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Adventures Abroad:  Anyone having some fun with Fall Camping?  |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 28 2008 : 02:14:34 AM
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Oh the mornings are starting to get crisp and the leaves are starting to change colors!!
This reminds me SO MUCH of being a kid and going deer hunting with my dad. We would almost always stay the night in the mountains. Sometimes with a tent, sometimes sleeping under a rock overhang.
I love the smell of "tent" in the morning. It's such a great feeling to know you are waking up and you are far far far from any civilization! Such a rejuvenating feeling.
Elizaray |
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Mountain Girl
outrigged
237 Posts
JoAnn
Colville
WA
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Sep 28 2008 : 11:12:31 AM
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Just got back from camping. This is the time of year we take our small "vintage" cab over camper. We usually tent camp. It startd as a beautiful fall day at a beautiful campsite 3 miles from the Canadian border with Sheep Creek running through the campground. Only one other person camping. The sky turned threatening to the west and we could hear thunder and see lightning (nice to experience because here in the west that doesn't happen much). It then started to rain so we sat and read inside the camper, flipped on the little heater and it got toasty warm. Never have to leave it on long, the place heats up fast. After about 15 minutes I looked out the window and while it was still raining the sun was shining on the tops of the trees and then a beautiful rainbow appeared! It looked like it was going right over the camper. THen the rain stopped and it was beautiful. After we got back we went to a talk at our wildlife refuge and the speaker mentioned that this guy in Rossland Canada I think it was has ecotours on his ranch. He has his cattle grazing in one area and grizzlies will come down and graze close by! The speaker's wife turned to me and said "that's on the other end of Sheep Creek that you were camping at". Glad I was in the camper and I didn't know that at the time : ) JoAnn
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. Unknown |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Sep 28 2008 : 1:33:47 PM
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Wow! That is awesome JoAnn! It sounds like you were really drinking in the natural beauty! I am hoping to go spend a few days in my cabin someday soon!
Elizaray |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2008 : 12:00:15 PM
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Sounds like a wonderful trip, JoAnn. It's neat to hear that there's a growing population of grizzlies up there, and that there are ranchers who actually accommodate them. If only more ranchers could find ways to profit off of wildlife in ecologically sound ways - that would keep everybody happy & more ecosystems intact.
Glad you had the camper, too!
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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marybeth
outstepping
146 Posts
Marybeth
Washington
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2008 : 09:13:49 AM
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I just got back from my little outdoor experience. My friend and I went to a fire lookout tower for a week. We had been there before but last winter it had been vandalized so the Rangers took out all the fire looking equiptment. So sad! It was great being almost 4000ft up and totally isolated. You have to pack everything in even water---so no showers. It rained and was foggy all the way down the coast to Gold Beach Oregon and then as we were going up , up, up, we finally got above the rain and fog and the sun and scenery was beautiful. It was extremely windy and rained all night (rocked the tower) but we still enjoyed it. Somedays you can see all the way to the ocean. Alson you can look to the east down in the valley and see where the Rogue and Illinois Rivers meet. On the nights we had that were clear, the stars were awesome!! We saw 3 Black Bear and I think a Cougar. Last time I was there we were aware there were three young Cougar around. Of course there is the resident mouse in the outdoor loo. We ventured down and went to the Chetco River and played in the water and hiked through the most northenly stand of Redwoods. Huge!! Took 101 home and visited the ocean. The last night we stayed in a Yurt at a state campground.
It rained all the way down the Oregon coast.
The lookout tower: 
The outhouse with the best view--ever: 
Up the down staircase. 
