Riggins, ID
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Last night, we camped for free at a spot in the woods near John Day, Oregon. We heard a little highway noise overnight, but otherwise it was a secluded spot to stay.
Life is slower and less populated on the eastern side of Oregon — that was evident as we left our campsite and drove through several small, rural farming towns. “Are we still in Oregon?” Andi and I questioned each other more than once. Driving through the high-desert landscape felt more reminscent of Idaho than Oregon at times. I didn’t expect the road to be so windy as we made our way through the Ochoco National Forest, though it was a beautiful drive.
The eastern side of Oregon is known for its dramatic geological rock formations and ancient mammal fossils found in its painted hills. Wooly mammoths and sabertooth tigers once roamed this area of the United States, leaving behind two of the most complete fossils in the world. If we’d had more time, I would have loved to stop by the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, but our schedule called us to continue making our way east.
As we left John Day, Andi stopped to fill our drinking water jug at a fresh spring. Somewhere he’d read that this is the best drinking water in eastern Oregon, but the pipe coming out of the cow pasture seemed a little questionable to me. “Are you trying to give me the Beaver Fever,” I asked him.
We weren’t able to stop at the John Day Fossil Beds this time, but I was able to convince Andi to stop by the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon. Stories of the Oregon Trail have fascinated me since I was a little girl, so I couldn’t pass by this interpretive center without paying a visit.
Tory and Aden shared less of my enthusiasm. “We’ve already been to, like, four of these places already,” Tory murmured to Andi under her breath.
We arrived at 10:20am, just in time to grab two Junior Ranger packets and head inside the theatre to catch the start of the feature film, “Bound for Oregon.” It was an hour long movie — yikes! — that informatively told the story of Oregon Trail pioneers who migrated west during the mid-to-late 1800’s.
I loved every minute of the movie as it shared the hardship and trials of settlers making the 2,000 mile journey across America in six months’ time. I especially enjoyed all the references to historical Oregon Trail locations in Nebraska.
As we walked out of the theatre, Aden leaned over to me and said, “That was the most boring movie I’ve ever watched.” His words crushed my soul a little bit. I have a feeling my love of American history may skip a generation.
After the movie, Andi and Tory teamed up to complete her Junior Ranger packet, and Aden and I worked together to complete his. Andi and Tory had their own method of doing the work — they used ChatGPT to answer most of the questions while I had most of the answers already in my brain to share with Aden.
Both of my kids hate paper puzzles, so I completed the crossword and word search for them. Let’s face it, I’m the one who really wants the Junior Ranger badge. In the future, it’ll probably be me doing these packets by myself as I’m not sure how much longer I can force them participate. Though, as I remind Tory and Aden often, if this were a public school assignment they’d have no choice but to complete the work. They have no clue how lucky they are.
Before we left the interpretive center, the park ranger made Tory and Aden recite the Junior Ranger pledge. This is the part Tory detests the most, and this guy laid it on really thick, making the kids recite all kinds of funny phrases like “I promise to listen to my parents, and play the quiet game in the car whenever my dad asks me.” He thought he was being fun, but I could feel Tory’s eyes rolling around in her head. Her 13-year-old body language espressed great annoyance.
There are 500 acres full of trails to hike on the grounds, featuring spots where the actual ruts of pioneer wagons crossed this landscape, but unfortunately we didn’t have time for that today. We’d already spent two hours at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, and we still had some driving to do this afternoon.
We stopped in Baker City for fuel and lunch at Arby’s before making the three-hour drive to Riggins, Idaho. Our drive was fairly undeventful, though no doubt beautiful.
There are tons of free camping sites in Idaho. Andi found one just outside Riggins on the Salmon River. There were quite a few other campers parked along the river banks, but plenty of space for everyone.
Idaho’s landscape is gorgeous; it’s probably my favorite state in the USA. What’s more, the people are laid-back and friendly here. Andi took a brief walk through the valley to fly his drone, and he said every single person waved and said hello. That’s the first time we’ve experienced that during our entire trip this fall.
For dinner, Andi grilled chicken on the Blackstone while I sauteed veggies inside the camper for stir-fry. We ate outside at the provided picnic table by the river, but didn’t last out there very long — there were tiny little bugs flying everywhere around us.
We concluded the evening the way we have been most nights during this trip: by watching a few episodes of Young Sheldon on Netflix. We don’t watch much television at home, so it’s been fun to share in this nightly ritual as a family while traveling in the RV.
Tomorrow, we’ll continue making our way east across Idaho in route to Montana.
