Tuesday, August 30. 

It's 3:00 am and I'm sitting at a picnic table basking in the glow of my iPad in an RV park on the Snake River somewhere in eastern Oregon.  I hope to be more precise about where we are before long. There's no wi fi hereabouts, no cellular, no representation of our location on any of the four maps we've consulted. Actually it may be 4:00 am. We may be in a new time zone -- a sign says "Showers absolutely will be locked at 10 pm Mountain Time." We're here because Scotty, of Scotty's Recreational Supplies/Deisel, told us last evening we'd better stop driving because "the deer take over the roads about now." 

Sunday night we stayed at the Union Creek campground in the Blue Mountains just outside Baker City, Oregon. After we asked our series of idiotic questions, the camp host suggested we might enjoy a movie called "RV," starring Robin Williams.  I was able to stream it only on the smallest of my seven available electronic devices. We fell asleep squinting at the tiny screen, watching Robin driving too close to a tree and tearing off his vehicle's awning, becoming drenched by a shower of fecal matter while trying to dump his tanks, etc.  The next morning it was time for us to -- you guessed it -- dump our tanks for the first time.  We aced it.

Monday we arrived promptly at 9 am at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center outside Baker City, situated high in the hills above the rutted remnants of the trail itself.  

In the 1840's more than 300,000 pioneers embodied our Manifest Destiny, following the trail nearly 2,000 miles from Missouri to the promised land around Oregon City. They persevered through heat, wind, rain, and mud to pursue a dream.

Kate among the pioneers

Inspired, Kate and I decided to pursue our own dream. We made the 3 mile round trip hike in 90+ degree heat from the Interpretive Center to set foot in the actual ruts of the Oregon Trail.  

Ruts in the foreground are remnants of
    the original Oregon Trail. Structure at the
  top of the hill is the Interpretive Center,
where we started and ended our hike.

Our rig is just about twice the size of the wagons that traversed the Oregon Trail (18 feet vs. 9 feet long)

Returning to the center to watch a film, we learned that elderly types weren't highly valued on the trail back in the day. Couldn't pull their weight. "Elderly" meant over 50.

Wednesday, August 31. 

As we decamped Tuesday morning (after my 3 am blogging vigil), we discovered we had spent the night in a campground in Copperfield, OR. Copperfield doesn't exactly exist anymore, but the local namesake utility company operates an RV park on the banks of the Snake. We didn't cover much ground Tuesday, traveling 70 miles of winding mountain road from Copperfield to Joseph, OR -- named for the famous Nez Perce chief who refused to sign the "Steal Treaty" with the U.S. in the 1850's. 

The mountain road offered some interesting obstacles.

Half way to Joseph, we stopped at Hell's Canyon Overlook, commanding a dramatic view of the canyon carved for 2 million years by the Snake River, through rock compressed from magma for over 300 million years. The Overlook was a favorite attraction for pioneers heading westward on the Oregon Trail.

You meet a lot of interesting people on the road, but you tend to meet them for five minutes and then move on. Yesterday we encountered a man whose grandfather was a 6 foot 9 inch Catalonian who migrated to El Salvador, lived to be 118 years old, and died from being hit by a car; a woman who lives near Portland in the winter and drives a shuttle bus in Joseph in the summer; a motorcyclist who photographs his "buddy rock" with "Gary" painted on it wherever he travels to honor his deceased friend; a couple who photographs their two dogs in front of whatever notable sights they encounter in their travels. Ever the sentimentalist, Kate said "All we have to photograph is each other. We should get a rock."

Last night we camped at beautiful Lake Wallowa, outside of Joseph.

Today we took a little hike. I like to walk -- in fact I've walked 50 miles a week every week for six years. As long as it's flat and at sea level, I'm your guy. The ranger here assured us that today's hike (Chief Joseph Trail) was an easy, flat hike around the lake. The trailhead is "just up the road,"she said. During our two mile walk uphill on the road at 5,000 feet elevation, I got my first clue about what lay ahead.

Finally arriving at the trailhead, there was more interesting news.

There was also a sign warning of wild goats that "may become aggressive," and who "crave the salts found in human sweat and urine." There was no mention of how they go about satisfying these cravings.  The trail itself was only a mile and a half long, but was steep by my standards and offered some challenges -- but no wild goats, at least.

The trail.

A nicer part of the trail.

Partial view of Lake Wallowa from the trail.

Hiking aside, we like it here at Lake Wallowa and we're staying a night longer than we planned.