It was an 8 hour drive from Summer Lake up to the Yelm area of Washington. Along this journey we experienced driving through lush Oregon forest on OR58 and over Willamette Pass. There was a lava field along the drive as well as plenty of down hill grades and curves. We were on a tight schedule this day to get to WA, however I would definitely come back to this area another time and take a slow drive also visiting the unique places along the way. After a fuel stop in Albany we drove up I-5, passed around Portland proper, but could still see homeless camps along the freeway we have heard about on the news. As we crossed the drawbridge over the mighty Columbia River we found ourselves in Washington State. Just a couple more hours to our destination camp for the week. Along the back roads to get to the RV park we were greeted with consistently narrowing lanes and farmlands on either side. Wondering where in the world the new GPS was taking us, we then freaked out upon seeing a sign stating a low clearance bridge coming up. Talk about nervous… I then realized that the low clearance was not actually in the direction we were being guided, but a secondary route to get to the same area! Thank goodness. We took the picture of the sign later as we drove around in the truck.
We arrived safely at Offut Lake Resort and quickly set up so I could have a glass of wine after that last 3.1 miles of harrowing drive. This is a nicely kept RV park which has lake access for fishing and boating and their own restaurant. It is very small but well laid out, and has lots of shade. Eleanore loved the grass as you can see. We did make it in, but truthfully I wouldn’t recommend FFers. Oh yeah… I had a flat in the park. That is a $600 rock cut in that pic. But at least it didn’t happen on the freeway!
We will be spending a few days with our daughter and son-in-law while here in the area. A 5 mile hike is planned up Little Mashel Falls this week and hopefully I’ll get some good photos to share with y’all. Also plans to go to the races on Saturday night.
UPDATE: We did go on the long hike. (5 miles is long for us) It was my idea to cross the logs to get to the other side of the creek, and man are we glad we did. The photo through the trees was before we got to this point, the after is obvious. The upper falls were so gorgeous and the larger middle falls is were we ventured behind the waterfall. We all got a little wet but it was cool to do. We did go to the short track races in Rochester, just a few miles away. South Sound Raceway, small but so much fun.
