Clearwater Falls

On our way home from one of our other adventures we decided to do a quick stop at Clearwater Falls. There is a parking area separate from a camping area. A fairly short walk up the trail from the parking lot takes you to the top of the falls.

It looks like there is another camping area across from the river at the top.

You can see that it is a well named river.

Getting closer to the actual "fall".

Closer...

...The edge where it is falling!

I had a hard time getting good pictures because the lighting was so weird. It was very bright in the sun and especially where the sun hit the water, yet dark in the shadowy parts.  The flash kept going on  while in the automatic mode so I tried turning it off and taking the picture that way. I think without the flash on they turned out better.

One interesting thing I noticed was that though it was a warmish day when we walked to the viewing area at the foot of the falls the temperature got cooler by about 20 degrees. It was very refreshing.

Rock Pile And Illahee Area

While we were exploring the Illahee area we were way high in the mountains and drove by an interesting looking pile of rocks just off the road. How can a pile of rocks look interesting? One reason was because they were the only big boulders like that in the area.     

We had to stop and investigate.

Unfortunately the pictures don't show how truly interesting the formation is. 

There was a little area that wasn't a cave, but it was a good size overhang.

It was obvious that we weren't the first ones there. There was a homemade bench of a log on two rocks and a little fire ring.

It was fun exploring the area. The big boulders made mini canyons and doorways to magical imaginary places. 

And then I looked up and saw this:

In case you can't tell it's a giant round boulder balancing on a couple of other rocks. Remember this is over head!

Check out this hairy tree and the cavelet underneath.

There were nooks and crannies everywhere. This would have been a fun area to camp overnight. Just one night.

On the way down the mountain we looked through a clearing of the trees and saw the Illahee Lookout on top of the opposite mountain.

There it is! We'll see if we can get closer one of these days. This lookout is still active.

And we got to the Illahee Flats Campground. This is where the trail head is.

The campgrounds were really nice. Look at this bathroom. One of the nicest I've seen in a campground. I dare say "cute". 

There's a little "USFG" stamp on the wood above the handle. 

Also in the campground was this covered fireplace. Very cozy.

And for those nonrainy nights there is an open fire pit with convenient benches and picnic table.

I guess if you want a little less rustic than camping in the rocks this would be a great place too!

Pig Iron Lookout

Besides our slight fascination with caves we like to go to the other spectrum and check out various fire lookouts. Hubby had found this one kind of by accident when he was grouse hunting one day.

This is the Pig Iron Lookout. To get there take NF-4780, aka Mowich Loop Road. This is the road that turns off North Umpqua Highway just north of Stump Lake. As you continue up that road you have to be careful not to miss where 4780 makes a definite right turn. It almost seems like a different road, but if you were to go straight (which seems the obvious choice to remain on 4780) you would end up at the Clearwater Forebay. So anyway, you've turned north (right) to continue on 4780. At the next "T" intersection make a left onto NF-060 and very shortly after a right onto NF-100. Stay on 100  until you get to the locked gate.

Now you'll have to walk a bit. Fortunately it's an easy, level walk on the gravel road. It's barely just over a mile long trail. 

There's Clyde leading the way.

There's a little path that leads off the road. It doesn't look so easy.

You'll finally get to another T in the road and head left. You should be able to see the lookout then.

Here it is from the roadside.

Looking up at the lookout.

Here's a view from the base of the lookout.

Here's from that rock Hubby is sitting on. We made Clyde stay because it's a little dicey beyond that point. Didn't want him falling off the cliff!. In fact, I was rather uncomfortable being on that point myself!

Here's a few pictures of the area.  Look between the trees here and you might be able to see Watson Falls.

Here it is enlarged. You can still barely see it here, but it's there! Right smack dab in the middle of the picture flowing off the big rock.

Here's the valley below with the canal going into the Clearwater Forebay.

Toketee Lake just to the right of the forebay.

I got the bright idea to use the video on my phone to do a panoramic view. The first video is from the base of the lookout.

This video is from the rock point below the lookout. Sorry about the quality. It's not high-def and I was trying not to fall off the rock!

