Bend - Day 9 - Ridge Lake to Home

We chose one more small hike to do early in the morning before the long drive home. We couldn't have picked a more amazing place to go, Ridge Lake, right above the Sulphur Works.


We both agreed the lake didn't have nearly a good enough name. It should've been called Diamond, Emerald, or Exquisite Lake because it was.




Where's Marisa?



Walking back down the path to the car, I was bluesy but satisfied. This road trip had taken us to places I never dreamed we'd be when we left LA 9 days ago. We swam in lakes, rafted on a river, hiked amongst giant trees, hotspringed on sacred Indian Grounds, dined on delicious food, galavanted in Portland, ran a race in Bend, and laughed a lot along the way.


Spontaneous traveling is really my style but rarely does it end up being as seamless and smooth as this trip was. Marisa was the perfect partner in this journey, she has a calmness and confidence about her that I really admire. We are both spontaneous, adventurous and easy going so we got along great. With the assistance of Stella, her iphone, we were able to navigate and find whatever we needed. Gotta love the iphone!

Well, my restlessness from being in the city too long has been quelled. For now at least. More LOLA adventures to come!!

Bend - Day 1 - Gettin the Heck outta Dodge

We left LA early to avoid traffic. The drive up the 5 was smooth. We stopped at a rest stop for a delicious breakfast of hummus, olive tapanade, tomatoes, sugar snap peas and bagel chips.


While we were eating, I got in touch with Dean the Rafting Machine, a cutie who I had just met on my online dating site. He was on vacation too, traveling up to Montana for some rafting with his brother and friends. We talked about meeting up for a rafting trip on the way back from Oregon, he said could meet us up near Crater Lake and try to raft down the Rogue. I got very excited about that possibility.

We pulled into camp around 5 after first checking out Castle Crags State Park which was nice but you could hear the freeway from the campground. I had read about McLoud waterfalls in my "Day Trips with a Splash" book and we asked the ranger about camping there. She said it was very nice and you could hear the river from the campsites. That's exactly what I was looking for. McLoud was only 20 minutes up the road, we camped at Fowler Campground. It was perfect. We set up camp and went exploring.


There are 3 waterfalls at this spot on the McLoud, appropriately named Lower, Middle and Upper Falls.





The 8 hour drive was definitely worth it. The green of the trees, flow of the river, and serenity of nature was invigorating. After exploring, we ate a delicious and healthy dinner of sprouted grain tortilla veggie wraps, drank some wine and read our books.

Approx Cost of Day 1
$25 gas
$15 picnic food
$15 campsite