar, the way they are put together is different.

Homestead Cabin

Sawbones Cabin

Sheepherders Cabin

Grocery Store

 

Trappers Cabin

Below are some of the very, very large items we saw.   While there were plaques about what each item did, it did not mean much to me.  They are huge though.  If you have an interest in logging and large mechanical equipment and how it has changed from the 1800’s to now, then this is the place for you. 

One thing was very clear and that is that logging was and is a very dangerous job.  Reading this plaque says it all and then see the picture below for what it looks like.

Here is a picture of Ron being hugged by a large carved bear at the gift shop and me enjoying being next to the river.

Friday, June 23, 2017

YEAH!  We are informed that the new negative cable arrived, has been installed and the car is working great.  We will be off tomorrow for Redmond, OR for what is left of our week there. 

Signing off until Redmond.

Adventures Along Life’s Road?

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

  

Happy Anniversary.  Thank you, Sweetheart, for 19 wonderful years together.  I love  you and all the fun and traveling we have done and look forward to many more years together along life’s road. 

Not the kind of day we expected on our anniversary.  Getting in the car for an adventure to another lake and a logging state park came to an abrupt stop when the car would not start.  A call to Roadside Assistance for what we thought would be a battery charge turned into a trip for the car to a local dealership.  They were unable to start the car and couldn’t even get the car into neutral so had to pull the car from the back onto the tow truck.

Many of you may have read that we had been having trouble with the car doing some weird things lately and a trip to our local dealer in ABQ and one to the dealer in Redding, turned up nothing.  Local dealer put in a new battery and Redding dealer could find nothing wrong.  Oh, well, we said, we’ll just continue on as we have until such time as something else happens.  Guess today was the day.  

The car is now at a local dealership to be looked at and a loner sits behind the RV.  We hope by tomorrow they will be able to figure out what no one else has. 

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Since there is no Chevrolet dealer in Klamath Falls, we took a long drive (77) miles one way to the city of Medford located along I-5 and west of our current location to see what the cost of a new Chevrolet Equinox would be and where we could have a new towing package put on nearby should the current car not ever start again.  We also were interested to see what else this beautiful state had to offer in terms of scenery.  We were not disappointed.

It was a beautiful drive along Upper Klamath Falls Lake and then through the forests and up the mountains and down dales to Medford where we found a dealership and talked to a sales person all the while being rather cagey about when and why we needed a new car.  They did have one we liked, but we were still waiting for our service person in Klamath Falls to let us know if he found anything.  

Just as we were leaving the dealership, we got the call.  The service person found the problem, a faulty ground cable to the battery which necessitated removing several other components to even get to it before finding it bad.  Needless to say no one else had bothered to do this.  It took a small town mechanic to do the thorough job. 

As our luck would have it, this cable is not just an ordinary cable that costs little and can be purchased just anywhere, but rather a special cable that works with the electronics in the car and not covered in the extended warranty we carry on the car.  With our okay, the new cable was ordered to be sent overnight and will be installed and work completed tomorrow so we can move further north on Friday.  Yeah!  While it will cost a bit, it was not as bad as we thought it might be and we pray this really is the whole problem. 

More on Friday when we know the results.  No pictures today as the camera operator forgot to charge the battery last night.

Gorgeous Crater Lake

Monday, June 19, 2017

There is just no other way to describe this beautiful clean, clear lake.  The Lake was originally named Deep Blue Lake when it was discovered by John Wesley Hillman in the 1850’s.  It became a national park in 1902 thanks to the persistence of William Gladstone Steel whose imagination had been captured by it as a teenager.  As an adult, he launched a crusade to make it a National Park that took 12 typewriters and 17 years of his life to achieve.  In 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt made it the nation’s fifth national park.

Our drive to Crater Lake took us about an hour taking us down a back country two lane road to the South Entrance to the Park.  This is the only entrance open at this time of year due to the amount of snow still present at the higher elevations.  After you enter the Park, you drive another 7 or eight miles before you come to the entrance where you pay.  We love having our Senior Pass because not only do we get in free but today we do not have to wait behind all those who do have to pay.  Here at this entrance is a small store which we bypass in favor of getting to the top quickly. 

We arrive at the Steel Visitor Center where we view a 22 minute video about Crater Lake.  Very interesting and informative.  The Lake was formed 7,700 years ago when the Mount Mazama volcano erupted and the center fell into itself forming a large caldera which over the years was filled with water from rain and snow melt.  A later eruption formed Wizard Island, a cinder cone that rises from the water.  There are no streams into or out of this lake making it one of four of the cleanest and clearest lakes in the world.  The Lake is 1,943 feet deep making it the deepest lake in the United States.   It is so clear that they can see clearly for 143 feet down.  The intense blue color is due to its great depth and purity. 

