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 2 - Oh Stewart

Thunderstorms were headed our way as we ate breakfast in camp. Marisa's iphone (Stella) confirmed it so we decided to go explore in Gwen and see what we could find. It was chilly, rainy and we were in a volcanic area, what is there to do? Oh yeah, lets go find some hot springs. We consulted Stella who told us about a place called Stewart Mineral Hot Springs just past Weed, CA. It was actually our only nearby choice so we gave it a shot.


Turned out to be locals day so we got half price ($12) but had to wait an hour and a half for our tubs. The time was spent in the cozy waiting room reading books, chatting with a cute couple that just got back from spending a month with Sai Baba in India, and trying to understand a girl who was on mushrooms and would start to say something then take 5 minutes to finish her sentence. We were finally called by the hostess who explained the system to us.


First we got our own room with a bathtub that we'd fill with the mineral water. It has silica in it, a natural detoxifying mineral, and you're not supposed to rub your skin while you're in the tub. The silica is like little glass shards that could rub your skin off. After about 10 minutes of soaking, you get up and go into the co-ed wood burning stove sauna where nakedness abounds. It was a little difficult to relax with so many people in there, all staring at each other like monkeys. The lighting was a little bright for my taste. At one point a guy randomly said to the room "Hey guys, I'm having a great experience." That was hilarious.

After about 10 minutes in the sauna, you walk out in your sheet through the cozy waiting room, onto the deck, down the stairs and throw yourself into the very chilly river. I loved this part and had no qualms about being naked here for some reason. I sprawled out on a rock to cool off, let the rain drops drip on my face, and soaked up the healing energy of the sacred grounds. We did this 3 times which took about an hour and a half and it was absolute decadence.


After the soak it had stopped raining and this was our view of Shasta as we drove back to McLoud.



We hiked around the McLoud area again, made some dinner and had some fun taking pics by the campfire. Fowler was great cause there was free firewood and kindling everywhere around our campsite. I'm used to having to buy it in bundles.





This potentially bluesy day turned out to be one of my favorites.

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