heatherpowersmoves

Jul 24, 20216 min read

Road trip Chronicles 2020 - Day 1

Updated: Aug 1, 2021

Portland, OR -> Ashland, OR (Approx. 5 hours of driving)

Destination: Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

Unceded land of: Takelmans, Athapaskans & Shastans (the Rogue River Tribes), and Klamath[i]

Stayed: Hyatt Lake Recreation Area Campground

How the trip began:

Initially taking that first step into my journey was not an easy step to take. I felt all sorts of resistance coming from fear, doubt, the unknown, but mostly sadness and grief of closing one part of my life and stepping into another.

I spent a great deal of the first leg of my journey crying. I really let it out, there may have also been some cathartic screaming. I am a firm believer that if you hold in intense emotions, it will stay trapped in your body blocking you from healing and moving on.

I chose to go to graduate school to reach for yet another goal that I had had for a long time, to help others the way I had been helped. Becoming a therapist has been something I have known I wanted to do since I was 16 years old. I put it off for my dancing. And the time had come to find a way to incorporate my dance into my original dream of being a therapist.

However, it was bittersweet for me as I was leaving a place I loved so much. I had to move on to the next chapter in an undeniably epic way. Thus, we have what became a solo 24-day road trip odyssey.

Getting there:

I had never been this far south in Oregon. It was captivating to see the mountain landscapes matched with a desert flair.

The road in to where I was staying was breathtaking. I was on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, a route that apparently is 500 miles that brings you from volcano to volcano (Mount Lassen & Mount Shasta to Crater Lake). A trip that I, for sure, will be returning to explore more.

Finding a place to stay:

My first night, I intended to have my first ever dispersed camp site experience (for more information on what that is, check out this blog entry). I was nervous and as previously shared, in high emotional state. All I had were coordinates that I found on the site freecampsites. It was titled Hyatt Lake Prairie. But it turned out the coordinates were not accurate, and I ended up not being able locate where the site was.

(*Note: I double checked the website, the coordinates have now been correctly updated.)

Because of COVID, the informational booth was more of small, open to the public, cabin that had maps on the wall and a random shirtless barefoot dude sleeping on the floor while his phone charged at an available outlet. There were no trail maps, or anyone present to give me the skinny on how to find this elusive free BLM (Bureau of land management) land I could camp on.

But, there was a campground on Hyatt Lake that was roughly the same area as my destination, so I decided to venture in. On my way in, I noticed a bright and obvious sign that said, full and no first come/first serve sites. Most campgrounds have sites that are set aside for biker/backpacker walk ups and cannot be reserved. Bizarrely, this campground did not have this available. This put me in quite a pickle. I didn’t know what to do.

I drove into the campground and I went to where I saw a ‘HOST’ sign. These are folks that usually live in RV on the site and maintain the grounds and bathrooms, as well as sell you wood, water, etc. They usually have signs that say ‘OFF’ or ‘ON’ duty. This one said on duty. So, as I walked up, I said a few loud Hellos with no response. I ended up knocking on the RV’s door.

Now, I should mention, I am an individual who has chronic high anxiety. I was freaking out internally through all this. I thrive on plans and I wasn’t prepared to have my plans fall through on my first day of a trip that I was already extremely nervous about.

Finally, an older man came to the door looking dreary. I woke him up from a nap – apparently, he was OFF duty.

I let him know that I was driving through looking for a dispersed site and I couldn’t seem to locate it.

He gave me a look of dismay and said “Sure, there’s dispersed camping, but it’s way out there and there’s no water”.

I must have triggered his inner role as a father because he then went on to share that he has four daughters and he knows what it means to be a young woman and he just couldn’t see me fending for myself in the woods.

Little did he know that his assumption of me couldn’t be further from the frail idea he held about women. Instead of getting offended and telling him so, I took this opportunity to take advantage of his patriarchal notions and I said to him, “Well, I don’t have anywhere else to stay and I saw that you don’t have any first come/first serve sites available” I exuded helplessness quite easily since my face was already puffy from crying my whole ride there.

Lo and behold, he checked his clipboard of reservations and there was an instance of someone showing up to tent site reservation with a trailer that could not fit. Lucky for me that meant that he was relocated to an improvised site by Hyatt Lake and his original tent site was free for me for the night. Well, not free, but available, it cost me $15 cash.

It’s important to note that if you are doing a first come/first serve type site, you have to, absolutely have to have cash on you. There is no other option.

To be honest, it was quite a relief to have sanctioned space with more amenities. While I would have been fine roughin’ it, I am glad I had access to a site, a bathroom and a place to park my car.

Exploration of Hyatt Lake:

The lake was conveniently attached to the campground area, and it was a less than a 5-minute walk to the area. When I first arrived, I had also asked about swimming – apparently the tide was so low that swimming was not available. The camp host said it was likely I would get a rash (Swimmer's rash) if I tried to go in.

As I walked, I found myself mesmerized by the beauty of what I was taking in. I felt like every flower, every shell, every tree was the most captivating thing. I was beginning to really sink into the moment and fully appreciate the gift of nature and how deeply I felt connected to the earth just being there at this pivotal time in my life.

Click arrow to see more photos of the landscape!

My absolute favorite thing to do when I'm in nature is wake up just as the sun is rising and explore. There is something magical about the world as it transitions from night to day where the in between is a moment filled with possibility.

So at 5AM, I found myself the only person on the shore of this breathtaking landscape and tears welling up, because it felt like such a harmonious gift to find this outer peace and inner peace all at the same time. To just breathe, to just be.

I watched the morning mist roll over the water as ducks began to soar through the air making gentle quacking sounds as the crickets released their hold on the world.

I decided to celebrate this moment of bliss with a moving meditation. I faced the scenery that made my heart ache, I loved it so much. I gave in to what my body was telling me it needed as I found myself embedding into the nature around me. Realizing that separateness is what holds me back and embracing this pull to become a part of is where I find true pockets of happiness.

This was also an epic ritual of goodbye, as this was my official last night living in Oregon.

That morning just got better and better as I found a huge tree stump that I was able to do yoga on. I did movement flows that I knew would hopefully release and prevent tension for the days of driving I had ahead.

Doing yoga in nature is as if I am integrating and flowing with the breath of the universe, embedding myself into the fabric of life.

The tranquility that I felt at this place has transcended to be a place that I still find myself, after a year, visualizing when I meditate. It was truly a sense of being at the cusp of where I was and where I was going, my vulnerability and my strength felt held and contained right here in front of what felt like the whole world.

Click arrow below to see more photos of the landscape!