spring16roadtrip

This morning, I woke up at about 7AM in the Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco.  Last night, I parked the RV near Judah and 11th Ave on the same street as the electric buses.  Many times throughout the night, the loud buses passed by the RV causing a loud, vibrating sound for a few seconds.

I took a bus to Downtown San Francisco and then walked a couple of miles to the bike rental company location on Hyde Avenue named Blazing Saddles.  By 8:30 AM, I was on the road heading across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito to Mill Valley to Tiburon. The ride had almost constant views of the San Francisco Bay along with the relatively small-town atmospheres of Sausalito, Mill Valley and Tiburon.  It’s interesting that a businessperson can live in Tiburon and raise a family there, while commuting to and from San Francisco via a 30-minute ferry.  The lifestyles in the two cities are so different, but it seems like it would be the best of both worlds.

My favorite city along the bike route is Mill Valley.  Mill Valley is a laid back, family oriented, small city/town a few miles across the bridge from San Francisco.  The nature is beautiful and the town seems to have anything a family could want, especially relatively easy access to San Francisco.  My favorite part of Mill Valley is the historical, older part of town near Old Mill Park.  This neighborhood has older, character-filled homes that all seem to be ideally situated in their surroundings.  There is a creek running through the village and towering Redwood Trees throughout the area.

The Downtown area of the city consists one main square block, with one of the streets extending an additional block in each direction.  The center of the square block is a parking area which is surrounding by older, street-retail buildings on all sides.  The building house businesses ranging from art galleries, restaurants, clothing shops, and more.  I stopped in the area for a half hour and ate a sweet potato curry burrito at an Indian Restaurant named Avatar’s Restaurant (http://www.yelp.com/biz/avatars-restaurant-mill-valley.)

One of my favorite parts of Mill Valley was the public library.  The public library is multi-story building built along a hillside near Old Mill Park.  The building is designed in a way so that most of the rooms have beautiful views of the Redwood trees and greenery outside.  Seems like it would be an enjoyable place to read a book or study.

 

 

After Mill Valley, I continued on the bicycle path to Tiburon.  Like all the other parts of the route, this portion of the route passed through very affluent neighborhoods with multi-million dollar homes with views of the bay.

 

 

I arrived in Tiburon at 2PM, and had about an hour available to walk around and relax before the 3PM ferry departed to Downtown San Francisco.  I walked a few blocks and eventually decided to have a slice of pizza at Waypoint Pizza on Main Street.  The atmosphere was nice and pleasant and a great place to relax.

On Main Street, there was an information stand which had some historical information on Tiburon’s Main Street.  The Main Street is one of the shortest Main Streets, stretching just a few hundred feet from beginning to end.  Originally, there was just a thin piece of land where the actual asphalt road now sits.  This thin piece of land was surrounded of both sides by water and connected the large hill in the background with the other end of Main Street.  Over time, buildings were constructed on wood structures built above the water on both sides of the thin piece of land.  Eventually, the entire water area was filled in with earth and is now indistinguishable from the surrounding land.

 

The first stop of the ferry boat was Angel’s Island, a former immigration checkpoint and current State Park in the bay.  At this stop, a group of older hikers came on the ferry and we began discussing the recreational activities on the island.  The island has many miles of paved and dirt trails which are great for hiking.  One of the dirt trails accesses Mt Livermore, the highest point on the Island at an elevation of about 800 feet.

 

 

I arrived at Downtown San Francisco at about 4PM, dropped off the bike, and took an Uber to the Sunset Neighborhood where the RV was parked.  At about 5PM, I picked Gabriela up for her apartment and we drove back to LA.  After about 7 hours of driving with several short breaks, we arrived in LA at 1AM.

This morning, I woke up at about 7am and walked into the casino to use the restroom and have a coffee.  After losing $250 last night due to impatience, greed, and bad luck, I found $20 in my wallet and started playing blackjack.  After about an hour I cashed out with $200, which recouped most of last night’s losses.

At about 8:30am, I started driving the approximately 5 hours on 101 south to San Francisco.  A couple of hours south of Eureka, I noticed a billboard off of the freeway about a nearby casino.  Because I also needed to fill up on gas and take a shower, I exited the freeway and drove toward the direction of the casino.  About twenty miles later I reached the Clearlake region with the cities of Lakeport and Upper Lake. I played about 30-45 minutes of blackjack and cashed out the same amount I started with.

After passing Eureka, the terrain and views for the day were much dryer inland/desert scenery.  Since highway 101 wasn’t following the ocean anymore, there weren’t any exciting hikes or views that caught my interest.

About an hour before San Francisco, I showered at an Anytime Fitness and continued on to San Francisco to meet Gabriela for dinner.  We met at the UCSF Parnessus library and walked over to a Korean restaurant a few blocks away.  Afterwards, I walked her home and walked back to the RV to spend the night.

