Joseph H Stewart

Well this was an unexpected adventure! I can’t quite remember why we chose to come to this place, but I think it had to do with wanting some place to stop between Ashland and Diamond Lake, that wasn’t Crater Lake. This is a county park on Lost Creek Lake, right off highway 62, so it fit the bill. As it turned out, Darren had been contemplating bicycle camping at this very same place and had even bought himself a tent for that very purpose. We pitched the idea of having him try it out while we were there, so that if he needed a place to plug in and recharge his e-bike battery, he could use our outlets. We all saw that there would be some rain in the forecast, but we all poo-poo’ed it as being minimal.

We had an easy drive up I-5 to Medford before cutting off into the eastern hills on 62. We had Find My Friends on Darren and could see that we passed him somewhere around the Medford In N Out. He was making good time. We did notice how steep the final ten or so miles would be for him and we wondered if the weather would hold out. By the time we pulled in and set up, there was some light drizzle. After an hour or so though, we heard a huge clap of thunder and the rain started to come down, on and off, pretty heavily. Richard went exploring the campground during rain breaks, and I blogged, all while spying on Darren’s progress. He was moving, so I figured he would let us know if he’d had enough.

He had made a valiant effort, but by around 5:30, his battery had conked out, just as he was hitting the big uphill climb to the lake. It was raining pretty solidly at that point, and his last text was: “Bike battery dead, legs sore, phone about to die. This sucks.” Say no more. We immediately engaged Rescue Protocol. The only questions were: who was going to drive, and how were we going to retrieve him and get his bike in the car. Richard’s bike made the supreme sacrifice and we put it outside in the rain, protected by a tablecloth. Our car is crammed with camping stuff, making it a 2 person vehicle unless you start pulling things out. Not knowing whether I would be as effective at lifting Darren’s bike into the car, Richard was assigned the job of rescue driver. He had the last location for Darren before his phone died, and there weren’t any other ways he could go, so off he went into the rain to retrieve the miserable biker.

Meanwhile, I set about getting ready to host a guest. Dory2 has never entertained an overnight guest before. But without too much effort at all, I was able to set up the front dining table as a bed and make it cozy with a couple of blankets. My admiration for the Alto design is refreshed and renewed at how smartly put together these things are. It turns out we even have a privacy curtain that we must have chosen as an option, just sitting there, tucked out of the way and feeling superfluous. This was the first time it has been put to use and it was super handy. I do have a complaint though: the privacy curtain in the 1723 (bathroom model) does not go all the way across from wall to wall because the track hits the shower area. In Dory1, I solved this problem by adding another short stretch of track and custom sewing a curtain that would wrap around the corner of the shower track. Said modification was named the “Sad Room,” because it gave me a completely dark place where I could sit and brood while Richard made dinner, if we were out on Friday after a particularly bad week at work. I should really take Sad Room out of Dory1 and install it in Dory2. It is useful at night to create two separate spaces, whether for unexpected guest privacy, or in case someone wants lights on while someone else wants to sleep. We always carry extra towels and washcloths, plus blankets, so I would say the only thing we were really lacking was a pillow. We made do, but I’ve made a note to myself to squirrel away a camping pillow somewhere, just in case.

Richard found Darren huddled inside a bathroom off 62, charging his phone from a wall outlet, which was very smart. They were easily able to fit the big e-bike into the car, and the bedraggled bike tourer was saved from having to pedal unpowered, uphill, in the rain. Darren arrived at our campsite laughing, which is the best attitude to have when half baked plans go bottoms up. Phone and e-bike batteries got plugged in, hair got dried off, and all dripping jackets got hung in the shower. I put on a skillet of a couple of Bertoli pan dinners to warm the wet ones, and all was warm and cozy.

After dinner, we all watched “Fences” on the projector screen, with a little microwave popcorn for ambiance. This was a follow up movie, added to the list after having seen “Jitney” at the Festival. Now we’re on an August Wilson film mission.

