Waldo Lake is located in central Oregon 12 miles north of Highway 58 between Willamette Pass and the community of Oakridge. The lake is about 75 miles from Eugene, Oregon, 80 miles from Bend, Oregon and 115 miles from Klamath Falls, Oregon.  The Jim Weaver National Recreation Trail circles the lake and was formerly named the Waldo Lake […]

Island Lake, Dee Lake and the Waldo Tree are all located in the Sky Lakes Wilderness on the Rogue River National Forest in the Cascade Mountains of South Central Oregon. The general area is known as the Blue Canyon Basin.  I hiked in with the Klamath Basin Outdoor Group from the eastside of the Cascades […]

History . . . This trail began as a railroad owned by the City of Klamath Falls and named the Klamath Falls Municipal Railway.  After beginning construction in 1917 and reaching Olene a year later,  Robert Strahorn, the contractor and major proponent of the project, offered to buy the railroad from the city.  The sale […]

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. The order authorized the U.S. military to arrest Japanese American families living on the West Coast, entirely without due process. Thus began a mass incarceration program that targeted over 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry based on the false claim of military necessity. The Tule Lake center was the largest of 10 camps where these people were held.

Lava Beds National Monument . . . Captain Jack, Schonchin John and their band of Modoc Indians were attacked by the U.S. Army and local civilians at their winter village on the Lost River, just north of Tule Lake, California on November 29, 1872.  Some of the Modocs escaped the attack by crossing the lake […]

Gateway to the Klondike Gold! George Carmack, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie found gold on Bonanza Creek in the Klondike in 1896. They didn’t find much in the beginning, but it was enough – the gold rush was on.  Tens of thousands of people, thrown out of work by the depressed economy or just plain […]

Lava Beds National Monument . . . The trail to Big Painted Cave and Symbol Bridge was the backbone of my explorations in this area southeast of Schonchin Butte in the Lava Beds National Monument.  The trail heads toward Schonchin Butte from the road to Skull Cave.  The Skull Cave Road is about 1.3 miles […]

or The Battle of Sand Butte – Lava Beds National Monument . . . History . . . The Park Service labels this site the Thomas-Wright Battlefield.  This, the fourth battle of the Modoc War (after the battle at the Lost River, and two battles at Captain Jack’s Stronghold) was actually fought between a U.S. […]

The Modoc War . . . Gillem’s Camp is an important site associated with the Modoc War of 1872 and 1873, although it was only in use for about seven weeks.  Very briefly, the war came about after members of the Modoc Tribe decided to leave the Klamath reservation, where they were confined.  They had […]