This morning I woke up at around 6:30 AM and researched for a coffee shop to work at for a couple of hours before the jet boat tour.  I ended up choosing to stop by at Oregon Coast Books (http://www.oregoncoastbooks.com/), a large bookstore which also has a coffee shop on the first floor.  The coffee shop seemed to be a family-owned and run business and popular with locals who seemed to frequent the coffee shop on a regular basis.

At 9AM, I drove to the Gold Beach Harbor to check in for the tour at 9:30 AM.  The forecast showed that the weather would be rainy, so the group of about 25-30 of us were prepared with water-resistant rain coats and blankets.  The pilot mentioned that we would all be going on the 104 mile  boat trip for the discounted $50 rate, because of the forecasted rainy weather and numerous cancellations.  Here’s a link for the route we took http://www.roguejets.com/trip/rogue-river-map/.

Our driver, Darin, had deep roots in Gold Beach, OR and in the boating tourism industry.  His grandparents, Jerry and Alden Boice founded Jerry’s Rogue River Jet Boats in 1958 and pretty much started the tourism industry on the Rogue River.  The Rogue River is 132 miles long and its headwaters are near Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States.  On the tour, we rode about 52 miles upstream from the headwaters and retraced our route for a total of 104 miles.

During the tour, we received interesting commentary and facts from the pilot.  We passed under numerous bridges, saw numerous creeks/waterfalls draining into the river, saw various forms of wildlife and birds, and made our way through some currents and rapids.  I was surprised by the agility of the boats and the skill of the pilot.  The pilot was able to swerve in between rocks at high speeds, pull up to the edge of the river under a waterfall, and perform sharp 360 degree turns.

During the first few miles of the trip upstream, it was also interesting to view numerous buildings and structures along the river including Four Seasons RV Park (where I took a shower yesterday), Huntley Family Park (where I slept last night), Tu Tu Tun Lodge (a 4 star resort with a nice restaurant (http://tututun.com/), and numerous hotels/lodges along the way.

About 25 miles upstream in a small town named Agness, we took a 15 minute break on our way upstream and a one hour break on our way downstream.  The restaurant we stopped at was Singing Springs Resort (http://www.singingspringsresort.com/), where we had a buffet lunch with salads, main courses, and dessert.

In regards to the weather, we were lucky and only caught a few minutes of rain after our lunch break in Agness.  Other than that, the clouds offered protection from the sun and heat, and made the trip even more enjoyable than it would have been on a sunny day.

During the tour, the pilot mentioned the Rogue River Trail, a 41 mile backpacking trail which follows the banks of the river.  I plan on completing this trail sometime in the future.  The scenery was so beautiful and I imagine the experience and solitude of hiking the trail will be fun.

After the river tour, I planned on making it until at least Crescent City before the end of the day.  While heading south on Highway 101, I stopped by Arch Rock and Natural Bridges Viewpoint.  There was a beautiful view of the arch/bridge which were located less than a hundred feet off the Pacific Coast.

Most of the scenic viewpoints along Highway 101 (including Aruch Rock and Natural Bridges) also serve as access points to the Oregon Coast Trail, a 382 mile coastal trail which transitions between sand, asphalt, and dirt trails.  (https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/PARKS/Pages/OCT_main.aspx)  This would make quite adventure.

I continued driving southbound, eventually stopping at Bear River Casino Resort near Fortuna, CA.  I parked in the parking lot, played an hour of blackjack, and then spent the night in the RV parking area.

Last night, I played blackjack for a few hours at The Mill Casino in Coos Bay, Oregon. While playing, one of the card dealers suggested that I take a jet-boat trip on the Rogue River in Gold Beach.  About fifteen minutes later during a break from playing, I looked up the attraction on my phone and noticed that the rating on Trip Advisor for the river trip was a near-perfect five stars with over 500 customer ratings.  During the next 24 hours, several people enthusiastically recommended the Rogue River boating trip.

After a few hours of playing blackjack, I drove to the Wal-Mart parking lot in Coos Bay and slept for the night.  The next morning, I drove about 10 miles to the Shore Acres State Park.  The park is a historical former estate along the Pacific Coast.  The house is relatively modest, but its surroundings and settings are anything but modest.  Surrounding the home are acres of manicured landscaping including a rose garden, koi pond, floral arrangements, and a water fountain.  Also, the estate sits above a flat area of land overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

After continuing south on Highway 101, I noticed a sign off the highway for the Humbug Mountain Trail.  I parked at the trailhead and started the six-mile round trip hike to the 1,748 ft summit of Humbug Mountain.  The beginning of the trail felt a lot like a rainforest, because of the dense bright-green vegetation as well as the sound of raindrops dropping from the overhead leaves.  Shortly thereafter, the trail became much more foggy with greatly diminished visibility and colder weather.  The hike then became very unique and I enjoyed hiking through the dense, gray fog while listening to the Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow podcast.

