Clearwater Falls Campground - Enroute to Bandon

Clearwater Falls Campground.

North Ummpqua River, Oregon.

Wow – what a day of highs and lows. A beautiful drive over from Baker. This time of year everything is soooo green. The grasses under the ponderosa pines going over the Blues and the Ochocos. Fields of deep green grasses and light green sage. Full reservoirs! Blue skies. Wildflowers – arrow balsamroot, buttercups, phlox, butter and eggs, wild iris fields, and along the Umpqua dogwood and rhododendrons! Volcanos still wrapped in snow against a blue sky. Mt. Thiesen with its lightning rod spire. Beautiful country and smooth sailing with few construction stops.

Another high was a stop in Redmond (and avoiding the chaos of stopping in

Bend) and doing one stop shopping at the Fred Meyer. Rick found new Nikes, shoes for Ginger (yes!), sandals for Jed, and a few other purchases I wanted to make before arriving in Bandon. I drove for nearly an hour on the stretch from Lavalands Visitor Center down to the rest stop below Chemult. A good stretch to practice trailer driving.

The low was the call from Randy in Prairie City to hear that Pop is failing and won’t be going home from the hospital today. Hard to hear, but perhaps a blessing. Is it wrong to pray that God will take him home sooner rather than later? I hope not, because I think that is our prayer. We finally get a chance to talk with Mom from the rest stop and will touch base again tomorrow once we reach Bandon.

We stop at Clearwater Falls Campground on the north Umpqua River. Until about 9pm we have the campground to ourselves! We walk up to the falls, climb to the top, and marvel at the thick moss covering all the rocks. It is really pretty in the setting sunlight. Back to camp for a good campfire and conversation. We have a constant visitor in the shape of a deer that keeps feeding at the campsite next to us. This is a dry camp…no water and we don’t have much in the car. So we sit around the fire and drink from the wine boxes!

Clear night and cooling temperatures. We will be glad to have the boys’ sleeping bags to pull over us as well as our own!

Tuesday: Arrive in Bandon at 11:45 am, backing into the driveway just as Mom comes home from the grocery store. Good timing! A beautiful drive down the Umpqua this morning, through Roseburg and over the coast mountains. Everything so green!

View all our trip pictures!