Richard treated Darren to a Cafe Dory specialty 12v latte in the morning and we all talked about what we could do for the day. Darren decided to head home, having completed his fact finding expedition, but wanted to see the lake first. He was not interested in trying to ride the whole thing, and accepted the offer to drop him off in Medford where he could pick up the Greenway and bike all the way to Ashland. Meanwhile Richard, who is not a happy camper when it’s raining, took on the task of getting laundry done in the town of Shady Cove. Given how we can only really carry two people at a time in the car, there were some logistics that needed to happen for all of this to take place. It’s kind of like that logic puzzle of how to get a fox, a chicken and a bag of grain across a river, minus the danger of anyone eating anyone else.

First order of business was to drive Richard to the little laundromat in Shady Cove. It was a gamble, but the place had nice clean machines. There I left him and went back to get Darren, who spent that time walking around the park and lake to see what’s what. Now he has a way better sense of the scale of e-bike touring and figures he could do it if he broke the travel days into two stops. It’s about 25 miles from Ashland to Medford, and again as much to get up to Lost Creek Lake. He’s gone to Medford and back home before, so he thought he could make it on one charge. The difference in those two sections is the climbing, and now he knows just how much that depletes a bike battery. He knew he’d be fine on a fully charged battery if I got him back to Medford.

Richard had gotten through the laundry by the time Darren and I were driving back down, so we stopped and put it all in the car. We left Richard behind to go explore the Shady Cove Market, and then see if he could find the potentially excellent tacos he’d read about, up the road in Trail. That was his job while I went to deposit Darren at the Medford In N Out, where we said our farewells.

The Trail Market has a tiny gas station and a tiny store. It also has a tiny Mexican restaurant inside that gets very good reviews. I was skeptical, but oh man. This place is seriously worth the stop, just for the food. These were some of the best tacos I’ve ever had, I’m not even kidding. I couldn’t figure out what about them was so good, but we learned that all of the tortillas are hand made and fresh with each order. We are now committed to learning how to make our own corn tortillas. We also got four weekend special tamales to go, one of each kind. They included chicken, pork, beef, and jalapeño and cheese. Just outstanding. If you’re ever passing by Trail, OR, you simply must stop at the market and have some tacos!

We returned to Dory with one fewer inhabitant, clean clothes, and delicious dinner. The rain eventually let up in the late afternoon and we put on all our rain gear for a walk. Yes, the rain kilt came out, loud and proud! Darren had mentioned hearing some strange booms when walking around the park, and we heard one too, with no plausible explanation. It didn’t sound like a firing range, and there didn’t seem to be any quarries nearby. The mystery was solved when we saw historical cannons set up in the day use area. It turns out there happened to be a Civil War reenactment event happening that weekend, and the participants were having fun shooting at each other. We chatted with them about their gear and how one gets into this kind of thing. It was a little awkward discussing how people literally choose a side to defend, even if it’s only a pretend Civil War. I noted equal numbers in the confederate and union camps. Interesting implications for modern times, no?

We wrapped up our day hiking the park trails, most of which were narrow, but paved. They skirt the lake a lot of the way, and cross little streams and waterfalls via wooden bridges every so often. We stopped at the marina and discovered they sell soft serve at the little store there. I didn’t take a picture, but should have. These are, thus far, the smallest soft serve portions we have yet encountered. I mean, they were cute, but also $3.

This was a really nice park. It made the whole stop a thousand times more fun because we got to camp with Darren. I’m impressed that we have as much of a set up as we do to host a guest. Touring with an e-bike would present a whole other set of challenges, so I’m glad my bicycle touring days are over. We far prefer Dory traveling, but it was fun to see Darren get out there and figure it all out. We will for sure come again for a non rainy do-over.

The big takeaways here: Altos are incredible, Trail Market tacos are a must stop, fresh corn tortillas transform a normal taco into a leveled up dining experience. Smaller takeaways: don’t try to freeze extra ice cream in the freezer, no matter how much on sale it is. It is mush at 4, but if you turn the fridge up to 6, the lemon waters will freeze and explode.

Total miles from Emigrant Lake: 55.2, 17.1 mpg, 1 hour 32 min. Site C24 hookups. Great cell service for both. Good dump with potable water. Day use, boat launch, campground store with soft serve.