Our Volksvegan Adventure

Our adventures in Oregon continue from Bend to Eugene and beyond. On the way to Eugene we stopped to camp near some hot springs and hiked into the springs for a nighttime dip. It was nice to soak our sore muscles after the big climb up Mt. Adams. The next day we met a cool couple at the campground and had breakfast with them before heading into Eugene.

Eugene is certainly an organic vegan’s paradise. The food was simply amazing! We ate at the Keystone Cafe, Cozmic Pizza, and Morning Glory, all wonderful places full of delicious vegetarian & vegan options and organic goodness. We also played disc golf in Eugene at a small city course, and on the way out at an awesome course in Dexter State Park. Eugene seemed pretty conscious, and had plenty of natural food stores, yoga centers, and progressive publications to read. We stocked up on organic food at a natural food store and camped once more near the hot springs, riding our bikes a few miles from the campground to the springs for another splendid nighttime dip.

After a couple of days in Eugene, we made our way to Crater Lake National Park. Neither of us had ever visited, and we were blown away by the beauty of the lake and the story behind it. Crater Lake was formed when Mount Mazama, a huge volcano, imploded over 7,000 years ago. It created a round deep lake rimmed by crater walls and mountains. Wizard Island sticks up out of the lake, itself a volcano cone. We took tons of pictures of the lake and the interesting volcanic geology surrounding it.

We spent all day exploring Crater Lake National Park, even taking a quick dip in the frigid waters of the lake! It was definitely refreshing, but we couldn’t last longer than a few seconds in the water. We also climbed Mt. Scott, the park’s highest point at 8,938 feet, for a great view of the lake and surrounding area. We camped in the park and headed out the next morning for Mt. Shasta, California.

It wasn’t long after leaving Crater Lake before we caught a view of Mt. Shasta, a beautiful 14,162 ft. mountain in the Cascades. We checked out the natural food store in the town of Mount Shasta, then headed up the mountain for some hiking. We hiked around the beautiful alpine Panther Meadows and up to Gray Butte. It was getting dark on the way down from the butte, but the almost-full moon lit our way. We camped on Mt. Shasta and did some more hiking the next day, but probably will save climbing it for a warmer season!

Mt. Shasta has a magnetic appeal to it, the mountain is beautiful and several local Native American tribes hold it sacred. We felt really drawn to the area and hope to return to at least climb the mountain, but it’s also on our list of possible places to move. For now we’re leaving for Lassen Volcanic National Park, then through Redding to Arcata. Then we’ll be heading down the coast, and we’re looking forward to some warmer weather!

As for the greasecar, we haven’t been having much luck finding filtered vegetable oil on the road so far. Everyone we’ve tried connecting with on FillUp4Free.com hasn’t responded yet. Our portable pump and filtration set-up was barely trickling oil through when we tried in Boise, and we figured that with colder weather (and thus colder oil), it wasn’t going to work well. So we’ve been looking for biodiesel and will probably end up buying some big jugs of virgin veggie oil now that we’re in California and diesel is a bit more spendy. We have discovered on this trip that although veg oil is great for long trips, sourcing it and filtering it can be difficult to do on the road. It definitely helps to have a home base where we can have a steady grease source, settle the oil for a while (to remove animal fats and hydrogenation), then heat it and filter it. It’s quite a process, and we’re pretty picky with the oil we’ll put in our baby, so it helps to have space and time to prepare the oil, which we just don’t have on the road. Hopefully we’ll find some fellow greasers along the way that can give us filtered and properly processed waste oil, otherwise we’ll have to stick to biodiesel and virgin veg oil.

Well, it certainly feels good to be back on the road. We left Boise and headed for Mt. Adams in Washington. We had some trouble filtering the grease we got in Middleton because our grease filtration system was running slow. So we decided to ditch it and look for some filtered oil on the road.

We camped out near Trout Lake Washington, near the base of Mt. Adams, and headed to the trailhead the next morning. The hike up was pretty easy until we got to Crescent Glacier, where we had to hike across the ice using our trekking poles for added traction. Juneau loved seeing snow, of course, and was far ahead of us as we hiked up. We got to a flat area below the false summit, called the lunch counter, and found a sheltered area to set up camp. We got to watch the most amazing sunsets the two nights we were there. The sun set behind Mt. Saint Helens and dipped into a sea of clouds that surrounded us. We lucked out with beautiful warm weather most of the time we were there, so thankfully we didn’t freeze as we camped above 9,000 feet.

