Drama Free 4th of July at Cottonwood Canyon

 

One year later!

If you are looking for a quiet spot on the 4th of July, away from loud fireworks and festivities, I can’t recommend Cottonwood Canyon enough. Since Riley is no fan of fireworks, we try hard to find him a safe haven. This is the second time we’ve spent the 4th at Cottonwood Canyon and not heard a single pop, bang, or boom. We came here last year after picking up nine-week old Raney, so we had some fun recreating “one year later” photos. She has grown so much!

What a difference a year can make. 

We arrived at the Lone Tree campground in Cottonwood State Park near Wasco, OR on Friday, 6/30. My brother, Tim, had arrived a few days earlier and was all settled in. He has Starlink and graciously shared his Wi-Fi. One potential downside of the campground, absolutely no cell service for miles! I’m thinking we may have to add Starlink to our load out. We don’t mind going a few days without cell service, but we’d just spent a week at Big Pines on the Yakima River without internet/cell service and another week would have been pushing it! No internet, no blog. Lol.

Cottonwood Canyon State Park.

Tim was set up and waiting for the party to start. Lol. 

Tim took this gorgeous shot of the moonrise. 

We got set up and other folks also began to arrive. Yep, this year we had a total of nine in our party. Tim and Mike’s friends, Jeff and Lori, arrived Friday afternoon with their tiny puppers, Zippy and Susie. Then Mike, and Mike’s cousin Erin got in late Friday evening. More friends, Glen and Mikey, pulled in Saturday. We planned for dinners together, rotating responsibility for the main course, while everyone pitched in with appetizers, sides and salads. We did not go hungry! Most evenings we gathered outside Tim’s coach for happy hour and dessert. There are no hookups at the campground, but there is a sprinkler system and Riley took full advantage of it to keep himself chill.

Tim and Mike met six years ago.
Mikey brough a  special cake to celebrate. Yum!

Everybody, including the pups, gather for happy hour. 

Riley LOVES the sprinklers. Lol. 

There are several trails that leave from the campground. We'd already biked the two longer trails (Pinnacles and Lost Corral), so this year we wanted to tackle the hiking trails. Given the heat – we’re talking mid-high 90’s with no shade and brutal sun, we tried to get an early start.  The Sage Knob hike was only .2 miles, how long could that take. Right? We started about 9am on Sunday, and the Sage Knob overlook was a bit anticlimactic, maybe 60’ above the ranch area. But an unofficial trail started there and went right up the hillside. So of course, up we went. Besides, we were finding easter eggs! The park hosts a summer institute for high school age kids and they had seeded the trail with painted rocks. We had a blast searching for the rocks and they had planted them all the way to the very top of the bluff.  

The ranch/day use area is an oasis of green.

Look at all the fun painted rocks we found!!

The views got even better as we ascended the hill.

Pano of the park, campground and river.

View downriver from the top of the hill.

We made it!! Whew!

By the time we got back to the RV, we had hiked several miles and were hot and sweaty. Luckily that was easily remedied by taking Riley and Raney to the water. It’s a short walk from our campsite to the John Day River and we made multiple daily pilgrimages so Riley could visit his happy place. Raney plays in the shallows, but Riley loves to stand in chest-deep water with this totally blissed out look on his face. 😊

Hello!

This is definitely Riley's happy place. 

Raney enjoys the river too. 

Hey Mom, watcha doing?

The next day, we left a little after 7:30am and walked the Willows Flat trail along the river to the Hard Stone Trail. Altogether it was about 5 miles and I’m thinking we should have gotten an even earlier start. Lol. We saw lots of small-mouthed bass and chatted with folks fishing the river. At the turnaround point we scrambled down to the water and soaked our shirts in the river to help keep us cool on the return trip. A good hike, but with no relief from the sun, it was toasty!

Hard Stone Trail.

Rog chats up the fishing folks.

Hiking past lichen covered basalt cliffs

On Monday afternoon, the rest of the group did a day trip to the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. They had a great time, and the Painted Hills scenery is positively stunning. Rog and I had visited it before and didn’t want to leave the pups alone since they’d already been stuck in the RV while we hiked. (Thanks Mike and Tim for the pictures!)

Painted Hills.

