MOUNTAINS + RIVERS + TRAILS = SUMMER VACATION

Take several heavily forested and very green mountain ranges, separate them with wild, foaming rivers, lace trails throughout. Add the sounds of wind in the trees, the roar of foaming waterfalls, the peeps, cheeps, and screeches of birds. It adds up to summer vacation.

I know, I know - we live as though we are on vacation all the time, but summer in the mountains takes me right back to summer camping vacations with my family when I was a kid - and it is a special, very relaxed feeling. Lucky is the child who has parents and grandparents who introduce them to the great experience of camping. (Thanks, Mommy and Daddy!)

We’ve been in Grants Pass three days, and we have hiked on each of them. I’ve got pictures to share. Double-click on any photo to enlarge it, then use the "back" button to return to the blog:

Our first hike was to the top of Upper Table Mountain, 20 miles south of Grants Pass. Spectacular view, huh? The next day was a slightly more challenging hike, the Rainie Creek trail along the Rogue River (far right photo). VERY rocky, occasionally steep – but we had the Rogue River beside us (usually far below) the entire hike.	Snow covered Mt. McLaughlin from Upper Table Mountain.
This is the Rogue, looking quite calm as it flows towards the Pacific Ocean.	A wild yellow iris along the trail.	Rainie Falls, 2 miles from the trailhead. What they lack in height, they make up for in width. They were so noisy we could barely communicate with each other.
Today we took a much longer drive, the Redwood Highway from Grants Pass, Oregon, west to Crescent City, California (85 miles one way). We mostly wanted to check the suitability of the road for possible future travel in Scoopy, but we also planned several short hikes along the way. One of the best was a walk to the point where the north fork and the middle fork of the Smith river converge – named “The Points”.	The jade green color of the Smith River is caused by the high concentration of Serpentine rock through the canyon, leaching its color into the water.	I was on a rock twenty or thirty feet higher than the river when I took this photo. The water was incredibly clear.
From The Points, we drove through the Redwood national and state parks to Crescent City. After driving the Scenic Tour route along the ocean, we found a Safeway and bought custom made sandwiches for lunch. Back along the ocean, at a spot we had selected earlier, the fog had lifted and the water sparkled with sunshine. Woo-hoo!	The lighthouse at the Crescent City harbor. The weather was typical northern California coastal fog.	Our lunchtime view. Just as I turned away from taking this photo, a dozen huge Pelicans went soaring past.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, and we plan to stay close to home, taking a walk in a city park near our RV Park. Odel plans to cook a slab of ribs in our little solar oven; I’ll make “sides”. Have a good holiday, everyone – and travel safely if you are on the road.