Technology has integrated itself into our lives so inextricably - to the extent of becoming an extension of ourselves, lulling, perhaps dulling us into relying so heavily on the gizmos we constantly find in our hands, or at our fingertips - scanning a screen to give us the information we need. A glowing screen has replaced paper. Although, the irony of lamenting on a weblog isn't lost on me, I brought this up because it pertains to this narrative - do we even carry paper maps anymore? I haven't for years now. I should, they are essential, but I haven't been. I have been relying too much on my gadgets. My Ultrabook to plan my itineraries - translating them into meandering routes, and a scattering of way-points, before sending all that data to my GPS devices - which have been my rudders, steering me collectively through over 120,000 miles of wandering travels over the past 8 years. Evidently, this has worked pretty well for me over the years - until it didn't. :)
Adventure begins when one leaves their backyard. Northern California - even around the Shasta area is still my backyard. I consider Shasta home after all. Adventure can still be found here, if I had decided to go way off the beaten track, but I didn't this time around. The plan was to visit Crater Lake first - come in the South entrance, snap a few photographs and exit the north entrance, to find the Aufderheide scenic byway (for off the beaten track fun). Crater Lake was hardly busy at all, it was still early enough in the morning and not a lot of souls were stirring yet. Chilly as it almost always is, but still pleasant. Not a cloud in the sky, although I would have preferred some of those white fluffy ones to be floating around. The lake was mostly calm, and reflective in that deep, deep blue hue, echoing the thoughtful and introspective state of mind it instills.
The culminating Chapter, of the journey from Chapter 1, and Chapter 2.
I love Mountain hideaways. They are amazing not only for hiding out from the Zombie Apocalypse, but pretty much for hiding away from almost everything including all those worries, chores, stresses and the busy-bee activities of your day to day life. It's the perfect hideaway from the Zombie that one becomes in real day to day life!
Stanley is one such hideaway, I have come here twice now and have loved it both times. Although, this time the weather was starkly different from last, but it just added a different element to the appeal of this place. This morning the sunrise was greeted by moody skies, still lingering after last night's storm. The previous evening, I had enjoyed hearing the moo'ing of the cows right up to sunset. They had moved on this morning or had been herded back to where ever they rest for the night.
The Final and the longest chapter of the Ring of Fire tour of the Pacific North West, covering July 7th, 8th and 9th, 2012.
Get your money's worth. At least in pictures, all 39 of them! Fair Warning! ;)
July 7th, 2012.
The beginning of this chapter overlaps the penultimate chapter. I felt that the story flowed better, if I separated the two evenings of festivities at the cabin in Packwood from the riding adventures of the day in between. Brian and I took some time in the morning after we arrived at the cabin to go explore Rainier National Park. Tobie had given us some very helpful ride suggestions and points of interests the night before and laid out several options. We chose not to ride the longer routes and decided to forego riding some tempting roads in the vicinity, so we could spend more time visiting with friends who had rode in from all around North America.
With an eye to a lunchtime return to the cabin, we got ourselves an early start and headed towards the East entrance of Rainier National Park and Stevens Canyon Road. The picture below is of Brian riding sweep on Stevens Canyon Road. Even though it was not a super early start, we found not many people were heading this direction.
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