We had hoped to take the Trolley around the Lake but it will not be running until July 1 so we opt for our own drive around and walk around the open area taking pictures as we go.  There is a lovely old lodge here as well.  

I thought the wall coverings here were interesting.

Looking across the driveway from stairs of the Lodge.

We had to ford the snow in order to get up near the rock walls that surround the lake in order to take pictures.  Kids are having a good time sliding down the snow banks and throwing snowballs.  As you can see from some of the pictures below, snow is still quite high in places.  They get about 45 feet of snow here during the winter. 

More adventures tomorrow.

Klamath Falls, OR

Saturday, June 17, 2017

We had a pleasant trip from Redding, CA to Chiloquin, OR on Thursday and have been getting settled in and acquainted with this area.  It is amazing how much snow there still is in the upper reaches of the mountains between Redding and here.  Weather has been cooler than usual also with temperatures staying in the 70’s instead of in the 90’s though Redding was heating up when we left.

Our drive to Chiloquin from Klamath Falls takes us past Upper Klamath Lake which is the largest body of fresh water in the state.  The Klamath basin contains six national wildlife refuges. 

Chiloquin is located about 23 miles north of Klamath Falls and is a town that really no longer exists in terms of businesses.  Only a grocery store, hardware store, realtor, visitor center, a bakery and little else.  There are still homes in the area and it is a beautiful area to spend outdoors summer and winter with forests and lakes, fishing, etc.  

Our campground is set along the Williamson River and has been very busy since we arrived.  People are boating on the river, playing in the shallow river as it flows past, and fishing.   The new owners have done much to improve a place that previously had a bad reputation.  Their efforts show with the park full each night. 

Today we drove back to Klamath Falls to see the sights there.  We found these two huge homes to photograph and later met the owner and her grandson of one of them on a tour we took of the old Baldwin Hotel.  She is in the process of doing some restoration.  She told us the house is 3,000 square feet and when built new in the 1800’s cost $6,000 which included the design and materials which had to hauled by wagon to Klamath Falls from somewhere in California because the train had not arrived in Klamath yet.

The Baldwin Hotel (opened in 1906) was originally a hardware store with four floors with the owner selling hardware on the first floor and renting out the upper floors to tenants.  It was a hotel from 1908 until 1977 becoming a museum in 1978.  

Baldwin Hotel

Hotel lobby then

Hotel lobby now

Our docent gave us the one hour tour with lots of information about Klamath Falls origins along with info about the building and its use.  Very interesting.  The hotel was built against a mountain wall of basalt which can be seen during the tour.

 Each of the rental rooms has its own sink and each floor had a common bathroom for use by the tenants.  Mr. Baldwin did install another shower room with a sink and large shower available to his tenants.  A man ahead of his time.  There were also offices, a barber shop, beauty shop as well as a dining room and kitchen.  Lots of artifacts and antiques and many hand quilted quilts (many crazy quilts) which drew my attention.

Notice the sink in the background by the window.

Note wood chute where wood was supplied for heater and cooking.

A couple of other things caught out attention during the tour that are shown below. 

The second thing is this picture.  We were asked what we thought this fellow was hauling.  The item is made of some sort of cloth.  I’ll leave you to try to figure it out with the answer at the end of the blog.

After finishing the tour we drove around town noting as below that the residential areas are built on the hills surrounding the town with steep streets much like San Francisco.    

There were a number of old buildings including the historic 1940’s art deco Ross Ragland Theater which seats 800 people.  Wow! 

The downtown area also sports several murals on the side of some building including the three below.

We turned back toward the campground but drove off on a local highway which took us through the countryside toward Crater Lake.  We will explore that another day but for now we are seeking what is left of Ft. Klamath.  We first found this old cemetery with some interesting  headstones

and then explored the Fort grounds.  Nice little museum but little else to see. 

From 1863 – 1890, Ft. Klamath was the army post from which the federal government conducted its Indian campaign where frequent clashes between the white settlers and the Modoc Indians of the area occurred.  Today there is a historic post office, guard house, jail and a small grave yard which contains the graves of Captain Jack, the leader of the Modoc Indians and three of his warriors.   

Returning to our campground we spy this old barn with the snow capped mountains in the background.  What a beautiful sight.   

The answer to what the man is hauling is a container which picked up horse droppings along the track where horses were pulling trolleys.  How this worked is not know.  People were complaining about the smell and this apparently was the solution.  Would  love to know how it was done.

More sightseeing in the next couple of days.