On to Portland

Wednesday September 21

After going to bed at 7:30 pm we were awake at 1:00 in the morning but wouldn’t dare get out of the tent because it was too cold.  At 6:00am  we finally decided we had to do it.  The tent was soaked and the fly was wet on the underside so we took it off and flipped it over ~ it instantly turned to ice!! We tried to dry things off but that was useless with our frozen hands.  We just threw everything into the back of the car and started our journey out of the forest.  The cows were still in the road and many a hunter’s truck was parked along the side of the road.  We headed back to Joseph and stopped at the public parking area in town and pulled our wet things out and hung them to dry where the sun was shining and the temperature had risen 20 degrees.  This probably sounds like a horrific experience to most of you but for us it was very adventurous and lots of fun.  We found ourselves laughing out loud at 1:00 in the morning while we lay there wide awake. . We also felt it would be a great story to tell in the blog.

Since we hadn’t taken time to cook any breakfast, we found the Old Town Café’ and had a great breakfast with homemade biscuits. 

Wallowa Lake

friends we met along the way

        

Then we rode the Wallowa Tramway to the 8300 ft summit of Mt Howard to have a final look at the Hell’s Canyon area.  It was beautiful.   

We found ourselves huffing and puffing as we hiked the trails and wondered why, then John realized the altitude.  Shortly after we came to a sign that told us at this altitude we would have 15% less oxygen. 

white bark pine abundant in this area

stunted trees due to the altitude and wind

purple mountain lookout

 We didn't know at the time that they sell feed for these little fellows.  They look like chipmunks but are the size of squirrels;  probably form all they are fed but they are very friendly and come to beg from everyone. 

  trails we hiked.

 we started back down.     

We rode the cable car back down and started our six hour journey to Portland, Oregon, the final leg of our west bound trip. 

Our tripometer  flipped  5000 as we pulled into Portland.

We have seen the amber waves of grain and the purple mountains across the fruited plain (Carl’s rolling his eyes now, John’s putting on his boots, Heather and Jim ~ we need you to orchestrate the music).

So we will be taking a break from the National Parks for about a week but we will keep you posted on our activities in P-town. (this is a wild and crazy bunch)