I’m currently back in the San Francisco Bay Area, taking a bit of a break from Van Life to see friends and family, organize my stuff and prepare for the next chapter in the journey (Burning Man and moving to Spain). This post will close the chapter of my Oregon Sojourn; I will use pictures as my guide to re-tell the story and experiences.
I fled Eugene due to an aggravated hip. Armed with ample food supplies, water and medicine to last weeks, I ventured into the Willamette National Forest with only a loose plan of where to go and what to do. I looked up a few hikes and saved the trailheads on my phone. The entire area on Google Maps is green, indicating that there should be ample opportunities to experience nature, hike and explore my quest for solitude. As I ventured farther into the forest, away from civilization, my phone lost service! I decided to ask some locals for advice on where to hike. They gave me confusing directions that involved driving for miles through logging roads. I followed their advice and before I knew it, I was deep into the forest, 20-30 minutes away from the main drag, on logging roads – completely surrounded by trees with no humans around. By this time, night was descending on the VanBun, so I decided to be brave and camp out in the woods by myself (and 100’s of animals of course).This was my camping spot for the night. I simply pulled off the logging road, to an even less traveled logging road with an ominous sign: “Private property, do not enter!”. I figured that there are private companies that purchase logging land and log it when they feel like it. There was NO ONE around, so I told myself I was fine. If I was approached by an authority figure, I could play the “harmless unemployed dude living in a minivan doing some sort of vision quest to solve his existential quarter-life crisis and taking photos” card. After I ate my delicious van tacos and put my rig into “adventure mode”, people became the least of my worries. The sun was setting and night was creeping into my consciousness. Suddenly, I became much more aware of a diverse array of sounds emanating from the woods. For every crunch of leaves, breaking of twigs, chirping of birds, rustle of wind or any typical forest sound, my brain invented elaborate scenarios of bears, mountain lions or blood-sucking-rabies-carrying bats lurking just beyond my vision, awaiting my slumber so that they could suck my blood, feast on my muscles or just steal my tacos. Eventually, the anxiety came to a crescendo when I started to hear a rhythmic “wooshing” sound, as if I giant bird was dive bombing my car in an attempt to grab food. The cadence was extremely consistent, as if it was a breath. I convinced myself it was definitely a large mama bear sleeping and breathing loudly in the dense forest behind me. Eventually, I was able to calm myself down by reminding myself that I’ve never heard of any bear/lion/bat attacks in this area and part of me was resigned to the fates; if it was my time to be eaten by a bear, so be it, it’s been a great run! Of course, nothing happened; it was just “first night in the woods” jitters. Despite the raging fear and anxiety, it was an extremely momentous and liberating feeling; to simply drive into the woods and camp where I pleased, with NO ONE around. No cell service, completely unplugged from the matrix, simply existing out in nature with your thoughts and with 1,000’s of other species of plants and animals. Just being with nature. It was a wonderful feeling.The day after surviving the scary (but liberating) deep wilderness adventure, I finally found the hike that the locals told me about. It was shorter than expected but led to an incredible view. On the hike, I met a friendly local lady and her dog. She’s retired now, but worked for 30 years in the forest service doing field work. She described her job and it sounded amazing; it consisted of taking scientific measurements/observations of the condition of various spots in the wilderness. She also had interesting thoughts on the economy of Eugene: historically it’s been a logging area; but in the last several decades that industry has plummeted. There was a long period of financial hardships; but now that it is filled with breweries and pot dispensaries, the economy is once again blooming! She’s a strong advocate of the sin tax; people are going to do it anyway, so why not tax it? I agree with that. Anyway, it was nice to see a human after 24 hours of solitude. The goal of this section of the journey was to drive as little as possible and hike as much as possible in order to properly heal my hip and give it healthy movement. So, I drove for about 20 minutes and found this amazing spot, just off the main road. It was less isolated than the previous night, but felt just as cozy and cut off from civilization. There was a river just beyond the tree line in this picture! Van’s down by the river are the best.Here I am, expressing myself artistically by creating a long exposure self-portrait of myself where I’m