Boondocking Near Oroville, Washington

Our first night in Oroville, Washington, we spent at Osoyoos Lake Veterans Memorial Park 

which was absolutely beautiful, but we thought it a bit pricey at $24 with no hookups whatsoever. You can see it wasn't terribly crowded, although there were a few other campers. There was one lone site with hookups; it went for $30 a night. Jan thought it was kind of ironic that a veteran's memorial park didn't offer a veteran's discount.

Leaving the trailer there, we headed out of town to reconnoiter in preparation for Jan's gold panning plans. I refuse to drag the trailer out into the hinterlands without knowing that the terrain is suitable and there is room to maneuver. We found the site we were looking for, 6.4 miles west of town, and were happy to learn that there was plenty of room for our 34 foot trailer at the site, with free camping (BLM). If we were going to boondock, free is definitely better than $24 a night. There wasn't any cell phone signal at the campground, either, to argue for staying in town, so the next morning we filled up the freshwater tank and moved out there. The site was, as I said, roomy and peaceful--here you see our trailer in place. Just past the trailer, over the bank, was the Similkameen River, which is a tributary of the Okanogan River. This is reputed to be a fairly good gold panning spot. 

Here's another view of our home for the week.

and here's what the river just over the bank, which we could hear from camp, looked like.

We stayed 5 nights. Every day Jan panned

while I moused around the house. Without electricity, we read a lot, played music on our instruments, and started listening to our Gunsmoke classic radio CDs that our friend Tom and given us. Thanks, Tom. We so enjoyed them and look forward to many more exciting episodes on the CDs when life slows down and we can appreciate them. Most days I drove into town to access communications, as there were some family things needing my input, but I would have been happy to stay home most of the time.

Mostly, we just enjoyed the quiet. We had a couple neighbors that Jan chatted with. We found an apple tree just over the bank--now, how did that get here? Some picnicker years ago, carelessly tossing an apple core over the bank?

The apple crisp I made was delicious.

It was easy to imagine what it must have been like in years past. We savored the quiet, the lack of demands, the simplicity of our days. We had time to think.  I don't want to boondock all the time, but I would like to do this some more.

Republic, WA

Traveling on Highway 20, we crested Sherman Pass and began our scenic descent toward Republic, Washington, a small community in Ferry County, which adjoins the Canadian border. Our destination was an RV park in the Curlew Lake area, one at which we had stayed on our journey east at the beginning of summer.  There, we enjoyed the much improved Internet signal (a new broadcaster had been added) and the new pull through site (several had been added during the summer). Despite the improvements, there was a strange sense of deja vu when a several hour power outage (which also meant the well couldn't pump) reminded us of the same thing happening during our previous visit. I don't think it was any fault of the RV park; rather, I think perhaps the area is prone to power outages.

In Republic, a small mountain town in one of Washington's poorer counties, the main street has a certain picturesque charm. From this vantage point, on the grounds of the Catholic Church, you can see how the town kind of nestles into the mountains. This deer,

also on the church grounds, was perfectly comfortable with having its picture taken, which is no doubt why deer fences like this are a common sight.

The town takes off in various directions, wherever it could find a way between the mountains. We saw this driveway taking off steeply upwards. You can't quite read the sign, but it says, "Rock Haven RV Park." I'm not sure if it's for real, but we sure wouldn't take our trailer up there. We couldn't see where anyone else had, either.

Obvious efforts have been  made to capitalize on the town's outdoorsy remoteness and its mining history. A major draw for visitors to Republic is the Stonerose Interpretive Center, where visitors can see 50 million year old fossils from the Eocene Era. For a modest fee, there is a nearby dig site where you can dig for your own fossils. After assistance in identification, diggers are allowed to keep up to 3 fossils per day. The Center is also a draw for school field trips. The Center is housed in this modest building

which was once the home of a local doctor who built a hospital next door in order to meet local medical needs.

On the grounds is a relocated early area cabin.

The Center shares its space with the local historical museum, so inside are fossil exhibits,

mining exhibits,

Native American artifacts,

and other historical exhibits.

As it was late in the day, Jan didn't go to the dig site, but looks forward to coming back another time.