Wilds of the Klamath

Thursday Sept. 22.

Took a little trip to Oregon after returning from Alaska. The drive north from Sacramento is beautiful once you turn east off Hwy 5 onto Hwy 299. From a fairly predictable flat plain, the Pit River suddently drops down to the right in a dramatic gorge.

The flat land made the sky seem larger, and the sunset played through different colors in the various clouds hovering at the distant horizon.

I missed the last chance for a burger in Burney and instead had lentil soup and crackers at the Howard Gultch campsite. Not bad. The weather was nice enough to forego the rainfly and I fell asleep looking at the starts through the tent roof mesh.Breaking camp the next day I was feeling pretty good about the trip so far -- until the first raindrops fell. It rained on and off all day while I checked out the critters at the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge.

It only rains about 10 inches a year in this part of the counry. I think I experienced 10% of the annual rainfall that day. Lucky me. Made for dramatic skies, as I drove on to Crater Lake.