Refreshed
Port Orford from Humbug Mountain
Back from a week in SW Oregon. The first two nights were in Port Orford (eponym of the Port Orford cedar). The weather sucked, and the seascape, which looked so pretty one sunny day we passed through some time ago, was now bleak.
However, we did climb nearby Humbug mountain (1700 foot elevation gain, 5.5 mi round trip), where the flora and fauna were impressively coastal and wild.
We then moved inland, dipping briefly into California and back up along the dam-free Smith River. The weather got warmer with each mile and soon we broke out into sunshine and the Indian summer that is blessing Oregon this year.
Darlingtonia Californica
New Thing Learned: Darlingtonia Californica likes nutrient-poor bogs, and is often in the same location as Port Orford cedars, which, by the way, are suffering from an attack of an incurable fungus and are on the decline. (Another factoid: the straight-grained wood is used for coffins, shrines, arrows, and aircraft.) The darlingtonia is also known as the cobra lily, and is a carnivorous pitcher plant. First time I’ve ever seen a field full of carnivorous plants. The tallest were about 18″ high, and they were beautiful greens and reds.
Cantrell Buckley
Then we camped at the Cantrell-Buckley Park at the start of the Applegate Valley. Beautiful. And we practically had the madrone-forest campground to ourselves. Saw deer, a very cute feral cat (kitten, really) native snails, lizards, and Tom saw a fox and a skunk, in silhouette. (Their shadows cast on our tent.) But it still counts.
I didn’t take my laptop with me, nor any other electronic device except my phone. Tom had his laptop, but I refrained from getting online when we were at coffee shops in Ashland. It’s the longest I’ve gone without an Internet connection in years. And it was great.
Our camp in the madrone forest