Nice view: 
Roughedskinned Newt--ain't he cute?: 
And, so, goodnight: 
It was a blast. MB
Being outside is being |
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Mountain Girl
outrigged
237 Posts
JoAnn
Colville
WA
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2008 : 1:40:10 PM
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Marybeth, What fun. I love lookouts. Have volunteered at our museum which brought a lookout from a nearby mountain and another one has been brought to the fair grounds. Our lookout was vadalized too. Some kids got in and threw all the Forest Service dishes out the window. The nickname for our tower is Goldie's Tower. Goldie and her husband use to visit the person on duty in the tower years ago when they were still in use. Bring him cookies etc. So when it was brought to the museum she volunteered--only would work in the tower. She was an itty bitty little women and I think she worked there well into her late 80's. She couldn't open the heavy trap door so she would put a book on her head and walk up the stairs and push on it with her head. Her daughter volunteered/volunteers at the museum and has never been up to the fire tower--she's afraid of heights! JoAnn
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. Unknown |
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city chick
outstepping
93 Posts
Deb
Chicago
IL
USA
93 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 04:29:54 AM
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We're going on our 2nd outing this coming weekend. The tree's are lovely! It is nice & cool - perfect camping weather. Unfortunately, the river will be too cold for my girls to wade.
I can't wait to get out there! I have fall fever.
http://www.xanga.com/My_Pondering_Place |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Oct 16 2008 : 11:26:42 AM
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GREAT pictures, MB - thanks so much for sharing. I've only been up in a lookout once when I was a kid, here in the Ozarks. I've always imagined the view from a NW lookout would be just like the ones you captured. How neat to be able to stay in one. I've often wished I could've worked for the USFS back when lookouts and backcountry rangers were still the norm.
Poo-poo on vandals - I am so disgusted by their childish, selfish impulses to make their mark on the world, no matter how awful. Jerks.
PS. I do SO love Hwy 101. Glad you had a great outing!
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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marybeth
outstepping
146 Posts
Marybeth
Washington
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Oct 17 2008 : 06:27:44 AM
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Here's some more pictures from my Lookout adventure. We also went to the Chetco river, I guess I mentioned that before but it is a great river. Canoed down there a few years ago and it hold good memories. Here goes:
Good morning! :
High above the clouds--the view looking west:
Looking east down to the rogue River:
Chetco River: 
Redwood Trailhead:
Hiking among the Redwoods:
I'm ready to go again. I think I will wait til Spring and check out the wildflowers etc. MB
Being outside is being |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Oct 25 2008 : 09:46:00 AM
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What beautiful pictures! You are so lucky!
Elizaray |
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Mountain Girl
outrigged
237 Posts
JoAnn
Colville
WA
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2008 : 07:41:43 AM
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Got back a couple of days ago from camping at a beautiful campground on Lake Roosevelt(Columbia River).We were the only ones camping. The highlight was seeing three or more loons. Of course there are in their winter plumage and usually are silent at this time. But a few times we heard a short version of their haunting call. One of the things I miss from Minnesota are the loons. JoAnn
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. Unknown |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2008 : 5:06:08 PM
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JoAnn- I bet they were beautiful and since you were the only ones camping, I bet you had a nice quiet relaxing time!
Elizaray |
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HuckleberryWine
outbound
21 Posts
Michelle
Rosalia
Wa
USA
21 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2008 : 8:04:54 PM
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Love the pictures! Oh, that staircase makes me dizzy. What a great time you had!
I just spent this weekend camping in my trailer. Clear, cold skies with stars forever. Coyotes in the evening, and this morning a flock of swans heading south. I looked all around for them on the horizon, until they flew right overhead and I heard their wings and looked up. Wow! I thought they were in the creek, but no time...cold is getting colder. Fall colors and crinkly leaf sounds. And it smells so fresh. Try to soak it all in. Winter is fun too, but I'm not brave enough for snow camping...once, but not now. |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Oct 27 2008 : 08:07:59 AM
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Michelle- Wow! Snow camping! I never have been brave enough for that!
Elizaray |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Oct 30 2008 : 11:21:24 AM
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Yeah, my bravery (and cold tolerance) have certainly fizzled a bit since having kids. But I'm hoping that once they get a little older we can get "wilder" again together.
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Nov 07 2008 : 08:20:02 AM
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That would be so much fun, Jen! I am hoping to be able to take a mini vacation for my birthday in December and go to our rustic cabin in the woods. It would be so nice to get away and hike the trails that I hiked in my youth.
Elizaray |
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Adventures Abroad: Anyone having some fun with Fall Camping? |
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Anyone having some fun with Fall Camping?
