Around Mt. Hood, Oregon

Heading back to Hood River, then south on the Hood River Scenic Highway (hwy. 35),  as we traveled around a corner Mt. Hood suddenly came into view. Wow! what a site.....

This is a beautiful part of the state. The road is lined with prosperous looking farms, fruit orchards and fruit packing plants. This time of year the trees are heavy with ripe pears, and a few wildflowers here and there for color.

It was only a short drive down the highway to a gem of a county park that Steve discovered using one of his favorite resources USCampgroundsInfo.com

Tollbridge Park is operated by Hood River County, and it's definitely going on our "A" list! (We didn't have one, but I think we'll start one now!) If we had known this park was here we never would have stopped at Memaloose.

The park has basically four loops. One for tents, one for full hookups (no tents allowed), two for partial hookups where tents are allowed - 85 sites in all, not counting the group sites. As the park takes reservations we could see that many sites were already spoken for, but we'd only planned two nights so we were able to snag one of the five river-side sites. All the river side sites are named for Oregon rivers, rather than having the usual numbers, and ours was "Crooked".

The sites are all carved out of the dense, mixed forest so, at least in the loop we stayed in, they are fairly private. The campground map indicates a trail along the river, and though there are trails back to the river in several places, the trail along the river is rather sketchy and overgrown in areas. In some sections even Shiner had trouble deciding which rabbit trail was the one to follow!

Our river access was a bit steep, but we found several nice, sandy locations out at the edge of the park where Shiner could play in the water and she had a ball! She'll rescue drowning logs as long as someone will toss them into the water for her.

She does prefer the larger ones though, if a stick is too small to suit her she'll rescue it, then park it on a little island in the middle of the river and wait for us to throw something larger and more worthy of her attention.

We really enjoyed our hikes down to the river. The forest here is an interesting mix of fir, pine, big leaf and vine maple, ferns, wild roses and a myriad of other shrubs, all sprouting from between volcanic boulders and lovely beach sand.

Most of the underbrush is ferns and typical forest shrubs, but one sunny, sandy patch along the trail was filled with heat-loving manzanita bushes, a surprising contrast to the brilliant blue Oregon grapes glowing in the shade only a few yards away.

We took a short drive on our second day over to the little town of Parkdale and stopped in McIsaacs's market. They have anything you'd need, including some nice looking local produce and a full line of craft beers.

We had a wonderful, relaxing time here, watching the river slide by, admiring the forest and listening to the rushing water. 'A vast improvement over the trains and traffic noise we've had in many campgrounds. For families with small children, the picnic area at the entrance to the park has a nice playground, so there's something here for everyone! You can find the park on Facebook too.

Beaver Dick Park, Idaho

"Beaver Dick", a Madison County park is in Idaho near the town of Rexburg. The park is on Henry's Fork of the Snake River, which is a pretty good running river at this point. Deep enough for swimming but not so swift as to be a worry about safety, at least under current conditions.

Now this is what the RVing life is all about, at least in our book.  We located a spot up near the entrance, right by the river, in view of the boat ramp.

Our campsite is to the right, between the tree trunks

Surrounded by a cluster of the biggest serviceberry shrubs I've ever seen, it was perfect for bird-watching. There's apparently no shortage of irrigation water here as the sprinklers run all day and the entire park is carpeted in lush green grass, which Shiner enjoyed very much. She was also happy to finally be somewhere that doesn't have a lengthy list of things dogs can't do "no dogs on the beach, no dogs on the trail, 'must be on a 6ft. leash at all times", etc.

She rescued her favorite log in the river, chased the ball on the grass, made friends with other dogs, and basked in the sun, then nestled down in the grass and wild camomile for a nap (nothing like a dog that smells like pineapple!)

This park is named for Richard "Beaver Dick" Leigh, who was one of the last real mountain men of this valley. He was very well liked, and Jenny Lake in the Tetons is named for his Shoshone wife. She, and all their children, were killed in a smallpox epidemic and are buried nearby.

There's also a historic marker just across the highway that commemorates the North Fork Ferry, the first ferry to run on Henry's Fork, built by the people of the nearby town of Rexburg in 1888. This is a very historic location!

We originally planned on one night here at Beaver Dick, but it seemed like such a great place to just relax that we signed up for a second night. We spent the second day watching a pair of kingbirds catch bugs to feed their babies in the nest, a wooly woodpecker catching bug on one of our shrubs, and an egret fish in the river. The bugs here are plentiful, accounting for the flock of swallows and other birds that fill the are under the highway bridge in the early morning. The park does spray (natural stuff) for mosquitoes though, so we haven't been bothered at all, and there are plenty of butterflies decorating the shrubs around us. Whatever they use must be pretty selective.The park is adjacent to a wildlife management area, and there are trails that lead from the park into the wild areas so there's plenty of opportunity to explore away from the river.  The mosquito treatment also doesn't bother the cottontail rabbits. They came out every evening to graze on the grass, and to torture poor Shiner as we  wouldn't let her chase them.

Beaver Dick Park has four group areas as well as 12 individual sites. There are new vault restrooms near the group picnic area at entrance, and older ones throughout the campground. Everything is very well maintained, and we were impressed with the fact that even though the park is heavily used by local families they treat it respectfully. There is no trash around, no graffiti, no damage to any of the fishing docks or picnic tables.  There are no electric or water services available in the park so pack in plenty of water.  The best part is the price. $5 a night, or $15 for the week (5 days). Photo album here.