Saturday 1st April – Into Oregon

An extremely loud train woke us up early, about 630am.  Simon managed to get back to sleep but it was morning for me.  I got up and went for a walk to see the dam.  Major bonus – there was an osprey nest on top of a telegraph pole, presently occupied by a pair and a chick.  One of the adults arrived back at the nest with a small fish in its talons and there was much excited squeaking from within the nest!

A dilapidated nest and a wind-blown osprey

That was the highlight of the day, the rest of it was just driving really.  Heading south from our camp site we crossed the border into Oregon within an hour or so before heading West on Interstate 84 towards Portland. 

The decision – whether to stick to the Interstate and cover more mileage or take a slower route that may reduce the number of miles we travel and be more picturesque? No brainer – we took a route south towards the middle of the state and Simon found a PA site that would be a suitable stopping point for the night and come in below budget.

The last few days have been a bit of a slog – a lot of driving with not much stopping to see things.  But hopefully that’s the majority of the ground covered and tomorrow we’ll make it back to the coast.  Finally reunited with some decent WiFi, I can spend an evening focussing on the blog.

Luckily I broke away from the laptop to go for a leg-stretch when the weather improved into the evening.  I was clearly looking lost as I wandered around the camp ground, a lady asked me if I was trying to find the canyon.  ‘Erm, yes?’ was the obvious answer whilst thinking to myself ‘what canyon?’  'Stunned' would be the correct expression when I only walked a matter of 50 meters through the end of the grounds and the earth opened up to show this: 

There were signs warning of ‘loose rocks’ but nothing to protect you from the edge and it was quite unnerving for my vertigo!  There was also the ‘hiss’ sound of the water rushing along below that we had been entirely ignorant of whilst sitting in the RV.  Simon was creating a lasagne for dinner but I managed to persuade him to come for a walk with me to experience the view for himself.  It was his kind of hike – very short with an amazing view to enjoy for minimal effort!  I shouldn’t be too mean, dinner was very tasty.