A cast of characters. Lol.
Glen & Mikey, Jeff & Lori, Mike & Tim, and Erin

Unfortunately, when they returned from the Painted Hills, Glen and Mikey discovered their generator was not working. Since our RV’s are just little metal boxes sitting in the blazing sun, no generator = no air conditioning = very hot box. When they still couldn’t get it to run Tuesday morning, they opted to head home rather than hang out in heat. (Still saying, we could have worked something out guys! 😊)

Happy 4^th of July! Tim, Mike, Rog and I biked the Pinnacles Trail on Tuesday, which parallels the John Day River. It was a gorgeous day and we rode until we came to the trail closure for nesting Golden Eagles. It was about 7.75 miles round-trip. Rog is still on his traditional mountain bike while the rest of us are using e-bikes, and yet somehow Rog is still always in the lead. Lol.

The helmet brigade. Lol.

Me and my baby bother. 

End of the trail.

Tim and Mike pause by the river.

Boys on bikes.
Rog (the only one without an e-bike!) is in the lead. 

Shade break!

Wednesday was our float day! We had never had an opportunity to kayak the John Day River and we were excited to check it out. We decided to leave from the campground and take out at Starvation Lane, about 10 miles downriver. We purchased our permit, hauled our boats down to the river, and set off. There were no real rapids on this section of the river, but there were lots of meandering splits and some very shallow water. Mike counted six times he had to get out and walk his kayak when there wasn’t enough water to float his boat, literally. Lol.

Rog and I on the John Day River.

Tim and Erin.

Mike.
Who looks way too comfortable. Lol. 

Did I mention we had some seriously shallow spots? Lol. 

Neon lime green underwater moss thrives in the shallow water. Cool!

We spent about four hours on the river. We spotted the elusive California Big Horn sheep, a group of six females on the hillside. We played in the water, passed one group that was spending five days fishing and camping on the river, and just generally had a great time.  We had staged Tim’s Grand Cherokee at the takeout point, and since we all have inflatable kayaks, we were able to get everyone and our equipment back in one load.

Can you spot the well camouflaged ladies? 

Sorry. Moving kayak and high zoom don't make for the best pics. 

Most of the river was smooth and slow.

Mike catches a little white water action!

Rock spires along the river.

A break in the shade.

But kayaking is not the only way to float the river. Rog and I walked upriver, walked out mid-stream, sat down, and butt floated down the river! The first time we hiked to a spot just above a little rapid. Remember what I said about shallow water? We bounced over so many rocks, Rog’s tush is still tender ten days later. Lol. The second time we wised up and got in below the rapid and had a much more pleasant float. Truly, no better way to beat the heat!

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!
Enter below the shallow rapid. Lol. 

Aahhhhh. This is more like it. 

Happy floaters with our butts in the river!

Friday, 7/7, was our departure day. We snagged a group shot (missed you Mikey and Glen!) and then went our separate ways. Rog and I had originally planned to break the trip back into two days, but instead opted to just drive the 278 miles home. We dove into the unpacking, cleaning, laundry, and maintenance that inevitably follows every trip.

The Cottonwood Canyon Gang is missing two.
Jeff, Lori, Tim, Mike, Erin, Teddi and Rog.
Mikey and Glen were back in Spokane. 😞

So, what’s next? Oh, have I got a special treat for you. If all goes as planned, we will be doing a bucket list trip in September to Uganda and Rwanda to visit the Mountain Gorillas!  Stay tuned, I hope to have some amazing pictures and stories to share.

Floats and Fires at Big Pines

 Adventure is what we call it when the unexpected happens. We didn’t plan for anything exciting on this trip, just the opposite in fact, but things got spicy! Our goal was to find Riley some peace and quiet away from the pops, bangs, and booms that herald the 4th of July at home. Our big baby is not a fan. We left Sunday, 6/25, and not a bit too soon as the fireworks had already started in our neighborhood. And yes, they are illegal and no, it doesn’t seem to matter. Lol. Our first stop was five nights at Big Pines Campground on the Yakima River. We’ve stayed here a few times before and it’s a favorite for floating the river. 

We're parked about 40 feet from the Yakima River. Love the view!

We had a lazy camp day on Monday, walking the short trails around the campground and letting the pups dip their toes in the river. Both Rog and I have been running on minimal sleep and we had some catching up to do. In truth, it’s mostly our own fault. We have been up late every night for weeks playing Diablo 4, the latest iteration of a video game that Rog has been playing for over 25 years! The new version was just released June 1st and we’ve both been staying up way past our normal bedtime gaming with our daughter Randi in Texas. We all have headsets and chat while we play. She is a diehard gamer girl; it was so much fun to play with her and she’s really good too!

Somebody put a lot of time and effort into these balanced rock cairns! 

We walked the short trails through the sage and wildflowers.