Here was a note posted on the base of the lookout by the stairs to go up.

Having lived in California for so long it just amazes us that we can go to an unoccupied lookout like this and see that it hasn't been vandalized. It's so refreshing. 

In any case it's a great hike. Like I said, if I find it to be an easy hike then trust me, it is! 

Disappointment

The property sale did not go through. 

I was really hoping this one would work out. We picked out a house plan on a manufactured house and I was getting excited about getting all our stuff and having our own place again. 

Our first offer was based on the total price of the property and dividing that by the total acres. Then we took that price per acre and applied it to the approximate acreage we wanted for our own. 

That was rejected and we got a strange counter offer. They said the "five acre homesite" would be $145,000 and each acre after that would be $3,000. What they were calling a homesite was by the entrance gate and a very old well. While we would have been testing the well in any case, I would not have called that a homesite. The well was from before wells had to be recorded so it wasn't numbered. And add to the mix the fact that though there were electrical lines to the well, the lines were disconnected. Who knows how long they were disconnected so would the pump even still work? In my opinion that was not a homesite. And we wanted the house to be more in the middle of the property anyway. 

We did a little research at the assessor's and the building department's offices. We found out that it appeared that at one time the process had been started to make that an approved homesite. Apparently, however, some time ago the lines had been redrawn and the homesite had been requested to be moved to the opposite side of the ranch, which was done and approved. At the old site, now no longer approved (or ever approved), there was only the old unknown well. No septic approval or anything else.

Our realtor asked their realtor for an explanation of how he came about the figures. He stated that in fact it wouldn't matter where we put our home, the $145,000 would be for the first five acres. That price was based on comps from lots nearer to town in a very ritzy area. We were kind of flabbergasted as that area has million dollar homes and we were just trying to buy a piece of a cow pasture! 

Then our realtor asked him what he thought his clients might go for because that was not happening. He said he thought they would accept $20,000 less than their first counter. That is exactly what we then offered. 

Just as the bell was chiming on the response deadline their realtor texted our realtor and said he misread his client's flexibility on the price and they were not willing to go any lower than their first counter offer.

Thanks for getting our hopes up.  

Yes, very frustrating. I want to believe that means there is something better out there for us, somewhere. 

Grouse Parmesan

September 1 was opening day of grouse hunting. Hubby and his friend went to one of the areas where we had seen some grouse on one of our little day trips.

They returned home with two birds in hand. Though hubby shot at one he missed and our friend got two. He generously let us keep the birds as he was under strict orders from his wife to not bring anything home. I think it's something to do with her preferring to get her meat from the store prewrapped in cellophane??

We had been watching a Cook's Country cooking show and they were cooking a recipe they called "The Best Chicken Parmesan". We thought it would easily translate to the grouse, since the grouse is so very chicken-like.

I didn't write anything down and we kind of winged it (pardon the pun). I did refer to the website for a little refresher. If you want the exact recipe you can go to the Cook's Country website and do a search for "Best Chicken Parmesan". You will have to "join" but it's free and then you have access to all the delicious recipes and equipment reviews, etc.

We started off with the two breasts.

They were carefully deboned.

We got our breading station ready.  This is where it's a little different from the average parmesan recipe. There is a bowl of beaten eggs mixed with flour (rather than two separate bowls). The dry mixture consists of panko mixed with parmesan cheese.

First off, the meat is pounded to a uniform thickness, about 1/4" to 1/2". Just so long as they are fairly even. Lightly salt and pepper. Dip into the egg/flour mixture and then coat with the panko/parm mix.

Fry in medium-high heat til the pieces are golden brown.

Beautiful!

Next get your topping ready. This is where we strayed a little from the original recipe. We used store bought sauce for simplicity. We chopped up mozzarella cheese sticks and havarti cheese slices and mixed them together. 

 Cheese gets piled on top and the tray is placed under the broiler...

...til the cheese is melty.

Top that with your heated sauce and enjoy!

The crust was crispy, the chicken grouse was tender, the cheese was melty and the whole thing was absolutely delicious.

Our friends' wife doesn't know what she is missing!!!