June 1-4: Off the grid along the Klamath River

June 4, 2012
Blue Heron RV Park, Hornbrook, California

OK, we’re not really “off the grid” since we’re at a nice RV Park with full hookups, but having no cell phone service and very spotty Internet access makes it seem that way!  It’s probably therapeutic, though...

Since we’re not in any big hurry on our way north, I decided to book us into the Blue Heron RV Park for a few days.  Only about 20 miles north of Yreka, we were able to take our time getting ready and still be parked before Noon.  Our pull-in site puts us facing the water.  The namesake blue heron was fishing along the water’s edge as we set up, and we saw a few skiffs of fishermen and their guides float past.  Excellent!

This park costs a little more (OK, a lot more) than we like to pay, but their pricing scheme gives one night free for every three paid.  OK, it’s still more than we like to pay, but here we are.  It’s a well laid out park right along the Klamath River, with large sites, concrete pads, and lots of grass all around.  And, we found it almost empty with only five other rigs parked.  And, two of those belong to the owners and two more are housing people who work here.  So, the owners have more money than they know what to do with, they need a tax write-off, they wanted a place for their two hounds and colt to roam, and/or there are some really busy times of the year that we missed.  Everyone is super friendly, so it’s a generally pleasant place.

After checking in, we walked the pups around the grounds and settled in for a relaxing afternoon.  Being about 6.5 miles off the Interstate, we’re out of cell phone range but their Wi-Fi was working so we were able to communicate with the outside world.  As the weekend progressed, connectivity diminished to the point of failure, but we survived.

In addition to the RV facilities, they have an on-site restaurant where we ate for Friday dinner (not bad prime rib) and Sunday brunch.  It wasn’t any busier than the RV Park.  We asked about the lack of people and were told that things get really busy when the salmon are running later in the summer, and during fall hunting season.  I suppose, but it seems like most people looking for a fishing or hunting “camp” would be expecting a more rustic environment.  Whatever; we decided to get over our curiosity about the business model and enjoy our stay!

On Saturday, the weather was still beautiful and we took a ride further up-river.  We soon came to the Iron Gate Hydroelectric Dam and, behind it, Iron Gate Lake Recreation Area.  This whole section of the Klamath River is managed by the local power utility and there are seven hydroelectric power plants between here and Klamath Falls in southern Oregon.  Iron Gate is the furthest down-river and has a 1.7 megawatt generation capacity. 

Iron Gate Lake is several miles long and has quite a few access and camping points along the shoreline.  We took a ride as far as the road seemed to go and saw quite a few groups camping and fishing.  We also passed a fish hatchery that generates over 6 million small fry each year, so fishing is probably good at times.  This kind of environment attracts birds of prey as well, and we saw several large nests mounted on top of utility poles along the road.

In addition to the RV Park and restaurant, the development includes plans for a number of cottages built into the hillside overlooking the river.  There’s a private road in place even though further development seems to be “on hold” for now.  I walked up to the top, about 3.5 miles round-trip, and was able to get a nice view of the surrounding area.  It looks like they have some of the utilities in place, and even have a flagpole mounted right near the top. 

Sunday, I took a walk up to the dam, also about 3.5 miles round-trip, but the weather started to turn and I was soon returning in a light rain.  Even though I wasn’t prepared for rain, I didn’t melt.  As the day progressed, it turned cooler and the rain was pretty steady but light until Tuesday morning when the showers turned spotty but the wind really picked up.  No matter; we can’t really complain because we haven’t seen much rain at all this year.

This afternoon, we’ve relaxed, watched some Food Network and Cooking Channel, and Geri’s finished up laundry, as we won’t have full hookups at our next stop.  Tomorrow, we’ll finally make it to southern Oregon.

Oh, and just for luck, I found Geri a 4-leaf clover while out “exercising” the pups...