On The Oregon Trail (Part 2)

Once you pass Redding and head into extreme northern California, the predominant feature is Mount Shasta. In fact, it's impossible to ignore this sleeping giant of a volcano, whose last recorded eruption occurred roughly 200 years ago (lately, the mountain has averaged an eruption every 600 years.)

As impressive a sight as Shasta was in passing, my glances were drawn to the tinier cinder cones and similarly-shaped rock formations that dotted the valley north of Shasta, as well as some of the smaller features such as Black Butte (there is another Black Butte mountain up in Oregon as well, as I found out later.)

I began thinking how cool it would be to go climbing on these things or just ramble around and examine the rocks and plants and things on the landscape. Maybe one of these days when I have a lot more time on my hand.

Also impressive in a future CGI/Lord Of The Rings way was when I caught sight of the top of Castle Crags National Park. The top of the mountains here are impressive, and I was thinking that some smart Hollywood studio would grab a camera crew to shoot some film, and then some CGI crew would super-impose a real intimidating, creepy castle face on these slabs as an imposing obstacle for their stalwart heroes to overcome.

Crossing into Oregon, I noticed immediately that at least on I-5, there isn't much in the way of flat ground. You're either going up or down for most of the route. Most of the first southern Oregon towns you drive past like Ashland and Talent are awfully long and slender because of the mountains on either side.

An interesting historical sidelight is the Republic Of Jefferson which was established during the early 1940s. I had previously heard the story behind the republic several years ago on TV, so it was interesting to see the barn pictured in the link while driving by on I-5 as well as listening to NPR Radio stations in the area, which refer to themselves as "Jefferson Public Radio."

Driving through the town of Grants Pass in search of dinner, I passed by a very lively scene. School was out for the weekend, and the downtown was filled with the local youth cruising by various local establishments in their autos with many others just walking out on the street en masse, hanging out and enjoying each other's company. Not sure if this is the case in other small towns nowhere near a huge metropolis around the country, but it definitely was a new experience for me.