Cascadia State Park

Posted by Laura Lucanidae July 24, 2012

Cascadia State Park

Soda Creek Falls.

Osprey.

I recently heard about Oregon State Park's "Let's Go Camping!" program, and was surprised such a cool program exists. I have only "camped" a couple of times, staying in cabins, and have never actually slept in a tent. My husband did this in his youth, but we haven't shared this experience with Jasper. It's kind of a daunting prospect for a novice. What kind of gear do you need? How do you find it? How much will it cost? What if we invest time and money in acquiring camping gear and learning how to use it, and then don't really like camping? This program goes a long way towards demystifying camping. For $20, a family can reserve a spot and borrow a tent, sleeping bags and pads, and join a group of families to learn the ropes from enthusiastic volunteers. While you are there, they will show you how to set up your tent, how to get a campfire going, how to cook with a Dutch oven, and how to be safe and courteous campers. Depending on the park, there are different ranger lead hikes and lots of group activities, including campfires with s'mores. And it's actually paid for without any taxpayer assistance. Many generous people volunteer their time to make it a success, and sponsors and grants cover all but the modest fee. It's clearly a testament to the power of good people supporting a good idea!

Foamflower.

I asked my husband if he'd want to give it a try. He picked Cascadia State Park, between Sweet Home, OR and the Willamette National Forest. It was already completely booked, but I asked to be on the waitlist anyway. The reservationist expressed doubt- we would be seventh on the list. But I have learned that it can never hurt to ask to be on a waitlist. It's amazing how urban families with small children often must change plans, especially the longer ahead of time the plans are made. We were contacted on a Thursday that spots had opened up for camping the following Friday and Saturday nights! That was definitely a welcome piece of news. Since we didn't get the message until late Thursday afternoon, and we had plans for most of Friday, it caused quite a scramble. But it was worth it.

We loved Cascadia. We camped on a ridge above the South Santiam River, which filled our nights with the music of its waters. We took a ranger lead hike to Soda Creek Falls, which was lovely. We listened to the birds singing in the dusk and greeting the first light of dawn. We saw shooting stars from the skylight of our tent.

We did not participate much in the group activities. The ranger lead hike was kind of a disaster, actually. Have you ever been on a nature hike and had it begin with the ranger turning on an amplifier and microphone? That was a new one on me. Her talk was very extra cutesy-wootsy. She actually anthropomorphized ferns, for goodness sake, and threw in some serious gender stereotypes in describing lady ferns and sword ferns that actually made me wince. It was only 3/4 of a mile to the falls, but we moved soooo slooowly that by the time we got there, many of the kids were noticeably tired and cranky. On the way, my husband and I were trying to figure out how to politely wander off. So when we stopped and Jasper attempted to move slightly ahead on the trail, we thought we might move ahead with him in the guise of keeping an eye on him. No such luck. That ranger must have played some serious basketball, or something, because she could block like nobody's business.

South Santiam River.

We loved our destination, the Soda Creek Falls, and just stayed there and let the group leave us behind so we could return on our own. Later they had games and crafts for kids, but it's always hard for me to suggest my son take part in those kinds of things when forest and river are beckoning for exploration. We spent much of our Saturday afternoon at the river. The riverbed is quite striking- you can see that long ago it was once one thick, oozing sheet of lava. I'm not at all used to going to a natural area and staying put, but this has some delightful advantages. We watched some small, graceful birds flitting about in the air, and after much observation realized they were eating bugs which were almost invisible to us. We watched several large raptors passing through and occasionally alighting. We watched the dances of tiny fish that found their way into small pools in the riverbed. Jasper darted around, taking in everything and looking for wonders in the water. After many hours, he still hated to be dragged away to dinner. The river was more tempting than the promise of s'mores.