Escape Pod Rambles: Wrapping it Up

Sept 2 - 14, 2025

As our time runs out, we took note of things we would miss

The view of Paulina Peak on the drive up to the Caldera

Paulina Creek Falls

Drove out to Fort Rock, the area where the oldest shoes were found. Took the back road, the dirt road we are to take if we had to evacuate because of fire. Part of the road was roadblocked because of a fire last year but we ran into a Forest Service employee who said the dangerous trees should have been removed by now and gave us his tacit approval for driving down it, although he did say we never saw him.

Logging of salvageable trees and discard pile

The bullet holes might have you think twice, but what was funny to us was the rough condition of the road we had been on versus this nice one we were about to embark on

Fort Rock is an old tuff ring that was once in a lake

Glad we weren't volunteering here - so desolate!

The rain is moving off

Matthew went for a hike and came across this little graveyard below the raptors' hangout. Still recovering from COVID, I just hung out on the lower elevations

Area homes and buildings from the land grant days were collected and placed in this museum

Back at the Caldera...

Thatching ants nest

Marbled obsidian

Lightning triggered a small fire on the backside of the caldera so this tanker helicopter came to Paulina Lake, just across the street from us, to gather water

If you'd like to see it in action here is the video I took

On my last days off we drove west to have lunch with Sarah and Alan, and to visit with Nate, Rux, and Cessna one last time. The next morning we drove to the coast for one last ocean view. Met with Andrew to explore the Yahats beach looking for agates (no luck) and have lunch.

Walked down to the lighthouse at Yaquina Head for the sunset

Had an eventful night as we drove around looking for a place to boondock. Matthew didn't like the place I chose and I didn't want to encroach on others already occupying the sites he chose, so neither of us were happy and we ended up at the Walmart parking lot in Newport. No sooner had we fallen into a deep sleep than we were awakedned by a knock on the door and a very nice security guards informed us that parking was no longer allowed there since covid. But they directed us just down the road to a beach site that was fine.

Next morning we returned to Yaquina Head to explore the tidepools and say hello to all our former co-workers.