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Post by ChrisB on Jul 4, 2018 19:48:27 GMT
Silver City was the ghost town we ended up in. You leave the paved highway and embark on a 28 mile dust-'n'-bump-fest, climbing up out of the valley floor and into the mountains. At times, in a normal car, you wonder if you are going to be able to get back through it all later! The town was kept alive (just) for years by one resident, the owner of the hotel but now people are beginning to move back in and the buildings are being renovated. Unlike a lot of the ghost towns we have visited before, it's interesting because it's possible to see how the place would have functioned as a mining community. Nowadays, there's an interesting mixture of rustic dereliction and technological modernity.   We had planned to stay on the dirt track and visit another, more derelict ghost town, but took the decision that the car might not make it on the more deteriorated road. |
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 4, 2018 20:20:04 GMT
Sunday 17th JuneOntario to Chemult, Oregon. Another long run, but with great scenery. This is a really lonely place! Harney County, which we passed through is 10,228 square miles of high desert and is populated with just 7,700 people and 60% of those live in just two adjacent towns. We stopped for breakfast in one of those towns - Burns. They serve remarkable food there, as this sign testifies.  Further on down the route, we passed through another centre of population, the bustling metropolis of Wagontire.  Did I mention that this place is lonely?   Have you seen 'Breaking Bad'? 
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 4, 2018 20:42:35 GMT
We were aiming for Crater Lake National Park and after climbing up out of the desert, we found ourselves back in the forest. The first motel we found was in the little town of Chemult.  Grabbing an early dinner, we got off to the park to see if we could catch a sunset from the top of a volcano.  This is Mount Mazama. It has an elevation of 8,157 feet and it blew its top 7,700 years ago. The subsequent eruptions filled the lava tubes, sealing them up and so the crater filled with rainwater, almost to the brim, making Crater Lake the deepest freshwater body in the United States at 1,943 feet (592 m). <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.600000000000023" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.6px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 5px; top: 133px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_19050463" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.600000000000023" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.6px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1006px; top: 133px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_2965152" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.600000000000023" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.6px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 5px; top: 798px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_53516582" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.600000000000023" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.6px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1006px; top: 798px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_47809041" scrolling="no"></iframe>  |
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Post by brian2957 on Jul 4, 2018 21:19:56 GMT
Amazing pictures Chris . Just shows the vastness on the USA . You both know how to find some apparently desolate yet beautiful places as your pictures testify to 
I'm not sure if I would be so willing to go off the beaten track . Wonderful images though  |
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 4, 2018 21:33:58 GMT
So have I convinced you to book a flight yet then Brian?!
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 4, 2018 21:41:56 GMT
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Post by brian2957 on Jul 5, 2018 7:38:49 GMT
So have I convinced you to book a flight yet then Brian?! Possibly my kinda stuff Chris , but for the wife.....  |
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Post by brian2957 on Jul 5, 2018 7:41:55 GMT
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 5, 2018 19:49:22 GMT
Monday 18th JuneBack up the mountain for a little more sightseeing. The lake is about 5 miles across and there's a road that runs all the way around the rim of the crater.    This place has 44 feet of snow a year!! So there's still quite a bit about even in the middle of June  So, now we push on west and south and we're into tree country. As John Muir said, "Going to the woods is going home" and I'm in my element here.  We end the day in the town of Cave Junction. Mexican food for dinner and an early night: tomorrow, I'm going to drive through a tree! 
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Post by brian2957 on Jul 6, 2018 7:06:01 GMT
You seem to be covering a lot of miles Chris . How many did you do in total ?
Some of the places you have visited look stunning , if they were in this country they would be surrounded by hotels and restaurants
Over there they're just wilderness , and you seem to be in your element in these places . You should write a guide book |
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Post by MartinT on Jul 6, 2018 7:21:11 GMT
Top photo is superb.