About an hour later I arrived in Gold Beach, OR.  My first stop in town was the Jerry’s Jet Boat Tours headquarters near the northern boundary of Gold Beach.  Because of today’s and tomorrow’s expected rain they’ve had a few people cancel and a few spots open up. The person working at the front desk told me that there might be discounts for tomorrow’s 104 mile tour because of the weather.  The original cost is $95, and I left my contact information and asked him to call when he has an update from the owner.  Several hours later, I returned a missed call and was told that the tour had been discounted to $50 for tomorrow.  I signed up for the 9AM tour tomorrow morning and am really looking forward to the experience.  Tomorrow night, I’ll probably be sleeping in Crescent City, CA (or as far past Crescent City as I can make it) so that hopefully I can meet Gabriela on Tuesday night.

Next, I drove to the south end of town and stopped by the Visitors Center.  The two older ladies in the visitor center were extremely helpful and offered a couple of recommendations for hikes.  More specifically, they suggested making a loop by driving on the South Shore of the Rogue river to hike the Frances Shrader Overgrowth Trail and Myrtle Tree Trail, and then returning back to Gold Beach from the Northern Shore of the Rogue River.  The Frances Shrader trail was a interpretive, self-guided walking trail including moss-covered trees, dense/overgrown green vegetation, and creeks.

 

 

Next, I drove to a picnic area off of the highway where there was a view of the Rogue River and a view of the car bridge that crosses the river

The visitor center’s second recommendation was the Myrtle Tree Trail, a trail leading to the largest Myrtle Tree in Oregon.  The lady mentioned that the leaves growing on the myrtle tree have a great scent when broken open.  After hiking a few minutes, I arrived at the myrtle tree which has a 42 foot circumference, 70 foot canopy, and height of about 88 feet. The Myrtle leaves had a great scent which seemed like it could work well for almost anything including detergent, chewing gum, deodorant, cologne, aftershave, air fresheners, candles, and more.

 

Heeding another suggestion from the Visitors Center, I had dinner and a drink at Hunter’s Creek Bar and Grill (http://www.yelp.com/biz/hunter-creek-bar-and-grill-the-tav-gold-beach).  The bar has a laid back atmosphere and average food, but I would give it 4.5 stars for two reasons:  Free Wifi  and most importantly the back of the bar has large windows looking out over quaint Hunter’s Creek.

 

This morning, I woke up at approximately 7 AM at the “Chinook Winds Resort and Casino” RV parking lot.  It was convenient to be able to take advantage of the casino’s WIFI, restaurant and complimentary coffee until 3AM.  Afterwards, it was also nice to stay in the casino’s overnight RV parking lot.

Heading south, the first stop of the day was Yaquina Head State Park.  The park contained many tide pools, including the Cobble Beach Tide Pools.  Down by the tide pools, I chatted with a ranger who told me a bit about the marine life in the tide pools.  She also offered numerous suggestions for the rest of the day, including Hobbit Beach Trail which I hiked later in the afternoon.  It was a great time walking on the rock formations and watching the tides surging through the rock formations.  The sound, sight, smell, and touch of the mist made this very entertaining to just sit and watch.  Each wave interacted with the rocks differently, creating a new sight with each and every wave.

 

 

Continuing southward, I drove about two miles off Highway 101 to the Whispering Spruce/St Perpetua Trailhead.  I remember briefly stopping at this trailhead with Elena and Costa a couple years ago.  At the time, we hiked the Whispering Spruce Trail.  Today, I hiked the St Perpetua Trail (2.2 miles round trip) which descended to the visitors center.  From the visitors center, I hiked both the Cape Cove Trail (.3 miles) and the Captain Cook Trail (1 mile), which provided access and views to all of the tide pools along the coast.  The tide pools at Cape Perpetua were much more active than the tidepools at Yaquina Beach State Park.  It was another interesting experience, which was probably made even better by the low expectations I had when beginning the hike.

 

Continuing south about 30 minutes, I noticed the dirt parking lot off the highway, which Ranger Holbrook was telling me about this morning.  The trail was only 1 mile round trip and ended at a quiet beach.  The trees were covered in brown moss, with thin trunks, and thin, leafless branches.  This led to the forest having a spooky, sci-fi-like environment.  Thus, it was immediately evident why the trail was named the “Hobbit Trail.”

The last stop of the day was the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.  At the parking lot, there was a trailhead for the Oregon Dunes Trail, a 4.5 mile loop trail through the sparsely vegetated sand dunes.  After about .5 miles on the trail, the trail turned into sand dunes and I decided to take off my shoes and continue the hike barefoot.  A quarter of a mile later, there was a sign specifying that the beach was about .5 miles straight ahead.  At the time, I hadn’t reviewed the map carefully enough to understand that this was part of the trail.  Rather, I thought that this was an out-and-back detour  from the main loop trail.