The next day we headed for the summit, straight up a steep face and across several glaciers. It was a steep climb but we made good time. We hiked up to one side of the mountain that was covered in glaciers with deep crevices cutting into them. Seneca mentioned that the snow fields seemed to have melted a lot since he climbed it a year ago, and during the day all the glaciers were slushy and meltwater flowed down the mountain. We finally made it to the false summit, Piker’s Peak, where we stopped for a rest before crossing another ice field and heading up the steep climb to the summit, at 12, 276 ft.

We finally reached the top of Mt. Adams and had a spectacular view of Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, and Mt. Rainier from the top. There was a beat up old fire lookout that we sat on for a snack as we watched clouds rolling by below us. This was the highest mountain I have ever climbed, and the view from the summit was simply amazing. The climb down went pretty quick, especially since we slid down some of the snow fields on our butts! It was cold the next morning when we got up, and winds were whipping all around. For pictures of our climb and the view, check out our Mt. Adams photos on flickr.

The next day we hiked down from our camping spot and headed straight for the Full Sail Brewery in Hood River for a congratulatory beer and lunch. Then we headed for the Ochoco National Forest near Bend, where a regional Rainbow Family Gathering was taking place. We spent a few days camping with our Rainbow Family before heading to Bend and the Deschutes Brewery. Our next stop is Eugene, where we plan to check out the town and hopefully a couple of communities nearby. Then we’re heading South to California!

Well, we’ll be back on the road again tomorrow if all goes well! We picked up the bus yesterday afternoon from Doug’s Bugs, where a new head gasket and head block were installed, our injectors were cleaned, and various other parts were replaced to get the engine working as good as new. The bill hurt, but hopefully it will keep ‘er rolling for a long time. The heads weren’t cracked, but there were a few small cracks in the head block that held them, and also where the glow plugs were. So we decided to replace it now instead of having to replace it (and pay for the labor to get it out again) later.

We’ve been playing a lot of disc golf (which often involves fetching discs from the water) and hanging out with friends in Boise while the bus was in the shop. We stocked up at the Co-op, and today we’re cleaning out the bus, doing laundry, and re-packing and re-organizing the bus in preparation to leave tomorrow.

We’re heading to southern Washington to climb Mt. Adams. It is in the same range as Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Ranier, so there should be a great view of all three from the top. It’s quite a climb, much of it on ice, but Seneca made the same trip last year about this time, and we now have new trekking poles to help us hike up.

After Mt. Adams we’ll head down the coast, visiting communities, friends, and family along the way. We’re most interested in Oregon and northern California, but we may come back up to Montana and Washington for a few barter faires this fall. It’s getting late in the year already, so we’re hoping to decide on a new place to settle on this leg of the trip. Stay tuned, we’re not quite sure what we’re in for!

We’re very excited to finally be back in the road after weeks of waiting in Boise for our beloved bus to be back in action. Anchor’s Away!

There hasn’t been much to report because we are still stuck in Boise. We took the bus in to a radiator shop here and they found that our radiator was pretty clogged up. So a new core was ordered, the radiator is being fixed and re-mounted, and the system is being flushed. It took a while because they had to order parts. Unfortunately they also found that exhaust has been getting into the coolant system, which likely means we’ll need a new head gasket and possibly may even have a cracked head! So, when we pick up the bus from the radiator shop tomorrow, we’re taking it right over to a VW expert to get a new head gasket installed and check the heads. Heads are REALLY expensive to replace, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that they are all ok. Overheating and coolant getting into the engine can definitely cause problems, so we’re hoping everything checks out and we won’t leave the shop totally broke.

While we’ve been waiting on our beloved bus, we’ve been doing some work for our parents (gotta save up some money for when the bill comes on the bus), hanging out in McCall, seeing friends in Boise, and playing disc golf. Seneca started playing disc golf before we left Moscow, and now he’s started to teach me how to play. It’s fun, but I suck at anything that involves aiming. There is a nice course at Ann Morrison Park here in Boise that we’ve been enjoying. We’re just passing the time until our bus is healthy again…

At least with a new radiator core and a flushed cooling system, we shouldn’t have to worry about overheating quite as much. Keep your fingers crossed that the heads are fine and it won’t take too much longer! We’re hoping if all goes well that she’ll be rolling before next week. We plan to head to Mt. Adams once it’s done, and then to Portland and Eugene. We may hit up a few barter faires this fall as well, depending on where our journey takes us. While it’s been nice spending time with family and friends, we’re certainly anxious to get back on the road!