Preparations

Today Phil and I bought our plane tickets to Europe. We snagged great deal this morning for $540 each, round trip, from Seattle to London, March 1 to May 3. Tickets are so cheap because London is one of the cheapest cities to fly into and of course it is the off season. Score one for the cheap campers! We checked Kayak.com repeatedly all week until today, voila, the ticket price popped up $40 cheaper than yesterday. For some reason, flying out of Seattle is about $100 cheaper than flying out of Portland. Somehow we will have to find our way to Seattle before March 1 but I think it's worth the lower price. So exciting!!!! That means mine and Phil's tax returns cover the cost of our tickets! Woohoo!

Also, we are preparing to go snow shoeing in Crater Lake this weekend. We are attending a free, guided tour with snow shoes provided. I'm very curious to see what Crater Lake is like in the Winter. We went there last July and it was pretty cold. There wasn't much snow at all but there were TONS of mosquitoes. Phil went the previous fall and said it was FREEZING. I can't imagine the what the conditions will be in January with 8 feet of snow on the ground! Hoping for some great photo ops. Crater Lake was one of my favorite photo subjects last year.

Crater Lake - July 2009

Fishing FAIL

January 23

Bonnie Lure Recreation

Clackamas River

Oregon

Well, fellow cheap campers, part of outdoor recreation on a budget is taking risks and exploring opportunities. This weekend brought Phil and I just such an endeavor, as we ventured out to Estacada. The goal for our trip was to break in my new fishing pole Phil gave me for Christmas. A quick internet search yielded recommendations for the Bonnie Lure State Recreation area on the Clackamas River. So we headed out there on this rainy Saturday afternoon. It's about an hour from our Beaverton abode.

Numerous cars filled the parking lot when we rolled in, which is encouraging. As we took a peek around we saw that most of the people were lone fly fishermen, complete with those silly, waist high gaitors, and all we talked to reported no luck. Nonetheless we dropped a line along a slower corner of the rushing river, after hiking about a half mile through the young forest. No luck. Several snags. Several other spots down the river also yielded nothing.

So we gave up and headed to a nearby lake we had passed on the way out to Detroit. Luckily, a local boater stopped us after we parked but before we settled in. He told us fishing is not allowed here until the season starts, not that it matters anyway because the lake isn't even stocked till March. He said it would be a shame for us to get a fine when there aren't even fish. Then he gave us a 2010 Hunting & Fishing Licensing Guide. Then he pointed us in the directed of Faraday Lake, which he said is open to the public year round. What a guy! We didn't end up going to Faraday Lake since it was late in the day and we were pretty hungry, but it's on our list now.

I am looking forward to longer daylight hours and warmer temperatures for our cheap camping adventures.

Gales Creek Campground

Gales Creek Campground

Jan 2

Tillamook State Forest
First Hike of the New Year and First Official Entry of our new Travel Blog!

Gales Creek Campground offers a perfect example of Willamette Valley wilderness. Accessible year round, Gales Creek is located about 45 minutes from Portland on Highway 26. The campground is closed during the off season, but hikers can park on the highway and walk in to explore a maze of logging roads and small trails.

We hiked about 4-5 miles here today, mostly on the gravel logging roads because the main trails were closed for repair. We didn't see anyone else but we heard gunshots from nearby hunters and we saw deer tracks. The air was fresh, but drizzly with typical Oregon January weather.

Felt good to get out and stretch our legs after a long and merry holiday season.