After retracing my steps another half mile back to the junction, I continued on the main loop trail until passing by the river and eventually reaching the other beach access point on the trail.  When I reached the beach for a second time,  I was frustrated and thought that the trail was very poorly marked.  However, by now looking at the map and having patience, I realized that the loop trail consists of about 1 mile walking on the beach.  The two beach points that I accessed at different times during the hike, were connected by a mile long portion of the loop trail which I didn’t know existed along the beach.  Instead, I basically completed out-and-back hikes to both beaches, thereby completing about six miles of mostly-barefoot hiking on loose sand.  It was scenic and the memory of the experience will be a positive one.

Tonight, I’m spending the night in Coos Bay, maybe spending a couple hours at a casino if I’m up for it.

 

This morning, I woke up at Klootchy Creek State Park and drove straight to Ecola State Park.  At Ecola State Park, I parked at the Ecola Point Trailhead.  From there I walked 1.5 miles to Indian Beach, hike the Clatsop Loop Trail (2.6 miles), and then retraced the steps back to Ecola Point (1.5 miles).  The total amount of hiking at Ecola State Park was 5.6 miles.  The scenery was so beautiful.  The beaches throughout Oregon are very scenic and quiet.  In some places, it even looks and feels like Big Sur.

 

After visiting Ecola State Park, I drove to the Tillamook cheese factory in Tillamook, OR.  The factory is a joint manufacturing and marketing partnership of over 100 dairy farmers located in Tillamook and the surrounding areas.  The company manufactures milk, cheese, ice cream, butter, and other dairy products.  

While visiting the factory, I ordered a “3-scoop-sampler,” which consists of three junior-sized scoops.  The flavors I ordered where Oregon Mudslide, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Oregon Hazelnut and Caramel.  The ice cream was very thick and heavy, and tasted great.

Next, we stopped by Cape Meares State Recreation area.  When it was operational, this lighthouse could be seen from over 20 miles away, using a lighting/flashing pattern that identified the lighthouse’s location and identity.  This lighthouse was initially shut down in 1963, at which time the public didn’t have any interest in the lighthouse.  During the few years after the lighthouse was closed, hippies and vandals broke the outer glass of the lighthouse and caused other damage throughout the structure.  In 1968, a volunteer-staffed public entity was created to oversee access, maintenance and tours for the lighthouse building.  Since then, the organization (and its volunteers) have been maintaining the lighthouse and slowly making improvements to permanently preserve the historical structure.

The Octopus Tree is accessible through the same parking lot as Cape Meares.  The octopus tree is about three hundred years old and is named the Octopus Tree due to its tentacle-like branches from the bottom of the tree.

Oceanside Beach is another quiet, scenic beach along the northern Oregon coast.  Through one of the bordering cliff walls of the beach, there is an access tunnel which takes people to a private, rocky beach near Oceanside Beach.

 

From Oceanside, I merged onto the Three Capes Scenic Drive (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1438848-d563323-Reviews-Three_Capes_Scenic_Drive-Oregon_Coast_Oregon.html) which would run parallel to Highway 101 for a few miles before eventually meeting back up with Highway 101.   One of the stops along Three Capes Scenic Drive is Cape Lookout Park.  Cape Lookout Park is a campground and a trailhead with three popular trails:  North Trail, South Trail, and Cape Trail.  Because it was already 3PM, I decided to just stick with hiking the 4.8 mile round trip Cape Trail. The Cape Trail extends from the Mainland about two miles onto a peninsula stretching out into the ocean.  It was a very unique and enjoyable hike, especially since there wasn’t very much elevation gain and we were walking at a high elevation overlooking the ocean below and the mainland becoming increasingly distant behind us.  The hike ends at a lookout point facing West and providing unobstructed, unending ocean views ahead.

After merging back onto Highway 101, I decided to head toward Lincoln City, OR to spend the night.  While heading into Lincoln City, I noticed a sign for Cape Kiwanda which sounded familiar, so I thought it’s probably worth seeing.  From what I saw, Cape Kiwanda is a recreational area including Haystack Rock and beachfront sand dunes.  At the bottom of the sand dunes, I met Angela and Joey, 21 and 20 year olds, respectively, from Ventura, CA.  According to Angela, they met one year ago, both recently quit their jobs, and are now on their 8th stop on a 6 month road trip.  They’re expecting to spend only $10,o00 during the next six months, saving money by sleeping in their car and staying with friends around the country.  This sounds like such an amazing/interesting/inspiring adventure and I’m looking forward to receiving updates from their Facebook Page over the next six months (https://www.facebook.com/groups/234238543601527/).  It takes a lot of courage and a unique person to put there life on hold for six months, especially at the age of 20-21 to travel, adventure, and see the country.  I admire them a lot for their adventurousness and free spiritedness.

