Cascadia State Park

We're having one of those great Oregon Indian Summers - beautiful weather, warm and clear, just perfect for camping.

Our weekend was spent camping with friends in Cascadia State Park. This is an old park just off highway 20, established originally as a health spa called the Geisendorfer hotel. Built on Soda Creek, the spa took advantage of the supposed health-restoring properties of the mineralized water. When the hotel was closed the park was established, and it has that wonderful old-style feel, with really old trees, carefully constructed bridges and outbuildings, and large wooded campsites. All that's left of the hotel is a nice stone patio beside the creek.

On Saturday Daph and Grayce hiked to what is called Cascadia Cave. It's more of a rocky overhang than a cave, and filled with what our guide described as the highest concentration of petroglyphs in this quadrant of the state. Tony Farque (Archaeologist, Sweet Home Ranger District, Willamette NF)was at the site with a group from Portland State U. working on recording the glyphs. With them were Richard Archambault (AKA Painted Horse) and James Keyser (archeologist and rock art expert). We were given a very informative overview of the site, allowed to take photographs, and received "bear clan" pins from the ranger district. After a quick lunch Grayce and Daph hiked up to Soda Creek falls. Two hikes in one day seemed like a good idea at the time, but not really recommended for full-time desk jockeys!

Back in camp just in time for the game...The Ducks blew away the Washington State Cougars 63-14, and as Steve and Bill had spent the better part of two days locating the correct satellite alignment (quite a challenge with all those lovely old trees in the way) and stringing wire so we could watch the came, we really enjoyed that final score!