Camping!!!! Ten days and counting...

[AllieBaba]

So, so, so exciting...primitive camping with:

My son and his family (wife and 3 y.o. and Snoop the pit)
Me and my two youngest (7 & 8 boy and girl) and Klaus the saint
My nephew (we hope, haven't gotten a verification from him but I think he's going, he's always fun. He's a little older than my oldest)

My best friend and her husband are going to join us for at least one night as well...and they have two dogs they will probably bring.

Here is where we're going:

2 miles across the dunes and you're at the (ocean) beach! Miles of trails! Temperate rain forest, never too hot and seldom too cold in the summer. Lots of sand, lots of water, both freshwater and salt...streams, lakes....we are so psyched!

We're renting a boat, taking in

Hatfield Marine Science Center of Oregon State University
(that's the hatfield marine science center in Newport, very, very cool)

hanging at the dunes,

Fishing...

And doing lots of hiking/trails with the dogwogs.

How much fun is that.

 

[AllieBaba]

Bet you can't tell I'm ready to go now. I've had enough of the desert. I'm ready to go home.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Camping is fun. I used to camp a lot when I was a teenager and into my early 20's. Now, I like to camp out in places like Holiday Inn Express and Red Roof Inn.

 

[AllieBaba]

Those certainly have their own attraction...we like to do that, too, and that is exactly what we've done for the last few years.

But we're broke, it costs $40 a night for ALL of us to camp, with our dogs, instead of $200 a night for all of us (easily) and doggie nightmares at the motels...

I grew up on those dunes and around those lakes; we would hike out from home and camp overnight in the summers, just me and my best friend; we knew of seasonal dune lakes that we could spend the days at and nobody else would be around....camp in the forest, no fire danger, clean, no people...

Childhood there was truly idyllic in so many ways, and I miss that out here with the rattlers and the rock and the blistering heat and dangerous wildfires. NOT that I don't love it here, and not that there aren't great places to camp around here, too....

But I want my kids to really experience some of what I did as a girl there. I think 8 days will be a good start. I will probably retire there eventually.

The weekend after we return, I will be taking Son #2 and his family (wife, best friend, maybe best friend's daughter) camping much closer to his home and my OTHER hometown...#2 and the lot are attending summer term in Walla Walla, so can't go with us to the coast. So I promised we'd camp a weekend close to (his) home and in my old stomping grounds....where we spent many, many days with the older boys when they were growing up...

That's the Walla Walla river you can just see over there...this is a pretty wild area, 13 miles up county roads from the highway, thousands of acres and the Umatilla Indian Reservation adjacent to the Umatilla National Forest (also adjacent). I've ridden some of it..you can criss cross the mountains and find your way to my Mom's house and the reservation.

 

[AllieBaba]

I assume they took these pics in the winter or something, that's the only explanation for the fact that the trees are completely nude! It doesn't look exactly like that right now...

 

[Sarah G]

Don't get eaten up by mosquitos like I did last week.

 

[AllieBaba]

 

[strollingbones]

have fun and be safe..remember flash floods...etc....lets go camping and be paranoid.....but i am will dog....camping to me is a b/w tv at the coyote motel....but tent camping is still fun...just really hard to get up off the ground and go pee 8x a night lol

 

[rightwinger]

So, so, so exciting...primitive camping with:

My son and his family (wife and 3 y.o. and Snoop the pit)
Me and my two youngest (7 & 8 boy and girl) and Klaus the saint
My nephew (we hope, haven't gotten a verification from him but I think he's going, he's always fun. He's a little older than my oldest)

My best friend and her husband are going to join us for at least one night as well...and they have two dogs they will probably bring.

Here is where we're going:

2 miles across the dunes and you're at the (ocean) beach! Miles of trails! Temperate rain forest, never too hot and seldom too cold in the summer. Lots of sand, lots of water, both freshwater and salt...streams, lakes....we are so psyched!

We're renting a boat, taking in

Hatfield Marine Science Center of Oregon State University
(that's the hatfield marine science center in Newport, very, very cool)

hanging at the dunes,

Fishing...

And doing lots of hiking/trails with the dogwogs.

How much fun is that.

damn...that looks beautiful

 

[Dabs]

I hope you have a good time!!!
The scenery looks pleasant enough, but I am definitely not a camper.
When and if I camp, I need to have a commode that will go ===flush=== and a nice comfortable bed with soft pillows and a television would be nice too ~LoL~
Seriously, I can't do the tent and sleeping bag thingie...no thanks *sigh*
I'll take a nice cabin tho!

 

[Shogun]

NICE!

I love camping.

bring a telescope!

 

[AllieBaba]

The playground is a huge glade, at least a couple of acres. Most of the times I've been at this park, we were the only ones there. In the summer, there will be people camping there at times but the campsites are incredibly well situated...very private. You can't really see them from the paths, and almost all of them are on the water. People have been lost here; in fact I once did a story where they had cadaver dogs up there hunting for someone. They never did find the guy. There are elk, deer, bears and cats, possibly wolves, definitely coyotes, fox, badger, coon and skunk (of course) you name it. Native fish, steelhead and cuthroat, I believe. Salmon too (but I'm not one for freshwater salmon that far from the ocean). The salmon spawn here, and up the umatilla...in the winter it's pretty much inaccessible unless you're REALLY motivated (and this particular park is closed. I have been at elk camp in the general vicinity, however, but on private land).

