Dodging the Weather

Snow on the Road

2019-09-29 Sunday

The big news out here in the west (and in the east) is that there has been a record snowfall in Montana and parts of other states where we have recently visited. In fact, the town of Browning, the center of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, where we spent a day several weeks ago, perspiring while our Jeep's brakes were getting repaired, received 40 inches of snow this weekend.

Our plans for last night, as I wrote already, were to go toward Klamath Falls via Mount Hood. But fear of snow at high elevations (and anxiety about the late hour) caused us to stop for the night down low, and consider our options. So this morning, we continued to discuss whether we should follow our original route or change it. We had heavy rain all night, and the idea that it might be snowing on the mountain tops sent us, reluctantly, to travel via the interstate, in order to have a wider, safer, and less snowy road.

Traveling the interstate means there's really nothing to talk about, but fortunately just south of Eugene, we turned off the I-5 and headed toward Klamath Falls to the southeast. The road was really pretty, running along a river most of the time, but soon we realized we seemed to be climbing again. As the signs on the road informed us that our altitude was going up 1,000 feet at a time, it suddenly occurred to me that maybe there was no mountain-free way to get to Klamath Falls. And indeed, we started seeing snow on trees in the distance.... and soon a bit closer.... and soon it was clear that we were going to be seeing snow up close and personal.

I looked again, more closely, at my maps, and sure enough. We were going over the Willamette Pass, a bit above 5,000 feet. And there had been snow! And it was in the trees next to us, in the woods, and a little bit along the roadside. In the distance we could see beautiful, snow-covered mountains, and we were passing ski resorts. Luckily, we encountered no weather on the ascent, the roads were dry, and we even stopped at several scenic pullouts so I could take photos of Diamond Peak and the Cascade Range in the distance. I also made a snowball, and threw it at the RV's windshield, just for fun.

Diamond Peak and the Cascades in the distance

 We switched drivers at the summit, and Joe drove down the mountain, encountering a very brief squall of frozen rain or something of the sort. But it didn't last long, and we had a safe and scenic ride down the other side. We continued south, passing the turn-off to Crater Lake (we did consider making the detour to visit it again, but I re-read my blog on the subject, and we decided we did NOT relish driving and pulling the Jeep along the curvy narrow roads at the rim of the crater. Been there, done that.)

We thought these clouds were spectacular

 So it was that we cruised into Klamath Falls, chose a KOA from the very sparse choices of overnight parking available to us, and met our godson Adam for an erev Rosh Hashanah dinner at the local Black Bear Diner. The visit was lovely, and certainly a high point of the week for us. And then we came back to our RV, and that was that for our day!