Oregon - Day 6 - Gold Hill to Sutherlin

Sutherlin/Umpqua Valley KOA, Sutherlin
Friday, 6 May 2022

It was rainy on our first walk this morning, but we were lucky to get some sun on our second one.  After that it was clouds and occasional light rain the rest of the day.

today's route

I left the campground on OR-99 again, but it ran out in Grants Pass.  From there I had to work diligently to get Google to route me from one town to another via the scenic route.  Not only is Oregon unusual in not maintaining the old US-99 route, but it's also unusual in not providing off-shoots from interstate highways to take people through the small towns the interstate bypasses.  I've been finding and following those offshoots, known as Business Routes, in pretty much every state.  At least, they're there when I'm looking for them so I guess they're in every state.

But not Oregon.  The nice thing about these Business Routes for someone like me is that I can use interstates for the ease of travel, but I can also get off at one end of a town, drive through it - maybe finding a park to walk the dogs and see what the town looks like - and then get back on the highway at the other end of town.  In Oregon, there's no such ability, or if there is, it's not easy to identify it.

But routes like these allowed me to see long-haired brown goats that were almost hidden in a field of tall grass that they were munching on.  I crossed several narrow old stone or concrete bridges.  Here's the one in Gold Beach.

Rogue River bridge in Gold Beach

In the City of Rogue River, they had an unusual metal one across their namesake river (sorry, all internet photos were copyrighted).  From there, the road wound alongside the river for miles, with occasional waterfront houses and almost constant trees.  Really pretty drive.

I stopped at Grants Pass, pop. 36,465, for groceries and at a liquor store (Oregon doesn't sell hard liquor in grocery stores, only beer and wine).  I asked the guy working at the liquor store if he liked living here and he quickly said yes.  When I asked why, he said "It's not Portland."  When I asked why it's better than, say, Medford, he said, "It's more laid back,"  

With almost 50,000 fewer residents than Medford, it's easy to believe Grants Pass is a bit calmer.  This town was originally named Louse Creek, but residents decided to change it when they applied to have a post office here - they thought folks wouldn't flock to visit a town named Louse Creek.  Instead, they named it in honor of then-General U.S. Grant, a hero of the Civil War (in some parts of the country).

Here's what directions for a real back route looked like (without mileages attached) beginning in Grants Pass: left on G Street/Upper River Road; right on Pinecrest Drive/Plumtree Lane; left on Camp Joy Road; right on Jaime Lane; left on Merlin Road; right on Merlin Avenue (by this point we're in the town of Merlin); right on Pleasant Valley Road - you can see what I mean.

Driving this route, we passed through rural neighborhoods and farmlands.  I saw several Trump/Pence signs, which still strike me as odd.  But maybe those folks aren't reality deniers (thinking the 2 candidates still want to serve together) but instead election deniers (thinking these 2 candidates should be the ones in office now).

Merlin (pop. 1,922) says it's the Gateway to the Wild and Scenic Rogue River.  Odd that the City of Rogue River didn't make that claim, though it may not have been "wild and scenic" there.  The Rogue has that designation for nearly 60% of its course, but that still leaves a lot of river without it.  

A sign in Merlin suggested I turn right for the Haines Apple Tree, and I might have done that if I'd known what it was: OR's second oldest apple tree, planted by the Haines family in either 1852 or 1854.  Since apple trees typically live for only about 50 years, you can see that this is an unusually hardy tree.

During today's drive I came to several mountain summits, all below 2,000' except Canyon Creek Pass at 2,020'.  And just past all of them, I came to signs saying 6% Grade Next 3 Miles [usually]."  The steep downhill grades came so like clockwork after the summits that I almost took them for granted.  Odd what you can get used to.

I came to the town of Sunny Valley and, oddly enough, it was both: I came out of heavy clouds and saw down below the town of Sunny Valley - in the sun and in a valley.  A sign told me it was home to the Applegate Wagon Trail (a southern route off the end of the Oregon Trail) and a historic covered bridge from 1920.  (Once again, being old out here in the West is a relative condition.  Keep in mind that Oregon didn't become a state until 1859, just before the Civil War.)  I don't know how big the town is, though I'm guessing not very because it has so few residents they don't even take the census here.

The town of Wolf Creek is in a similar situation.  It's too small to be a census-designated place, and it's the home to the historic Wolf Creek Inn, a state heritage site.  Open since 1883, it's the oldest continuously operating inn in the Pacific Northwest.

A sign said to watch for elk in the next 7 miles.  I keep being disappointed by their nonappearance.

Signs tell me when I'm coming into a different county, and each sign says, "___ County - We Honor Veterans."

I was constantly seeing hills covered by green trees.  I saw a herd of Belted Swiss - they look like cows wearing cummerbunds.  Lots of goats and horses, though not together.