On top of our self-inflicted sleep deprivation, Raney had been getting me up at least twice a night, usually around 2am and again around 5am. Last Sunday morning she was cuddling with us on the bed and went to change position and let out a pitiful whine. We had no idea what she’d done, but she got very agitated was pacing, panting, and generally acting weird. Since all big dog parents live in fear of torsion and bloat, we quickly took her to the emergency vet. Luckily it was nothing serious, they thought she may have tweaked her elbow. Hurt herself lying in bed. Geesh. That’s something I thought only us old folks did. Lol. The vet gave her pain meds. Which gave her the runs. Which is why I’ve been up and down with her every night. We’d hoped when the meds ended it would quickly resolve itself, but we’re still doing our late-night strolls. Sigh. She’s getting lots of pumpkin and is on a bland diet for a few days. Hopefully that will do the trick. (Update: Happy to report that she made it through the night Wednesday and after a few more days was back to normal.  Yay!)

Riley in his origami mastiff pose, while Raney enjoys princess privileges on the bed.

Rog and I floated the river Tuesday, 6/27, and again on Thursday. We decided not to take Riley, with temps in the high 80’s and no shade on the water, he would broil. Both times we put in at Umtanum, which is about 7 miles upriver and took out right next to our campsite.

It's a fun float through the canyon.

We saw bald eagles and...

...deer coming down to drink at the river. 

Here's another wildlife sighting. Lol. 

Love the twisted basalt pillars.

Raney has never kayaked, so we worked on getting her accustomed to the boat. With the kayak tied in shallow water, I coaxed her in. She’s been in it on dry land, but this was her first time in the water. She wasn’t too keen on the unstable footing, but once she sat down, she was fine. She stayed in it for a few minutes and then decided this was boring. The Yakima River is a little too fast for a first kayaking adventure, so we didn’t get any further than the shallows on this trip. But progress was made!

Getting in was the hardest part.

Ok, we're all set!

Why aren't we going anywhere? This is boring!!

Remember I said we were leaving home to get Riley away from the bangs and booms of fireworks. So, what did we have at Big Pines? Afternoon thunderstorms! Lol. It’s not as bad as fireworks, but he still gets agitated. On Tuesday, a lightning strike started a range fire just over the hill across the river.  Aerial support, helicopters and waterbombers, came from Wenatchee to help put it out. We could see the smoke and fire glow from our campsite. 

Smoke rising across the river.

The fire glow was beautiful, but not a good sign.

On Wednesday, it looked like everything was pretty much under control. We went for a short drive to look at other put-in sites along the river and saw they were still running the helicopters with water buckets to put out hot spots. Riley was very interested in all the noisy aircraft overhead.

Still smoking Wednesday morning.

Riley tracked the copters dumping water on the fire.

Then later in the afternoon the wind kicked up again and all hell broke loose. The fire that had seemed a safe distance away was suddenly racing toward the campground. Folks were packing up and leaving as fast as they could. At first, we weren’t too concerned, but then the wind blew dense smoke and ash our way. Soon we could see flames on the hillside right across the river and were worried that the wind might carry embers across and start a fire on our side. We quickly packed everything up so we were ready to leave if the situation got any worse. Please note that by this time we were the ONLY idiots still in the campground. Lol.

In less than an hour the fire raced over the ridgeline.

A little too close for comfort.

Rog watches the fire approach as we frantically load up for a hasty retreat if needed.

On the upside, we got to see an amazing air show! DNR pulled out all the stops and there were multiple helicopters, water bombers, and a larger plane dropping fire retardant. For several hours they were scooping up water from the river right next to our campsite. It was very cool to watch, although a little close for comfort.

Fill the bucket, douse the flames, and return for another load.

Score! This was the hillside right across from our RV.

Lucky for us the wind shifted again and the fire moved up the hill and away from us. By nightfall, everything was under control and several campers had returned. The next day the DNR crews walked the hillside checking for hot spots, but the excitement was over. Rog and I felt confident enough to take the pups and drive into Yakima to visit Single Hill Brewing. We had a few excellent craft beers and a tasty dinner to celebrate a fiery, floaty week on the Yakima. Lol.

All is calm. You'd never guess the exciting days we had!

Single Hill Brewing - a fine place to celebrate. 

We departed Friday, 6/30, for Oregon to meet up with family and friends at Cottonwood Canyon State Park. We’ll be way out in the boonies on the John Day River for a hopefully quiet and uneventful 4th of July. Riley has had quite enough excitement, thank you very much.