After hiking the sand dunes, I took a shower at the Cape Kiwanda RV Resort across the street.  After showering at the RV resort, I drove to the main part of Lincoln City where I saw a sign for Chinook Winds Casino and Resort.  Chinook Winds Casino has great amenities including overnight RV parking, WIFI, free coffee, restaurants, and anything else anyone would need on a road trip.  In order to qualify for free overnight RV parking, I had to earn 40 reward points, which I was able to accumulate by playing blackjack for about an hour (and luckily breaking even).   I’m looking forward to continuing hiking and exploring South on the Oregon Coast tomorrow.

This morning, I woke up at the TA Travel Center in Troutdale, Oregon.  The first hike of the day was hiking from the Eagle Creek Trailhead to Punchbowl Falls.  The round trip was approximately 5 miles and followed the creek the entire way to Punchbowl Falls and back.  The trail was relatively flat, with most of the elevation descending/ascending at the waterfalls for riverbed access and viewpoints.  Because I was originally intending to also hike Mcleod Point  near Mt Hood, I thought it would be a better idea to not hike past Punchbowl Falls.  Once I arrived back at the car, I researched more about the Mt Hood Hike, and realized that the peak isn’t accessible until July.  Therefore, I decided to spend additional time at Multnomah Falls.

Also, when I arrived back at the car after the Eagle Creek hike, I noticed that my car keys weren’t in my possession and were likely still inside the car.  Realizing my phone didn’t have cell service, I needed to find a way to call Cruise America or AAA to open the door of the RV.  I used an internet phone call app in order to reach AAA and after an hour of waiting the tow truck finally arrived and was able to open the door.  Then I was on the way to Multnomah Falls with the plan of hiking to the top of the falls.

While walking from the parking lot to the area of the waterfall, I noticed a simple map showing additional trails and attractions within walking distance of Multnomah Falls.  I decided on hiking “Loop 1,” which I was really enjoying in nice, cloudy weather until reaching Ecola Falls.  Around the time I reached Ecola Falls, it began raining heavily for about an hour through most of the rest of the hike.

Instead of retracing my steps about a mile back to the trailhead, I stubbornly decided to continue on through the rain. For the first few minutes, the rain was fun and added a lot to the adventure/fun.  However, as the weather became increasingly colder and I became increasingly soaked and cold, I started to increasingly regret the decision to continue hiking the four remaining miles.  Even after it stopped raining and it became sunny, water was still dropping from the leaves in the forest, so it felt like it was raining even after the rainy weather ended.  By the time I arrived back at the car, I was freezing and had to change my sweatshirt, t-shirt, shoes, socks, and shorts.  Once back inside the RV, it felt great to turn on the heater and relax in the comfort of the RV.

After hiking the Multnomah Falls Loop Trail, I drove straight to the coast and planned to spend the night in Seaside, Oregon, a tourist town about 20 miles south of Astoria.  Seaside reminded me a lot of Atlantic City with the simple beach boardwalk, souvenir shops, and tacky carnival food/atmosphere.

Based on a conversation earlier in the day, I was told that there was one place in town I could park at where the cops wouldn’t wake me up during their 4AM rounds:  Klootchy Creek County Park.  Klootchy Creek County Park is a park located on the outskirts of Seaside, Oregon, in a residential area (https://roadtrippers.com/us/astoria-or/nature/klootchy-creek-county-park?lat=40.80972&lng=-96.67528&z=5).  During 2006, a windstorm blew off the trunk of the tree from a height of 80 feet upward.  Due to possible danger hazards, the park cut down the entire tree except a portion of the trunk about 20-30 feet high.  Therefore, the park is a sort of awkward attraction with nothing really to see but it made a convenient, quiet place to sleep for the night.

This morning I woke up at around 8AM in rural Southern Idaho and began the 7-8 hour drive to Portland, OR.  I was hoping to be able to complete one of the Columbia Gorge hikes today, so that tomorrow would be a more manageable hiking day.  About an hour into the drive, I saw a sign along the freeway specifying an attraction off the freeway named  Shoshone Falls.  I decided to take the off-ramp and followed the signs which led to Shoshone Falls State Park.  Shoshone Falls State Park is a beautiful picnic area including frontage on the Snake River, Shoshone Falls, and a lake.  There are two trails, one of which follows the Snake River and another which circles the lake.  There is also a large grassy area with picnic tables which is perfect for a break or lunch spot.

Upon first seeing the waterfall, I thought it was a man-made, artificial waterfall which was created for water diversion, flow control, or for creating a nice view/attraction.  It just had the standard/generic look of a Disneyland landscaping job of a ride/attraction.  It was probably the rounded, perfectly level grey rock formations that gave it that look.  However, as the below photo from 1898 shows, Shoshone Falls is natural and has not been modified by man (at least during the past 120 years).

