Truckventure: Tygh Valley

 We took the truck over the mountains (actually we went out through the Gorge and came back through the mountains) to Tygh Valley last weekend. Since our trip to Panther Creek we've shortened the scaffolding in the back by 3 inches (guess the solar cell will have to ride on top) and it is way more comfortable to sleep back there. I also made window covers, but then I forgot to bring them with.

On Saturday we stomped around at White River Falls State Park. It has several impressive waterfalls and a decommissioned hydro station. They have a very cool placard showing you which areas to stay out of because otherwise the river will kill you. I didn't see anyone taking that advice though. I think as long as it doesn't rain it's fine. And as long as you don't fall in, I did see a couple people tempting fate on that front but nothing too egregious. Some folks must have had a wedding at the park because there were roses and rose petals all over.

The top cascade.

The power house from above.

Rose petal lined pathway.

I accidentally implied that Nick should be serious.

I swear that kid is not peeing.

Second cascade and pool.

Cool windows on the power house.

Cool pipe leading to the turbines.

Cool rivet guys on the pipe.

Downstream from the third falls.

Nick and the third falls.

Mostly normal selfie.

Downstream side of the power house.

Saturday night we camped next to the Deschutes River, which is quite the thing. There is a lot of water going through there and it's pretty rocky and shallow so it's moving fast. The fishing must be great because there were quite a few folks around angling and there were a bunch of rickety looking platforms cantilevered out over the water. It looked very exciting. There are a lot of campgrounds through there to host the fisherpeople, which was nice. We stayed at the Oasis camping area right below Maupin. We ended up getting our dinner and breakfast from the grocery store in town because the adapter for our propane tank apparently deformed during its test run and was no longer gas-tight. We have since obtained a better one. It all turned out for the best because I had amazing shepherd's pie for breakfast and now I'm inspired to make my own.

Truck and campsite with the swanky part of Maupin overlooking it all.

Breakfast spot.

Sunday we did a 5 mile hike from the Criterion Ranch Trailhead, south of Maupin on 197. It was beautiful open deserty plains. We had intended to hike to a waterfall but the relevant stream was not flowing so in the end we just hiked to a cleft in some rocks. But the views were great.

Pretty yellow bush.

Trail through the scrubby grass.

Desert selfie.

I think this is a meadow for part of the year.

View down to the Deschutes.

Selfie with chossy cliffs.

Truckventure: Panther Creek

We took the truck out this weekend for the first time with a minimum-functionality platform in the back (has a mattress but no drawers and certainly no electric). We built the platform from 20 mm aluminum T slot extrusion. The mattress is 4" high density foam on 19/32" plywood. When we first put the mattress in the headroom seemed low but doable. I think it must have expanded some more because now it's pretty claustrophobic in there. We're going to need either a taller topper or a way to lift the topper a bit when we're parked. Or possibly a shorter platform, but we have big dreams for the kitchen drawer.

For the venue, we headed over the river to Panther Creek in Washington. The truck did great on the gravel forest roads. We went over several sections that would have stopped the Yaris. We were planning to do dispersed camping but ended up finding a spot in Panther Creek Campground, which was lucky because everyone was out for Labor Day weekend. We found a cool spot on the creek with some downed logs that formed a nice bench. The water was beautifully clear but crazy cold.

On Sunday we drove the rest of the way up to Panther Creek Falls and visited the overlook. It's a pretty nice cascade falls. There was a trail down to the bottom but we didn't hike all the way down. 

On our way back to town we stopped at the Bonneville Dam to admire the fish in the fish ladder. There were 10k Chinook salmon counted going through the fish ladder per day this weekend.

Adventure Truck

My brother and his wife have been building out a custom camper van and it's super cool. I am v. jealous but I wasn't feeling quite that ambitious so Nick and I bought a little truck to spruce up as a camping-mobile. It's a black 2001 Ford Ranger, as yet unnamed. It should be much more capable on the forest roads than the Yaris is. We're planning to do a bed platform with a drawer or two underneath, we'll see how it goes.