My First Walkabout
Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
The dream
When I retired from my last — and it will be my last — eight-to-five job, I expected to be able to travel. To enjoy the outdoors. And I expected to do these things with the love of my life, and my dog.
Unfortunately, however, the love of my life is no longer keen on backpacking or sleeping on the ground. If I was going to do any exploration, it was going to be just Liddy and me.
So, it was with some trepidation that in June of 2018, I packed the Prius with our camping gear. Loaded Liddy into the back seat and pointed it south on I5.
There were several issues:
First it had been a long time since I had been out on a camping adventure. Let alone one like this. Did I have all the stuff that we would need?
Second, I wasn’t really sure where I was going. The plan was quite vague.
First stop
I did know that I wanted a Garmin Inreach. If I was going to do this wanderlust thing, I wanted to be able to let people know where I was. Cell phone coverage across the Northwest is less than the carriers would like you to think.
The Inreach is a GPS mapping solution that provides text messaging over satellite. Doesn’t matter where you are, you should be able to send out an “I’m here tonight” message to those who care from anywhere. The SOS feature is a comfort as well.
So, stop one was at an REI store in the Portland area. In addition to the Inreach, I wanted some maps and camping gear.
After getting the Inreach registered and communicating, we continued south on I5 towards Springfield. When I was working for Weyerhaeuser, I visited Springfield quite often for project work. I didn’t stop there on this trip, however. We left I5, following Oregon 58 towards Dexter where we set up camp at an RV park. There was a tenting area but…
Salt Creek Falls
In the morning, we were up early and continued southeast along Oregon 58. The highway is a beautiful drive through the Cascades. It follows the Middle Fork Willamette River and then Salt Creek. Salt Creek Falls was the primary stop of the morning.
Salt Creek Falls is the second tallest waterfall in Oregon after the Columbia River Gorge’s Multnomah Falls. Salt Creek falls 286 feet (87 m) into a classic bowl. In my opinion this cascade is much more impressive than Multnomah. Because of the setting out in the wilds of the Cascades, it just feels more awesome.
Bonus. No need to reserve a parking spot to visit either.
Crooked River
Without any specific plan, we wandered eastward to US 97, then north through Bend. We ended up pitching our tent in a BLM site south of Prineville. The site is located beside the Crooked River, a very pretty spot that we have returned to several times since. I find the surrounding forest of Juniper trees to be fascinating. This one with the gnarly trunk and branches provided me with some practice behind the lens.
Are we having fun yet?
It rained during the night. Liddy was cold and uncomfortable. I know because she made me uncomfortable. In the morning I struck camp noticing the stream of water that had found its way into our tent — I remember thinking that there has to be a better solution — so far, this sucks!
I need an RV
On the way home, I thought about our experience. How could we improve it? There must be a better way.
I could purchase a pickup and put a camper on it. Sure, that would work, go from Fifty MPG to less than Twenty. I don’t think so. What else could I do?
When we got home, I did some research and found that there were a lot of people using their Prius as their home. A bit extreme in my mind, but if they could use it for an extended period, then I could use it instead of the tent.
Princess Prius, the little red RV
If I put the back seat down, and the passenger seat fully forward, there are six plus feet from the seat to tailgate. The back seat foot well takes a small Yeti cooler. Put a platform under it to line up with the deck. This then is my bed. Bonus — if it gets too cold, I can start the car to get some heat.
Put the camping gear, food, and clothes on the left side, camera gear in the passenger seat — perfect. Liddy likes to watch the world go by from the bed.
It may not be a Class A, but my little red RV, the Princess Prius works for us.