After continuing driving toward Portland, OR, I noticed that a couchsurfing host  named Sandra responded to my post and invited me to join her and three other couchsurfers at McMenamins Edgefield, a Bohemian hotel in Troutdale, OR.  At around 7 PM, they were planning on checking out a live Nashville band and spending time in the soak pool located on the hotel grounds.  I told her I would meet with them at around 8PM, so that I would hopefully have enough time to hike Dog Mountain Trail (http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Dog_Mountain_Trailhead) before meeting up with them.

At around 5:30PM, I arrived at the Dog Mountain Trailhead located on the Washington side of the Columbia River.  After researching the hike at Kim’s (from yesterday’s hike) suggestion, the hike seemed to be a short, difficult, scenic hike that is used by intense hikers for training.  After a few minutes on the trail, I immediately understood why.  The first 3/4 mile consists of continuous, steep switchbacks on compacted dirt.  After 3/4 mile, hikers are provided with two options:  a 2.2 mile “difficult” trail to the summit or a 2.6 mile (not as difficult) trail.  Because of time constraints, I decided on the 2.2 mile trail which continued the steep terrain to the summit.  About half a mile before the end of the trail, the trail opened up on all sides as the landscape became filled with blooming sunflowers.

 

The hike ended up taking until around 8:15PM, which meant I would be around 1 hour late to the hotel/soak pool to meet up with Sandra and Co. Because Troutdale, OR was near Multnomah Falls, I decided to drive there anyway and hang out in the soak pool.  In the soak pool, I noticed a group of young people and approached them asking if either of them was Sandra.  Sandra was there with about 5-6 people and we talked/chatted for about an hour.  They had been drinking and were very laid back.  Everyone was about 25 years old, except Sandra and her friend who were about 40 years old.  However, they still acted and talked as if they were in their 20s.   Bailey, a local guy in the group, suggested taking highway 101 to San Francisco rather than the Inland route.  He had some good suggestions, so I’ll probably be driving to Astoria tomorrow after the hikes.

After leaving the soak pool, I walked over to the hotel, showered in the bathrooms on the first floor, and then head to the Main Road in town to park the RV and sleep.

 

This Morning, I met up with someone who texted me with a 267 area code replying to a post on the local Salt Lake City Couchsurfing Forum. I assumed that the text from the 267 area code was coming from a European hitchhiker who responded to my post online. However, when we met near the REI parking lot, I was surprised to see that I was meeting someone from Pennsylvania who decided to text me directly after reading the Couchsurfing Post and seeing my cell phone number in the forum post.

Josh Solt (https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/josh-solt) moved to Salt Lake City about 18 months ago from Pennsylvania. His parents are missionaries currently living in the Dominican Republic and he has four siblings each living in different parts of the country. He has been working seasonal jobs at ski resorts, but his main occupation is Wilderness Therapy. He works for a company that coordinates with parents of rebellious teens around the country in order to arrange for the teens to spend time in Utah engaging in challenging hikes, camping trips, and other potentially character-building outdoor activities.

It was interesting to learn that the Great Salt Lake isn’t much of an attraction.  Because of the shallowness of the lake, in the past century the surface area has fluctuated from about 900 square miles to 3,000 square miles.  Because of this dramatic change, development along the shores of the lake hasn’t been viable.  Also, the extremely high salinity and mercury levels sometimes cause the lake to have a foul odor.   Most of the salt in the lake is brought in by the three rivers that lead into the Great Salt Lake.

We carpooled to the Mt Olympus trailhead, which was within earshot of the freeway.  The hike was about 3.5 miles each way (7 miles round trip) with over 4,000 feet of elevation gain, which comes out to an average of about 1,200 feet elevation gain per mile.  To put this into perspective, the trail to Mount Baldy from the Mt Baldy Village is about 1,000 feet elevation gain per mile.  This was a strenuous hike with continuous uphill climbing and rock scrambling.  After about 2.5 hours of moderate-paced hiking, we reached the end point of the marked trail.

At this point, we met a group of three young ladies who were also reaching the end of the marked trail a few minutes after we did.  The three friends (Kim, Diana, and other girl) attended the University of Florida together and now lived in the Portland Area.  All five of us decided to make the rock-scrambling trip up to summit together. From the end of the marked trail, there is a few hundred more feet of elevation gain to reach the summit.  This part of the hike was an extremely steep slope, which had to be ascended through careful, slow-paced rock scrambling.  The rock scrambling portion of the hike alone took us about 1 hour round trip.  The summit of the hike offered 360 degree views of snow-covered mountains and the Salt Lake City metropolitan area.  After a few minutes of relaxing at the top, we descended the rock scrambling portion and the main trail.  In all, the total hiking time was about 6 hours.