vigorously shaking my head.Sunset shot from the third night of my “live in the woods” plan. At this point, I have not refilled for water or food…off the grid for 3 nights! It was pretty awesome. I heard about this hike and drove up to the top of the mountain; it was too late to hike, so I decided to simply camp at the trailhead. I love the freedom of being completely self-contained in a vehicle. I can sleep, eat and exist wherever I want.Hike at clear lake! Stunning blue color. The lake is so cold that no algae can grow, leading to its incredible blue color. I hiked around the lake and stealth camped in the lodge parking lot to avoid camping fees.I grabbed this shot late at night at Clear Lake. I was a bit bold with my parking spot; I simply parked at the day use area, 50 yards from the lodge and the rangers office. Every light was out in the Ranger building, so I figured he or she had done their rounds and wasn’t going to hassle me. I was also going to use the “I’M DOING NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY!” excuse if they told me to leave (which was true, actually). In the morning, I awoke to a knock on my door: “Anybody in there!?” I immediately was jolted awake and instinctively said “Yeah, just taking a nap, I was doing some photography this morning.” He said “well, no overnight camping allowed, FYI.”. I said “Sure, no problem”, then got out of bed and made my breakfast. It was my only run-in with getting hassled for being a VanDweller. He was quite friendly and I clearly was breaking the rules, so it was somewhat to be expected.Oregon has an insane amount of waterfalls. This is Proxy Falls, one of the more popular sites.More waterfalls!!Stretching on some trail somewhere. I love my trekking poles!After about 4 days exploring the wilderness around the Willamette National Forest, I continued through the absolutely stunning scenic byway 242 and entered the high desert volcanic region. The entire area is very geologically active and there were many volcanoes and hot lava explosions, creating a really interesting landscape. I reached the top of the mountains to a place called The Dee Wright Observatory. It’s essentially a field of lava rocks with a castle/observatory build out of the lava rocks. It’s an absolutely ideal place to see the stars; the conditions were perfect as well, no moon and zero clouds. I was definitely spending the night there. I found the only shaded area in the parking lot and passed the time by catching up on photo-editing, using my handy van as a standing desk.The various layers of this region.The Sisters as the sun is setting.OMG! MY HEAD JUST EXPLODED. I’ve never seen stars this stunning. I applied some basic edits to this picture, but what you see is essentially what I saw in real life. It was astounding. The night was a bit of an ordeal; freezing temperatures, many hours waiting for the stars to appear (sun sets after 9:30pm and the milky way doesn’t show itself until 11:30pm). It was a fun event; there were a handful of other photographers there. I met a bright college student who has aspirations to be an astrophysicist. He was a treasure trove of knowledge about the universe and a fellow photography enthusiast, so it was fun to talk shop and learn about the stars. The basic method of astro-photography is to point your camera at the sky and adjust the settings so that you let in AS MUCH LIGHT AS POSSIBLE. This means a 30 second exposure, completely wide open aperture and crazy high ISO’s. Being a time-lapse lover, I pushed my camera to the limit and did one 30 second exposure after another until my battery died. I definitely want to do more astrophotography. It creates stunning photos under the right conditions and it also makes you think about your place in the world and marvel over the expanse of the universe.Hot lava.After the Observatory, I made my way to the town of Sisters. It’s a cute little mountain touristy town that made a great base for catching up on photo editing and doing laundry. After a week with no internet, showers (although the river baths were amazing), dirty clothes and low food rations, I was ready to hang out in civilization again. I found a fantastic coffee shop (Sisters Coffee Company) and spent hours catching up on Time Lapse and finalizing the video. The next series of pictures is from various hikes I took around Sisters.I think this is Mt. Jefferson…or Mt. Hood.Loved the lines that the mountains created at dusk.The ever-present Sisters loom at sunset.This is at the top of Black Butte; someone lives in the house and watches for fires! Sounds pretty boring, but at least you’re surrounded by beautiful nature.Random shot of the van in a typical state of disarray.
I met a fellow photographer at a Laundromat in Sisters. He gave me a recommendation to shoot some more stars; it was an elaborate set of directions and I wrote them all down. It felt like a treasure hunt when I finally made it to the spot several days later! I drove through thick forrest to finally reach this open space on red clay.