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 6, 2018 7:26:57 GMT
You seem to be covering a lot of miles Chris . How many did you do in total ? I was keeping that for the end! A bit over 3,400 in total. Some of the places you have visited look stunning , if they were in this country they would be surrounded by hotels and restaurants (rofl)
Over there they're just wilderness , and you seem to be in your element in these places . You should write a guide book :)
You're right about the hotels and restaurants! I think a lot of the social problems we have in the UK are basically down to the fact that we're crammed to tight. People need some space around them. |
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 6, 2018 7:28:48 GMT
Isn't it a beautiful sight? I wish I had a lens that was capable of getting the whole thing in without distorting it. |
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Post by MartinT on Jul 6, 2018 8:28:43 GMT
No, the framing with the tree in the foreground is perfect.
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 6, 2018 8:40:41 GMT
I do have a certain predilection for a dead tree in the foreground!
Brian mentioned writing a book - I have long harboured thoughts of 'Project Retirement' being the capturing of images for a book called "Trees on the Edge".
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Post by brian2957 on Jul 6, 2018 9:50:34 GMT
Oops... sorry if I spoiled it for you Chris 
That's a long way to drive in what is really a short space of time .
All your photos are excellent but as Martin says , the one with the dead tree in the foreground is a bit special .
Well , you never know Chris . I would certainly buy your book
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 6, 2018 20:23:28 GMT
Tuesday 19th JuneBig tree day! Still heading west and south, back in California, we skirt the edge of Klamath National Forest - 1.7million acres - it's enough to make a simple lad from the woods giggle like a toddler! Running alongside the beautiful Smith River, we stop and have a couple of hours walking around the huge old growth trees in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, which is part of the Redwoods National Park.   <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.659999999999968" style="position: absolute; width: 21.480000000000018px; height: 14.659999999999968px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none;left: 5px; top: 133px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_97097717" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.659999999999968" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.66px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1006px; top: 133px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_41589638" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.659999999999968" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.66px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 5px; top: 801px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_39990244" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.659999999999968" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.66px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1006px; top: 801px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_39259820" scrolling="no"></iframe> 
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 6, 2018 21:51:41 GMT
Our route today takes us to Crescent City and we find ourselves back on the Pacific Coast. In 2001, we flew to Vancouver in Canada and drove all the way down here. Crescent City was the place that we turned back and headed north again. On other trips, we drove north up the coast from San Diego and north from Santa Cruz, meaning this stretch from the top of California down to San Francisco is the last bit of the entire west coast that we haven't travelled. We plan to put that right now! Back to the big trees... Last time we came to the States, we went to Sequioa and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Sierra Nevada mountains to see the Giant Redwood trees ( Sequoiadendron giganteum). They are the biggest trees in the world - i.e. the most massive. They're all about the girth - they get their bulk from the dumpy carrot-like taper of the trunks. The Redwood trees here are Coast Redwoods ( Sequoia sempervirens) and they are the tallest of all trees, so it's all about the height.  However, they're no slouches in the girth department either!  Speaking of girth, I said I was going to drive through a tree....     As a forestry professional, cutting car sized holes in trees is not necessarily something I condone, but who could pass up a chance to drive through a tree??!! (In my case, a second chance at that!) So, tonight we landed in Fortuna.  And tomorrow, I get another tree fix! <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.659999999999968" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.66px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 5px; top: 197px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_57413953" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.659999999999968" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.66px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1006px; top: 197px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_48040459" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.659999999999968" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.66px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 5px; top: 865px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_98186575" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="21.480000000000018" height="14.659999999999968" style="position: absolute; width: 21.48px; height: 14.66px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1006px; top: 865px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_95076161" scrolling="no"></iframe> |
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Post by brian2957 on Jul 7, 2018 9:28:56 GMT
Those trees look impressive Chris . TBH I'm quite surprised that tree hasn't fallen over .
How was your drive down the coast ? Were the roads OK ? Scenic ?
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 7, 2018 9:52:42 GMT
I suspect that cutting the road through the tree may not have been quite so invasive as it looks.
If you look at the last photo, you'll see a dark patch in the centre of the tree, right above the roof of the car. This is a cavity, so the tree is likely to have been hollow for a long time. The wood in the centre of a tree (heartwood) is actually pretty much functionally dead. Trees are very adaptable and,of course, a cylinder is an extremely strong shape, so many hollow trees can survive for a long time.
I'll be posting some coast piccies later today!
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