We stopped at Canyonville (pop. 2,013 in 2020) for a walk and some lunch.  That was actually harder than it sounds because I couldn't find any place at all to do these things.  I kept turning down side streets and sometimes having to make u-turns in small spaces.  But I finally stumbled on a place called Pioneer Park that worked out well for us.

It was a small park, but it had several things of interest.  We parked next to the stump of what was once an ancient Douglas Fir.

The tree was long gone, and it was the
old trunk we were parked next to.

plaque on the trunk

And we found a covered bridge that went over a stream alongside the park.

The stream the bridge crosses.

The bridge had no sign saying how old
it was or if it's been moved (which I think
it may have been).

When I finally found the sign saying this was Pioneer Park, it helped explain why the restroom building was made to look old and why they'd decorated the area as they did.

I talked to some nice people in my general age range who were walking their 16-year old American Eskimo/long-haired Chihuahua mix.  They said they liked living here, despite there being little to do, because it was quiet.

Leaving town I passed a home with a sign on the gate in front reading, "Beware of Cat."

At the Herbert Lumber Company, I saw many many huge piles of logs, and all of them were being watered.  I don't remember seeing that done before and can't quite figure out why they'd do that.  This wasn't a high fire risk time.  Seemed odd.  Maybe it was the old "ounce of prevention" thing.

From Canyonville, Google told me to take roads that weren't labeled at all what Google said they'd be labeled.  Despite this interference, I managed to take the back roads again, this time to Myrtle Creek, pop. 3,460.  I saw a business called Bogie's Hoagies, passed another covered bridge, and crossed the Umpqua River.  

The Rogue and the Umpqua Rivers are among only a handful that rise in or east of the Cascades and still make it to the Pacific Ocean.  Both are about the same length - Rogue (124 miles) and Umpqua (111 miles) - but the Rogue rises from a mountain spring, where the Umpqua rises from snowmelt.  I crossed them both many times when I was in their areas.

I was forced back onto I-5 for a few miles, and then managed to find a remnant of OR-99, which took me past several more small towns, and through a lot of farmland and past farmhouses.  At one point, I saw a Confederate flag flying from a pole in front of one house, while across the road a neighbor was flying a Trump 2024 flag.

Near Dillard (pop. 568 in 2020), I passed the Dillard Log Yard at an enormous facility that encompassed maybe 4 or 5 buildings.  It was labeled Roseburg Forest Products, and apparently plywood is at least one of its products, based on a sign I saw.

I heard on the radio that grasshoppers thrive in drought conditions.  Given the extreme drought we're having in most of the Western states, the farmers here may be looking at some serious problems ahead - to compound the problem of the drought.

Winston, pop. 5,410, claims to be Home of the Wildlife Safari.  This business has more than 600 acres where more than 100 species of animals live in the wild.  You're allowed to drive through on your own, but you have to leave your pets in kennels at the entrance, for which they sell locks ($5 each).  The entrance fee for seniors is $21 (plus $10 lock fee for my 2 dogs (I always ignore Lily at times like this - she'd just sleep through the drive anyway)), so it's too steep for me.  Cheaper than a trip to Africa, though.

Anyway, when I crossed the bridge in Winston I saw an unusual sign that told me to "Raise Plow for Bridge Joint."  Presumably it's meant for winter snowplows, but it's still one I don't remember seeing before.

Today I saw lots of very large campaign-style signs that read, "Remember Term Limits When You Vote."  That's what they all said - no group affiliation or explanation.  Though I suppose it's a reference to the why-bother-with-term-limits-when-you-can-vote-them-out-of-office-when-you-want way of thinking.  I think most people's real problem is that they often like their own elected representatives and want term limits on those that others elect.

In Roseburg, pop. 24,820, I passed the Historic John Rast House 1875 (once again, what's old is a little different here on the West Coast than I saw on the East Coast), and the Buckaroo Barn, which offers "square and round dancing."  That seems to sum up what I saw there.

And then at Sutherlin, pop. 8,260, I came to tonight's campground.  This KOA is unusual: it was once a drive-in movie.  The screen stayed in place, though long ago it stopped operating as a movie place and turned into a campground.  Then the current owners, who had grown up in this area, bought it, kept the campground and refurbished the movie part.  They even got licensed by the Motion Picture Licensing Corp. so they can get a range of movies to show.  They installed a digital projector and an FM transmitter so campers can pick up the sound on their radios.

When you make a reservation you can specify that you want a site that has a good view of the screen.  Others go up to a large grassy area near the screen where the owners have propane fire pits for people to gather around and stay warm.  The office provides free popcorn.

The night I was there they were showing Safari.  Of course, these days the sun doesn't set until 8:20, and the movie was set to start at 8:45, which is more than an hour past my bedtime.  I put up extra towels over the windows to keep out the light and we were fine.