Who’s that guy??
Typical trekking outfit. Fannie packs are the best!On a hike outside of Sisters. One of the most stunning spots I’ve been to. It was around sunset as I hiked out there; I saw a bald eagle! The view was amazing and the scenery surreal.On the way back to Sisters, I parked in a Sno Park parking lot to grab the stars.View of Lake Moraine, outside the town of Bend. I don’t have any pics of Bend; apparently I took a break from photography for those 4 days! Bend was fun; I was able to catch up with Jocelyn and John, who were house-sitting for friends. I also saw an old friend from the Bay Area who now works at a Brewery (there are tons in Bend). That was super fun. Bend is a neat town; everyone is into the outdoors, it is very well manicured with nice shops and restaurants. It feels a bit too ritzy for me; people are a bit more concerned about the appearance as well. It felt even more white than Eugene; and it didn’t even feel diverse amongst white – it was mostly blond hair, light eyed people! Bend is a fun place to visit but I don’t think I would live there.Crater Lake! This was a must-see for me. I’ve heard a ton about it and I was super excited to finally see it. The sheer magnitude of the lake and the inanely blue color was incredible. I’ve never seen water so blue. This photo is not enhanced in any way; the water actually looks that blue. It was hard to believe your eyes.Sunrise at Crater Lake!Sunset! I stayed busy during my 3 days at Crater Lake; getting up early for the sunrise, staying up late for the sunset and working on photo editing during the day became the routine.While exploring Crater Lake, I met these two young hooligans, Brigham and Dylan. They’re from Wisconsin, traveling/living in a Land Cruiser rig and are also photography/video enthusiasts. I met them at the cafe/visitor center; they were editing photos and I was doing the same. We became fast friends and hung out for the next few days, shooting photography and editing. It was a blast to meet other vehicle-dwelling travelers, especially ones that share the same passions as I do. For the final night of Crater Lake, we decided to splurge on a legitimate campsite; after stealth camping at the lodge for 2 nights, I was ready to relax and have the true “car camping” experience; have a few beers, sit around the fire, lounge in the hammock and hang out freely.This is what the night sky looks like when it’s NOT clear. Notice the stars behind the cracks in the cloud.Dylan checking out his shot. Stunning vistas are like this one are all over Crater Lake. When I first arrived, I had the idea that “it’s just a giant lake and once you see it, you’re done” – but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are so many different views to explore, land formations to hike and a large variety of environmental conditions. The feel of the lake is constantly changing based on those factors. I definitely want to go back and explore more.The temperatures were extreme here. There was a snowstorm on the first night! I couldn’t even see the lake and it was freezing! Good thing I brought my Peruvian alpaca gear to keep me warm. I watched “The Revenant” in my car on the first night; a perfect movie for being in a National Park with ice cold temperatures and snow. In this photo, I’m eating breakfast in the morning; despite the clear sky, it’s still chilly!Stars from the campsite before my lens became fogged.It was awesome to chill at the campsite with Dylan and Brigham. We had hung out for about 36 hours straight, shooting sunsets/sunrising and editing during the day. It was intense work but also super fun! We couldn’t stop doing photography. We debated if we would drive 20 minutes to the lake to do the sunset, but decided it was time for a break from constant photography; having beers by the campfire and relaxing was well worth it.
Mt. Shasta! After 3 nights at Crater Lake, it was time to head to Sacramento to take care of my Spanish visa paperwork. I made a beeline to Shasta and caught this stunning view; coming from North to South, the mountain is so spectacular; there are no mountains around, it sticks out like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
What’s next?
What’s in store for TheVanBun Season 2? I’m currently in the Bay Area working on a handful of things:
See friends/family and have random adventures.
Prepare for Burning Man. It will be my second time, so I feel more ready this year; but there’s still a lot of work to be done.
Prepare for Spain. I’m moving to Spain in September to teach English. This is a big deal! I need to organize my things, figure out what I need to bring / what I need to buy and get my visa paperwork in order.
