We left Cave Junction, Oregon around noon on Tuesday September 8th. We had clear skies for about 20 minutes then we were quickly enveloped in an orange glow, followed by haze and campground fire smells. It was a mixture of beauty and some anxiety for what we were driving into. We heard California had fires but had no idea it was literally at the border….
Later we found out the fire had started just that day in Southern OREGON! The wind was actually whipping down into California. We couldn’t believe the road was still open as we continued to drive into ever darkening (and reddening) skies and ash fell as snow. Turns out they did close that very highway (199) just an hour after we passed through. We made it to Crescent City on the coast in CA around 2pm and it was still so smokey and hazy. For once I was glad wearing masks was becoming a habit. 🙂
The above pictures: Top left around 12:45pm, top right around 1pm, bottom left at 1:15pm, and bottom right around 1:45pm.
We reached our next campground in Klamath, which was thankfully a lot “clearer” but the mood in the campground was quite somber as many of the residents/travelers were there because they COULDN’T get back to their homes as roads were closed or their neighborhoods had been evacuated. 🙁
Pictures above: Our campground in Klamath – (Camper Corral). You can tell in most pictures how orangey the sky is and some haze. This was a great campground though – some mature trees (so the yoga hammock went up), wild (yummy) blackberries for the picking, wooded trails to walk through (and down the river), and salmon carcasses from the local bear. And of course it wouldn’t be the Pacific Northwest without some sign that Big Foot (or Sasquatch) may be lurking nearby. 🙂