Forest Fires in Crater lake Hwy 84 between Baker City and Pendleton 2016
Almost a year to the date new fires in Oregon. last year just about the same time, almost the same date, my son and i took a road trip in Oregon. On Friday the 29th, we headed out on a 4 day road trip. We had left our home in Albany to go and get memberships to several Oregon casinos. We were traveling with a dog, (Mustard) and a bird, (Jessy) so we really could not stay in any of them very long. `It was simply to hot, to leave them in the car more then about 5 minutes,taking turns staying with them, the first day was 103.. After leaving at 7 am, we headed towards Eugene, where we cut off to go to Reedsport. and from there to Coos Bay to the first casino,( The Mill). Then down to Coquille and over to I-5. We made our way from there down to the exit taking us on hwy 66 heading towards Klamath Falls, so we could go to Crater Lake. Hwy 66 starts out as narrow winding and climbing road and the further east you go the prettier it gets.
We made our way towards Crater Lake up Hwy 97 and the closer we got the more the air seemed filled with smoke. We stopped and took lots of pictures of Crater Lake, Oregon's only National Park and talked to the ranger. He informed us after we asked a few questions that Crater Lake had 3 forest fires currently going on. We arrived from the south entrance and we choose to leave by the south entrance. We drove right by the fire which very close to the road on the way out of the park. We could actually see the fire that is how close we were to the fire. As we were driving we passed several fire assistance and forest trucks on the roadway. They were all lined up watching the fire, apparently to see if they were needed to assist. Further down the road, we passed more trucks that also seemed on stand by to assist.
We left the park and drove north to spend the night in Madras. We woke bright and early, on the second day, taking time for the Lava Bed Caves, The Lava Cast Forests, and the museum in Bend. We drove further north to the Warm Springs Reservation and the Indian Head Casino. From there we headed towards Mt Hood and we did a short hike up the mt. so we could say we been there.
From Mt Hood we were east bound towards Pendleton and then towards Baker City. before ever making it to Pendleton, we had to head back. A fire had broke out and had closed hwy 84 between Pendleton and Baker City closing the hwy. We had to cut our trip two days short. Last year just about this time we were in the middle of a forest fire in Oregon.
Two years in a row forest fires
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Thank you for sharing your experience. Many in 2016 are facing the threat of fires. It is always best to heed warnings, keep informed, and be prepared.