Off the Grid

This past week has been pretty exhausting and things are only getting busier as December rolls around, but I'm here and I'm alive, so this is my story last week: 

 

I managed to lump all of my days-off around the same weekend in two weeks so there was a lot of working and then a lot of relaxing and then a lot more working.

But on Saturday Lunch turned 29 and I drove down to San Francisco to meet up with him. I took three days to drive down and had some hits and misses on the way. Don't worry, there was a lot of car-kareoking and a lot of driving to get there and overall it was worth it. 

I started my journey late one night, driving as close to Crater Lake as I could bare to stay awake. I thought to myself, "I should probably look up Tokatee Falls while I'm in Southern Oregon," but I forgot and kept driving closer and closer to Crater Lake. Lucky me, as I was getting tired and looking for a nice campground to stop by I passed a sign of Tokatee falls. So I camped and woke up to a beautiful pouring rain hike to the falls. I only made it to the observation deck but now that I know it's secrets, I will definitely be back 🙃. This may or may not have been the downfall of my LCD panel on my camera, but I don't really want to talk about it 😭.

 

After all of that I booked it straight for Crater Lake where I figured I'd spend the day. Here is where my luck turned. The rain just wouldn't let up and the closer I got to Crater Lake, the foggier it became and the harder it rained. I tried to stick it out but my bones were made for 70 degree Hawaii weather. I didn't last long.  

 

I decided to keep driving and that's when I made it to Mount Shasta. By this time I was exhausted. I tried to walk around a bit but I was still too cold to move so I just took in the stunning view from Carol the Carolla until the sun set. It was pretty great and I had it all to myself.

once the sun was in hiding I kept driving until I wanted to fall asleep and I made my way to a random campground in the middle of California. I was so tired that I just drove right up to a spot that seemed secluded enough from the road and slept for the night. When I woke up, I was basically in a Dali painting (thanks Sliz, now I can't unsee it.) The sun was barely peaking over the hills when I woke up and I just sat and took it all in. There was a tiny little gorge, hills for days, and a little lake with bare trees reflecting under the clear skies. By the way, it stopped raining as soon as I crossed the bored to California. Your drought it ridiculous. 

 

Eventually I made it to San Francisco where we spoiled ourselves with amazing Airbnbs until we made our drive back all in one Sunday. 

 

It wasn't quite enough adventure for one week but I'll make it up to you soon. I can't wait to get my hiking shoes back on. 

Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta

Tokatee Falls

Tokatee Falls

Near Mount Shasta

Near Mount Shasta

Black Butte Lake

Black Butte Lake

Black Butte Lake

Black Butte Lake

Hellsgate, Rogue River

Hellsgate, Rogue River

Black Butte Lake

Black Butte Lake

San Francisco

San Francisco

Black Butte Lake

Black Butte Lake