-Miranda
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We apparently decided to keep with the theme of adventure, so on Wed. we headed out for a hike from the campground towards Schonchin Butte. Schonchin has a hike to the top of it and a lookout tower. We bushwhacked through behind the campground a bit seeing if we could find any caves. This landscape was impossible to get lost in, but we still brought extra stuff with us just to be safe.
We ended up walking about 10 miles. It was fun, but tiring.
On Thursday, we took a break in the morning, but in the afternoon we headed to the cave loop and did a few caves. Once we got to the end of the loop, Joe's knee started acting up, so we headed back to the RV.
On Friday, Julie and Emma showed up. We took them in a bunch of the easier caves. They had lots of fun. The plan was to leave on Sat. but we wanted to do the Catacombs with them. So, Sat. morning, we got up, got ready to go and headed up to the Catacombs. Wow it was tiring. There was so much more belly crawling and just plain crawling than I remembered. We all made it to the very end and signed the book! After we finished, we headed back to camp and packed up and made lunch. Julie and Emma headed back home. Joe and I headed south and east.
We did stop in the National Forest south of the park. We let the cats out for an hour, then headed out. We were going to stay longer, but then Curly wondered off farther than we were comfortable with, so we gathered them up and headed out.
I'll try to get photos up from the lava beds once I get them uploaded.
-Miranda
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We arrived at the campground in a favorite park of ours, Lava Beds national monument. Very remote, No roads, etc for dozens of miles in many directions. After dinner, we decided we would run off to Heppe Cave, a 4 mile bike ride and half mile trail, but figured we would just have enough time. We traveled into the cave, which had three large 30' - 50' ground openings, connected by 300' caves. After getting to the last opening, we found we could easily get back up, and decided to take an overland shortcut back to the trail. It turned out the ground cover was different in this area, and we had trouble seeing far, and getting through the thick 10' bushes. After going a bit and searching around for the giant (we thought un-missable) cave openings, we started worrying as it was getting dark. Loose lava rock, spiny bushes, and thick bushes forced redirection, making it impossible to keep a proper unchecked heading. We tried to head back to find the end of the cave, and failed. We discussed the only nearby road which was running north and south about a half mile away. We figured safest bet would be to head due east asap while the sun was setting. We rushed forward. Unfortunately it was very cloudy, and difficult to tell the proper sunset direction. The ground cover continued to get more difficult. After an hour of rushed, pained bushwhacking, the sun fully set and we could no longer deduce a proper heading... Fighting any worry we decided since we had hooded sweatshirts and flashlights, the best bet would be to stay put until the, hopefully cloudless, sunrise showed us proper East. We were foodless, waterless and fireless so were slightly limited in options. There was some wind, so we looked for low ground with good bush cover, and dug in a bed, preparing for the 30ish degree night. We lay there conserving heat and energy for a long couple hours.... . . . . I was getting sore and decided to go for a walk around the area within shout distance. After coming upon a clearing I discovered the clouds nearly fully clearing. Located the big dipper, and started trying to recall the north star bit.. Which part of the big dipper points to it? I yelled for Miranda to join me. We both thought the front of the spoon pointed to it. She also believed she remembered that the north star is a part of the little dipper. We eventually found the harder-to-identify uglier little dipper. However there was a far brighter star (possibly planet) but 120degrees opposite of the proposed (pretty dim) north star, this caused us to doubt our astronomy. We decided that even if we were going off the wrong star and the bright one was correct, the only result would be us heading north instead of East. this would only send us along the road and negligibly off course. So, we decided to hike for 40minutes Heading Directly east via the north star. We trotted on, luckily more clear ground now. After 10 short minutes, we came upon the road, each went a different way, I found our bikes a quarter mile down, and biked carrying Miranda's back to her, We got home 25 minutes later happier to be in a comfy bed than in a very long time. We survived! So, we now, will never forget, the big dipper front of spoon does point at north star, North star is reliable navigation, and always bring a fire starting method ANYWHERE ;)
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We spent a week hanging out, working and relaxing in Ashland,OR with cousin Emma Durbin. It was a good time. Ashland is pretty cool for small population. 20k? 2 indian buffets, 3+ Sushi joints, great coop.
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My husband and I travel quite a bit. We're slightly nuts as we decided to bring our 4 cats with us on our cross country RV trip. Because the cats are confined to a small area, we try our best to get to National Forest where it is legal to park off the road for up to 14 days. There, we let them out during the middle of the day so they can run around and explore. They don't stray far and always come back for dinner. We have been to national forests all over the country and have never had a problem with hunters or people in general.
On September 22nd, we arrived in Happy Camp. We drove past it and up a National Forest road where we found a great place to park. The cats were having a blast. We stayed for a few nights. Unfortunately, on Saturday, we were sitting in the RV and heard a rattlesnake nearby. We ran outside to see two of our cats within a couple feet of it. We rescued the one, Zoe, who was not the focus of the snake's attention. Joe grabbed a bat to put between the snake and Lucy, the other cat. Both came out without being bitten, but we decided not to take anymore chances (Joe had seen a different rattler just 2 days before). We left that afternoon and headed back into Happy Camp. We had pizza at the Pizza House and were quite impressed with the small community. That night we stayed at the Elk River Campground. Again, we were impressed with the area.
The next day we wanted to try our luck out in the forest again. We headed back out and found another road to try. We eventually found an amazing spot. It was far enough off the main road (about 150 yards) that the cats shouldn't wander onto it, and we could have some privacy. We were paranoid about the rattlesnakes, so we spent a good hour walking around the area looking. We even found two scorpions, took the time to identify them and discovered they weren't poisonous before we ever dared to let the cats out. We finally did though and they ran around having fun exploring. We went outside every hour or two to check on them and they were always not too far from the RV.
At around 6:15 on September 26, Joe and I were in the RV when we heard a shot. Joe jumped up and ran to the door. He yelled "Stop! There are people here!" He then looked out the door to see Zoe, our two year old, long haired, black cat approximately 100 yards from the RV, running as fast as she could towards us. Joe quickly yelled "Stop! That's our cat!" There was another shot and Zoe tumbled. We both ran to her. The man that shot her was able to give no explanation when asked what he was shooting at. What did he think she was? Why would he shoot a cat? He had a handgun on his hip.
This man was in his 40's or 50's and he shot my baby. My young, beautiful Zoe, with a handgun. As I knelt next to her watching her die, all he could do was beg and apologize but offer no explanation as to what he was doing shooting at such a small animal that looked nothing like anything found in the wild. My husband asked him to back off and give us some space. A couple minutes later, he drove away in his tan pickup. We buried Zoe there and left, wanting to get away from the area we had thought was 'happy'.
We had more respect for people and hunters. We hoped people that carried guns actually made sure they identified what they were shooting at before pulling the trigger. We were apparently wrong. We were slightly concerned that we could possibly get shot since it was deer season. It never crossed our minds that someone would ever shoot a long haired, black cat.
Zoe was just starting to mature. She no longer scratched at the door. She commonly sat by me while I was working. She would come up to Joe and me and rub her head against us wanting attention. She had an adorable old lady meow. It sounded like she was losing her voice. She sounded like that since she was a kitten. She was Curly's best buddy. They gave each other baths all the time. She would often purr and knead my clothes before lying down to take a nap. She will be greatly missed.
-Miranda
Zoe.
Photo taken a few days earlier at the other site. She loved to roll around and get really dirty.
RIP Zoe
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