The river and campground abutt a steep mountainside that is pretty much un-navigable by humans, or very close. i've never seen anyone on it, and I wouldn't take a horse on it.

Looking forward to that one, too. You don't camp overnight here without a weapon.

 

[Sarah G]

So, so, so exciting...primitive camping with:

My son and his family (wife and 3 y.o. and Snoop the pit)
Me and my two youngest (7 & 8 boy and girl) and Klaus the saint
My nephew (we hope, haven't gotten a verification from him but I think he's going, he's always fun. He's a little older than my oldest)

My best friend and her husband are going to join us for at least one night as well...and they have two dogs they will probably bring.

Here is where we're going:

2 miles across the dunes and you're at the (ocean) beach! Miles of trails! Temperate rain forest, never too hot and seldom too cold in the summer. Lots of sand, lots of water, both freshwater and salt...streams, lakes....we are so psyched!

We're renting a boat, taking in

Hatfield Marine Science Center of Oregon State University
(that's the hatfield marine science center in Newport, very, very cool)

hanging at the dunes,

Fishing...

And doing lots of hiking/trails with the dogwogs.

How much fun is that.

damn...that looks beautiful

Looks like there might be bears there.

And mosquitos..

 

[Dabs]

Looking forward to that one, too. You don't camp overnight here without a weapon.

Say what??
And that's where you're going?? You are way braver than I!

 

[AllieBaba]

So, so, so exciting...primitive camping with:

My son and his family (wife and 3 y.o. and Snoop the pit)
Me and my two youngest (7 & 8 boy and girl) and Klaus the saint
My nephew (we hope, haven't gotten a verification from him but I think he's going, he's always fun. He's a little older than my oldest)

My best friend and her husband are going to join us for at least one night as well...and they have two dogs they will probably bring.

Here is where we're going:

2 miles across the dunes and you're at the (ocean) beach! Miles of trails! Temperate rain forest, never too hot and seldom too cold in the summer. Lots of sand, lots of water, both freshwater and salt...streams, lakes....we are so psyched!

We're renting a boat, taking in

Hatfield Marine Science Center of Oregon State University
(that's the hatfield marine science center in Newport, very, very cool)

hanging at the dunes,

Fishing...

And doing lots of hiking/trails with the dogwogs.

How much fun is that.

damn...that looks beautiful

Cool, huh...that last pic is Mercer lake..that's one of the deep, cold coastal lakes, not much bank access as you can see the trees and underbrush grow right down to the water. And that is thick, thick underbrush. This is probably where the kids will boat. They're desert kids, lol, used to reservoir boating...this is going to be very, very different for them..

 

[AllieBaba]

So, so, so exciting...primitive camping with:

My son and his family (wife and 3 y.o. and Snoop the pit)
Me and my two youngest (7 & 8 boy and girl) and Klaus the saint
My nephew (we hope, haven't gotten a verification from him but I think he's going, he's always fun. He's a little older than my oldest)

My best friend and her husband are going to join us for at least one night as well...and they have two dogs they will probably bring.

Here is where we're going:

2 miles across the dunes and you're at the (ocean) beach! Miles of trails! Temperate rain forest, never too hot and seldom too cold in the summer. Lots of sand, lots of water, both freshwater and salt...streams, lakes....we are so psyched!

We're renting a boat, taking in

Hatfield Marine Science Center of Oregon State University
(that's the hatfield marine science center in Newport, very, very cool)

hanging at the dunes,

Fishing...

And doing lots of hiking/trails with the dogwogs.

How much fun is that.

damn...that looks beautiful

Looks like there might be bears there.

And mosquitos..

This is the oregon coast...not too many mosquitoes, it's too cold and windy. Bears of the small black variety, and usually pretty shy.

 

[AllieBaba]

And this is the other camping trip @ harris park...

 

[AllieBaba]

The park is situated in a relatively narrow canyon bottom, with hillsides to the north and south of the river. The County road ends about 1/8 mile beyond the Gene Palmer Campground. The U.S. Department of Interior (BLM) manages the three-mile stretch of the south fork of the Walla Walla River that runs from Harris Park boundary to the Umatilla National Forest, west boundary. This land is designated an area of critical environmental concern (ACEC). The main management goal is protecting and enhancing the riparian ecosystem, fisheries habitat and the scenic resource while allowing regulated recreational use. Harris Park is an entrance to the ACEC for hikers, horseback riders, motorcyclists and hunters who use public lands (Forest Service or BLM lands) but has no enforcement authority."

Umatilla County Harris Park page

 

[logical4u]

Take your Cutter's. Have a blast, and don't feed the bears!

 

[AllieBaba]

In the Harris Park slideshow they have pics of a bear up in a tree.

Don't worry, I don't feed bears and I keep the fire going all night.