Summer Trip 2020 - Oregon or Bust

Oregon or Bust – Covid-19 Summer Trip

Our retirement travel plans have been altered this summer because of the Covid-19 pandemic. We had planned to once again pack the motor home and Jeep and this year head to New Mexico for a couple months of camping and sightseeing. However, because of the tightening down of camping, sightseeing and tourist facilities in New Mexico and almost every State we decided to leave the motor home stowed away and take a car road trip to Oregon for the summer and stay most of the time with Jack’s brother, Bill and wife, Donna.

Our planned route took us through Utah, Nevada and landing in Oregon.  We did not rush our travel days and stopped at many interesting points along the way.

Our first day of travel got us as far as Panguitch, Utah and after having a great dinner and finding some geocaches around the little country town, we checked into one of our memorable overnight stays at the Panguitch Bed & Breakfast. This 1920 red brick house has some original woodwork and an old timey feel.  Our room was a  comfortable room with its own private bathroom on the second floor. Before leaving in the morning we were served a delicious full service breakfast then headed out to continue our road trip.

Our room at Panguitch B & B

Along the way we visited many southern and central Utah towns and found that many of them have beautiful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints chapels. Most of the area has history of early settlements and the trials and tribulation that went along with settling in the wild west.

Manti LDS Temple constructed 1877 -1888

Once we reached Salt Lake City (SLC) we stayed a couple of days and toured the City plus the many mountains surrounding the City. The main downtown attraction was the Salt Lake Temple Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints chapel. While we were there it was being renovated so we could not tour the Church and the surrounding buildings that are usually open were closed because of Covid-19.  Next to the Church is a beautiful plaza called Temple Square packed with a variety of flowers, statutes and fountains and also is home to the LDS Church office buildings. We walked around downtown and through the accessible areas of the Chapel grounds but we definitely will need to make another trip to thoroughly tour the grounds, history museum and Chapel.

Salt Lake City LDS Temple constructed 1853-1893

Temple Square LDS church building

Statute depicting the pioneer LDS cross country travelers

Flowers and statutes throughout the gardens

We did a couple of scenic drives around the SLC area, first was an eastward trip up St. Rt. 189 to Heber City area which was at a higher elevation and along the way we enjoyed the beauty of the Bridal Veil Falls. Reaching about 12,000 foot elevation made it a cool respite from the valley temperatures.  We stopped at Park City, Utah, a well-known skiing designation in the slopes around the old silver mining town but the highlight was to walk the very active downtown ‘old town’ 1880's buildings with open galleries, restaurants and shops (And of course a geocache or two).  The second day was Little and Big Cottonwood Canyon scenic drives, both drives went uphill quickly to the 11,000 foot elevation ski resorts of Alta & Brighton high above the Salt Lake City valley.

Bridal Veil Falls

Alta Ski Resort - Little Cottonwood Canyon

Snow spotted mountain in late June - Little Cottonwood Canyon

Beautiful views along Little Cottonwood Canyon

Downtown Park City

Once we left SLC we traveled west toward Nevada on Interstate 80 to visit the renowned Bonneville Salt Flats / Speedway. What seems to be in the middle of nowhere this 150 square mile area has been used since 1930 as the place to speed test vehicles.  It’s basically a dried up lake bed where salt deposits were left behind. (And of course a couple geocaches were found)

Got Salt !!!!

We continued on I-80 through Elko, Nevada to Winnemucca, Nevada where we turned north to Burns, Oregon. There is not much in Burns, Oregon but it was an overnight stop and we had a good dinner at The Pine Room and picked up a couple more geocaches including my 600^th find and even a nighttime cache in a cemetery, which made my heart race but we were successful to find the cache in the dark (and some help from a ghost or two).

One of many 'big boot' art work around Elko Nevada

Some cool art work around Burns Oregon 

My 600th geocache find. It was in the rat ! Yikes

The next morning we headed toward Bend and Klamath Falls, Oregon. Up to this point we  traveled in mostly high desert type scenery but once we reached Bend, Oregon the scenery changed to more forest areas.

Northwest of Klamath Falls is Crater Lake National Park.  The park was established in 1902 and is the 5^th oldest National Park.  Crater Lake was once a mountain which was collapsed by volcanic activity some 7,700 years ago.  It is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet deep at the deepest point and has a deep blue color. The island in the middle of the lake is called Wizard Island and is a cinder cone.  An interesting fact is that the Lake has no streams flowing into it or out of it.  The Lake is refilled entirely by direct precipitation in the form or snow or rain. 

During our visit the weather was windy and chilly (according to me, not Jack) with residual snow in some areas.  I layered up and even though the visitors center was closed we toured the Lodge and walked the path along the cliff to view the Lake. Crater Lake is a beautiful park to visit if you are in the area.

The Lodge at Crater Lake

Panoramic of Crater Lake 

One of our interesting stops in our travels was the Collier Logging Museum in the Collier Memorial State Park, north of Klamath Falls on our way to Crater Lake. The Collier family donated the land in 1945 and in 1947 donated a collection of logging equipment dating back to the 1880’s. "A man often ahead of his times, Alfred D. 'Cap' Collier saw his role as that of a steward. He believed that the forest was like a giant garden. It was to be cared for, nurtured, managed and then harvested properly when the time came." 

The museum is mostly a self-guided outside museum which outlines the evolution of log cutting, moving logs  and mill logging history. We walked through a time lapse of the logging industry from axes & oxen to diesel tractors and logging trucks. 

Welcome sign

Log cabin display

A Steam Donkey was used in the 1880's to move logs

A railroad car log loader - a unique 1800's steam log loader. 

This tug boat was used to move logs down the river from 1937 to 1943

Solid wooden wagon wheel - The wheels are sections of logs bound with iron ties.

One of the  World's largest Douglas Fir Tree

So after 2,000 miles, 7 hotel rooms, 55 geocache finds and numerous scenic stops we landed at our home for the next month or so in Oregon.  Stay tuned there's more to come like a trip to the Oregon Coast.

Thank you for following our adventure.

Happy Travels

Jack and Deb