Shasta Day 2

The day dawned bright and clear so we loaded the picnic in the car and headed for Mount Shasta. Our progress was thwarted at 6,900 ft where the road was closed because of snow.

Mount Shasta in the Snow

Having done what we could do on Mount Shasta we decided to take a drive to the old lumber town of McCloud. There we found a fascinating museum with a lot of stuff from the old logging days. My two favorites were the pre-runner to the chain saw and a box of really strange hammers. If you know what they were used for let me know.

Early 1900s Version of a Portable Saw

Strange Hammers

Whilst in McCloud we learned about the waterfalls on the McCloud River east of town so that is where we went next. There are three falls but I liked the Middle Falls best. We enjoyed our picnic lunch at Lower Falls.

Lower Falls

Middle Falls

Upper Falls

In the afternoon my quest became capturing a decent image of Mount Shasta.

Mount Shasta from Near Camp

Mount Shasta and Farm

California sure has a lot of beautiful scenery.

Shasta Day 1

We arrived at our new home in Weed, CA at noon on Wednesday, got set up and then went exploring. Mount Shasta was concealed under a cover of clouds so we checked out the museum in the town of Mount Shasta and then went for a drive to Castle Lake. I should say we eventually went to Castle Lake because we missed the road in and wandered through the mountains for a few miles before we realized our error.

Museum in Mount Shasta

Castle Lake

On to Oregon

Tuesday morning we packed up the Winnebago and headed west toward Oregon. An early start and easy driving enabled us to make it all the way to Junipers RV Park outside of Lakeview, OR. We can see Pronghorn Antelope out of the front window of the Winnebago but not close enough for photographs. I did get a photo of a White Pelican swimming in the pond however.

White Pelican

Craters of the Moon

We were on the road early Monday morning heading toward the Craters of the Moon National Monument. While you may not want to make this the destination of your annual vacation it was very interesting to visit. The most recent volcanic activity occurred about 2,000 years ago. This is relatively new in geological time.  

Dead Tree on Lava Flow

Lava Wrinkles

Lava Flow

Lava Tube

I was surprised by the number of wild flowers blooming in the lava fields. 

Lupine

White Flowers

Yellow Flowers

After lunch overlooking the lava fields we continued on to Mountain Home, ID where we found a very nice RV Park for the night.

Sunay in Island Park

We started our day today by attending worship services at the Little Church in the Pines which has a non-denominational service at 10:00 AM on Sundays.  The service was very nice and the people were very friendly.

Little Church in the Pines

After church we went in search of a place to have our picnic lunch. Our first effort took us to the top of Sawtelle Peak.

View from Sawtelle Peak

View West from Sawtelle Peak

Henry's Lake from Sawtelle Peak

While at 10,000 feet Sawtelle Peak offered some great views it also was very cold and windy. So we decided to continue our search for a picnic site. We final found a great spot on the banks of the Henry's Lake Outlet near Big Springs.

Picnic Site on Henry's Lake Outlet

After taking back roads back to the Winnebago we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.

Lazy Saturday

After breakfast I went to the Henry's Lake Outlet to do a little fly fishing. After a lot of effort I was able to hook a nice Cutthroat Trout who was happily returned to the stream. Sorry not phots as I didn't want to harm the fish and I was a hundred yards down river from the camera.

The views from the river were to die for. How can you not enjoy fishing with views like these.

View from my Fishing Hole

On the way back to the Winnebago I stopped to take another shot of the daisies (called Mule's Ears) with the mountain in the background.  I thought this was an improvement over my earlier shot.

Daisies and Mountain

We spent the afternoon catching up on chores and relaxing. I smoke grilled a pork tenderloin for dinner and it tasted great.

Yellowstone North Loop

We got an early start again today to do the north loop of Yellowstone National Park. The predominant animal in the park is the Bison. They are everywhere. We did see Elk, Pronghorn, Black Bear, Grizzly Bear, Marmots, Deer, Fox and Sandhill Cranes. Not bad for a Finn with bad eyesight.


We had our breakfast overlooking part of the Lamar Valley. After breakfast we continued up Lamar Valley where we saw a Black Bear and a Grizzly. I got a shot of the head of the Grizzly but nothing else.

View from Breakfast Site

Nursing Bison

View from Picnic Site on Soda Butte Creek

Black Bear

After leaving Lamar Valley we headed south toward Canyon Junction and Yellowstone Falls. Not far up the road we saw a fox and got a few shots of it before it disappeared.

Fox

We decided to stop for a look at Yellowstone Falls from Artists Point and were glad we did as there was an incredible amount of water flowing over the falls.

Yellowstone Falls

On the way to Artist's Point we were able to capture a few images of a Bull Elk feeding on top of a hill.

Bull Elk

Wild flowers are blooming everywhere in the park. Unfortunately we don't have a guide to help us ID the flowers.

Yellow Flower

Pink Flower

Thursday at Red Rock

We decided to stick closer to home today so I tried fly fishing the Henry's Lake outlet with great fishing but not much catching. I am still a neophyte when if comes to fly fishing but I am learning.

Henry's Lake Outlet

We decided to have lunch out today so drove to Angler's Lodge and had Calamari and a great salad. Then we continued to Mesa Falls to view the upper and lower falls. Quite impressive as is the old Big Springs Lodge near the upper falls.

Upper Mesa Falls

Big Springs Lodge

After we returned to the Winnebago I tried fly fishing again with the same result...great fishing but no catching. As I mentioned, I am learning and will try again on Saturday.

The South Loop of Yellowstone

We were on the road at 6:00 AM this morning headed for Yellowstone National Park.  Our tour took us around the south loop of the park. We were hoping to see a lot of a variety of animals but were a little disappointed.  We saw a few elk, one black bear, a lot of Bison, a Sandhill Crane family and a ton of Canada Geese.

Female Elk

Sandhill Crane Family

Bison Shedding its Winter Coat

View of Yellowstone Lake

View From East Entrance Road

The south loop has many thermal features. We passed up mingling with the crowds at Old Faithful and spent our time at less crowded places. We had breakfast while observing two Bison feeding and our lunch was overlooking the Midway Geyser Basin.

Geyser at Black Sand Geyser Basin

Geyser on Firehole Lake Road

Our Picnic Site Overlooking Midway Geyser Basin

After we got back to the Winnebago I went out and got a few shots of the wild daisies growing in profusion near our RV Park.

Field of Daisies Near our Winnebago

Two Daisies

We went for a drive after dinner and were rewarded with a moose sighting. This young bull moose was kind enough to pose for me.

Young Bull Moose

Touring West Yellowstone

On Tuesday morning we toured some of the sights in the West Yellowstone area. We were treated to some great mountain views just a little way from our Winnebago.

Mountain View in the Morning

Our first stop was at Quake Lake, a lake which was formed when a 7.2 earthquake caused a landslide in 1959.  A number of campers were killed in the quake and the landslide stopped all the water from flowing in the Madison River.

Quake Lake showing old highway running into lake.

Hebgen Lake

View from our Picnic spot.

After lunch we drove to Big Springs which is the source of the Snake River. The water flows up from the ground and forms the river.

Big Springs

There is an interesting cabin at Big Springs built by Johnny Sacke's back in 1929.  He was a very skilled woodworker and even had a water wheel powered electrical generator to provide electricity for his home.

Johnny Sacke's Cabin

Johnny Sacke's Power Plant

Snake River near Big Springs