 

 

After hiking Mt Olympus, I continued driving north in the direction of Boise, ID.  About a half hour north of Salt Lake City, I decided to stop at “Historic 25th Street” in Ogden, UT, which would probably have a nice selection of restaurants and also a nice area to walk around.  About a block into the walk, I saw a window sign for “stuffed burgers” and decided to check out the restaurant named Scrud’s Gourmet Grub (http://www.yelp.com/biz/scruds-gourmet-grub-ogden).  The stuffed burgers consisted of meat patties that were blended/infused with numerous cheeses, bacon, and other flavorings.  Because all the stuffed burgers were pre-made with bacon, I ordered a veggie burger (with a fried egg topping) and sweet potato fries.  The meal was extremely filling and heavy, and I’m still completely full over six hours after eating the meal.

Historic 25th Street (http://www.historic25.com/) is a 3-block portion of 25th Street which is currently undergoing a revival just like so many other downtown areas around the country.  The street has over 100 years of history as a hub for gangs, brothels, and political scandals.  Around 6PM today, most of the retail shops were closed and most of the people on the street were homeless.  Even though there are numerous fenced parking lots, empty lots, and dilapidated buildings, it seems like the street is headed in the right direction.  There are many impressive, high-end restaurants and signs for projected business openings of Coldstone Creamery, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and a hip waffle restaurant. This three-block portion definitely has potential, but the surrounding area will also need to be improved.  A simple three-block retail shopping district surrounded by dilapidated buildings and parking lots probably isn’t exciting enough to attract tourists and locals.  There needs to be more restaurants, movie theaters, parks, condominiums, and apartments in the immediate area.

 

Continuing on from Ogden, I drove an additional hour to Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville, UT.  After the Mt Olympus hike I knew that a shower was necessary, so it seemed like a good idea to precede the shower with a dip in hot springs, especially since I would pay approximately the same amount for access to shower facilities.  It was a nice facility, but didn’t measure up to the hot springs in Ouray, CO which had the backdrop of nearby mountains.

This morning I woke up around 6AM and drove a few hours to Salt Lake City.  From approximately 9AM Until noon, I caught up on work/emails in a Starbucks in the suburbs south of Salt Lake City.  From there I drove to Downtown Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square (http://www.templesquare.com/).  Temple Square is a 10 acre compound/headquarters/historical site for the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (Mormons).  The 10 acre site includes the Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Seagull Monument, and two Visitor Centers.

I walked into one of the visitor centers and inquired about the starting location of the upcoming 3PM tour.  Within a minute, two enthusiastic, smiley young ladies in their early twenties were already waiting to give a private tour of temple square.  We started walking through the Visitors Center until we arrived at a miniature model of the Salt Lake Temple.  The original Salt Lake Temple was visible at the same time through large, floor-to-ceiling glass windows a few hundred feet away.  The Salt Lake Temple was constructed in the 1850s when Brigham Young (the then president of the church) decided to build a place of worship in Salt Lake City.  Now, the immediate area of the church also includes the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, a Mormon Church Headquarters building, and beautifully landscaped grounds.

During the tour, the girls mentioned that they are currently volunteering for one year in missionary roles.  Sister Li was from China and the other Sister was from Australia.  They seemed to be so happy, enthusiastic, devoted, and passionate about their belief.  I asked questions about how long they have been associated with the church, what “God” was to them, what the Mormons believe, what the purpose of life is, and more.  Their belief seemed to be based on their status quo/upbringing (Australian Sister’s belief) and witnessing the improved quality of life of devoted believers (Sister Li’s belief).  There wasn’t much logical thinking, deep analysis, or looking into the potentiality of falsehood of their religion.

After walking across Temple square to the other Visitor Center, we walked up up the ramp to the Jesus statue room.  In this room, there is a statue of Jesus against a background of a night sky with stars, planets, and clouds.  I sat down on one of the chairs and they pressed a button that played a recording of Jesus’s sayings about how we should deal with other people.  Afterwards, we took a photo in front of Jesus and they abruptly mentioned that the tour would end here.  It was sort of unexpected, which caused me to believe that my questioning had bothered them.  It was nice hearing them share their beliefs and experiences though, and it was interesting to witness how passionate and genuinely happy/fulfilled they seemed to be.  It was as if they weren’t concerned with whether or not the religion was true/real or not, but rather they loved the lifestyle and the peace of mind/meaning that being a part of the church offered them.

 

After the tour of Temple Square, I drove to the Natural History Museum with the intention of hiking the nearby trails.  I noticed an unmarked trail starting from the street corner and began the hike up. Along the way, I asked a few hikers about the whereabouts of the “Living Room Trail” which I had read about on Trip Advisor and eventually made my way up the approximately 2.5 mile round trip trail.  The hike ends at an overlook with 180 degree views of the City below.  At the overlook, there are two make-shift sofas constructed out of rocks facing the directions of the view (sort of like sofas facing a TV), hence the name “Living Room Trail.” At the overlook, I met two recent university grads from Boston, one of which was working on a Master’s Degree in Salt Lake City.

