Esmond Creek
Springbreak 2009
Springbreak 2009 we pick what is to be a beautifully perfect spot. The kids will have plenty of room and will not fall off a cliff, be swept down a raging river, they will also be safe from cutting themselves on tons of trash, etc, etc. We pack the car with every desired luxury. When I talk luxury, I am not talking showers, toilets and hot water (It ended up that there was a space the size of day pack for our dog). Into the we hours of night we packed. We woke up bright and early, around 4:30am, but we have children so we actually left town at 7:30am.
We traveled what should be around an hour to an hour and a half, depending on if the road has dropped down the mountain side or if any 30″ fir trees have fallen across it. We finally get close to the camping spot and low-and-behold… The only thing we didn’t plan for… It was gated. That is right closed up. A lot of the forest in Oregon is public, but timber companies own a lot of woods too. They have big rail road rail gates painted yellow. These gates are not on maps, or at lest not USGS quads.
What the Beanie and Cecil would you do now that you drove all that way to be blocked?
We decided to turn on the Inspector Gadget/McGyver switch that kicked out a GPS unit with a roof mounted antennae (a Garmin map60 with the magnetic roof antennae plugged into it) as well as the old laptop that has faithfully served one purpose for years… running on the fly, in real time, mapping software. Maptech Terrain Navigator.
With this thing mounted between pilot and co-pilot, we can see where we are, where we are headed, where we want to go and how to get there. We start tracking any time we begin driving on logging roads that are not on the topos. Mark promising future campsites with a waypoint as well as picture. We currently need to find a kid friendly spot on the fly. and this usually works.
We drove and drove. We actually drove until 2:30pm on logging roads looking for the perfect spot to spend 3 or 4 days. That is about 7 hours with stops. Once again, I have to remind you that we have three small children and a dog with roadkill breath all packed in the vehicle. We were at the end of our composure. The steam was just about to blow our scalps off. I decided that we would turn around and head home.
This logging road was not even wide enough for two vehicles so finding a spot to turn around wasn’t easy. As we came on a spot to turn around I said, “Wow, look at that”. There before us was a level place about half the size of a football field with a giant fire pit. The area had obviously been logged years ago and only alders and vine maple stood here and there… dangerous place if windy. There were a few firs close to the road as well. We praised God. This was it. There was a creek that bordered the camp, but far enough that the kids couldn’t get to it with out us noticing and plenty of room for every one.
We spent 3 days, 2 nights and had a great time. I taught the kids how to build a fire, that if built rite, will last for days in the wet Northwest. Which, speaking of the wet Northwest, we had the rain stop as we began our journey and start back up just after we got home. The kids fished, well actually, they casted giant marshmallows that were tied to the end of their line. We saw beavers and caught salamanders. I, happily, got to fire off about 250 photos. Mom was able to take a nap. Things went surprisingly smooth. It was wonderful.