After the hike, I drove back to Downtown Salt Lake City with the plan of viewing the “Meet the Mormons” movie screening at 7PM.  Across the street from the Temple Square is a new mixed-use shopping mall development named “City Creek.”  The mixed-use development is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints alongside real estate developer Taubman Centers.   The following link provides some fascinating background on the development:  http://www.sltrib.com/news/2488265-155/city-creek-center-a-mall-built?fullpage=1

Here are some ideas/principles at use in this world class, cutting-edge development that can be applied throughout the industry for malls that still want to remain relevant:

• Mixed-Uses
  • Simple, solely retail-use  malls will be at a competitive disadvantage into the future.  Nowadays, it’s important for malls to be 24-7 living spaces where people can live, eat, walk, socialize, and shop.  Nobody needs to go to a mall just to shop anymore.  City Creek plans for this trend in its design by incorporating over 700 residential units, a 20-restaurant food court, outdoor living spaces, and by creating accessways between the new development and the already existing 1.5 million square feet of surrounding office buildings.
• Experience-Oriented
  • On the same note, malls aren’t necessary for shopping.  There are much more convenient, cheaper ways to shop.  Nowadays, malls need to fun, interesting, pleasant atmospheres.  City Creek is exactly that.  Throughout the project, there is a common theme of nature, water, and seamless indoor/outdoor transitions.  The centerpiece of the mall is a circular water fountain.  Throughout the indoor and outdoor portions of the rest of the mall, there is a flowing creek (including boulders and vegetation) that adds a lot to the atmosphere and experience of the shopping center.  Also, the quality of the development is visible throughout.  The developers didn’t cut any corners to save costs, including building a retractable glass ceiling on the indoor portions of the wall, building a firepit, and having plenty of outdoor seating available throughout the project.
• Walkable/Urban
  • Suburban malls are dead.  The barrier of having people getting into the cars, driving to a mall, parking, and walking inside the mall is just too much to overcome and will only become more difficult and insurmountable as e-commerce becomes increasingly convenient.  In this respect, City Creek also passes with flying colors.  The developers wisely separated the enormous city block into smaller blocks, thereby increasing the accessibility.  As the below diagram shows, the mall is almost entirely surrounded by high-rise office buildings.  Yet, with almost no frontage on the Main roads, the mall seems to be porous and almost one with its surroundings.  Now, there are five main vertical passageways leading all the way from “Temple Street” to “100 South Street.”  The middle passageway (Main Street) is the only passageway through which there is vehicle traffic.  Main St also has numerous train stops in front of the shopping center, thereby providing additional foot traffic.

All in all, this mall did everything it could right.  It’s a masterpiece given today’s knowledge.  However, at the end of the day I’m not sure this type of project is viable and applicable to other projects around the country.  This project was not a purely economical, profit-oriented undertaking.  The church likely had more significant priorities such as increasing traffic to Temple Square and improving the image of its immediate surroundings.  I doubt a traditional real estate developer could make this project pencil out as a purely financial undertaking.  Could the stores in City Creek be expected to have $500/SF plus of annual sales?  I really don’t think so.  This project is located in Salt Lake City, not NYC, LA or Miami.  Long term I highly doubt malls will be able to achieve and maintain the inflation-adjusted $500/SF sales threshold.  Online shopping is too convenient and cheap to not eventually become the overwhelming retail sales channel.

 

 

After walking through the mall, I walked across the street to the Temple Square and LDS complex/headquarters.  I was approached by two additional LDS missionaries who began discussing the religion with me.  Once again, they seemed to be genuinely happy and passionate.  The Temple Square is a great place to practice socializing and debating.  There are an endless number of young missionaries whose sole job and purpose is to talk to tourists.

A few minutes later, at 7PM I headed over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, a stunning, historical building next door to Temple Square.  Inside the building, there was a 7PM screening for a movie named “Meet the Mormons.”  I sat through about 30 minutes of the 77 minute movie.  The movie was basically a PR move to change the stereotype of Mormons, by introducing the audience to diverse non-Mitt Romney-like Mormons.  For example, the three Mormons we were introduced to was an African-American education counselor/bishop, Hawaiian/Polynesian Football Coach, and Costa Rican family.  The movie was extremely fake and artificial.  I felt like I was watching a mixture of a Viagra commercial, Sandals Resort Commercial, and Pharmaceutical company commercial.  It was an educationally-empty film simply created for PR purposes and to sway public opinion/views.  Something interesting I learned from the movie is that the Mormon Church doesn’t have any paid clergy/bishops.  All clergy and bishops working at local churches are volunteers.  This probably leads to the clergy/bishops having more pure motivations.