Spooky Oregon Travelogue: Days 1-3

Follow S.E. Schlosser's trip to Oregon in search of ghost stories, supernatural tales, and of course, Bigfoot! The author takes you day by day through a typical research trip as she discovers the supernatural side of Oregon, in preparation for the writing and publication of the 15th book in the Spooky Series: Spooky Oregon, coming in September 2009.

Day One

Mount Hood, as seen from Portland, Oregon.
Photo credit: S.E. Schlosser, copyright 2008.

Landed OK in Oregon. Flew right into the sunset over Mount Hood - all pinks and yellows and oranges staining the faces of the passengers with window seats. Hard to imagine how huge the Cascades are, until you look out a window at 20,000 feet and see a mountain that looks huge even from that height! Amazing!!

The Hampton Inn was quite nice. Only a 5 minute drive from the airport, and that included getting stuck on the wrong side of the highway and having to turn around!! For some reason, they put me into a smoking room, but since no one had smoked in there for ages and it didn't smell wrong, I didn't bother changing it. Too tired the first night to even notice!!

The author smelling a rose in the test garden.
Photo credit: S.E. Schlosser, copyright 2008.

I overdid it on Saturday -- I always do the first day. Went to Portland's International Rose Test Garden and met a lovely couple from Texas who are also into photography. Then I went on to explore the lovely Japanese Garden and in the afternoon went on a 3-hour walking tour called Underground Portland. By the end of the afternoon, I had identified a possible story for the book -- Bunko Kelly and the Funeral Parlor.

Next I went to the big camera store they have downtown. Very cool. By 5 o'clock I was beat after walking around all day! I got a nice steak dinner and then fell asleep by 8:30 pm. Part exhaustion from the day and part jet lag!

Day Two

Zebra at the Oregon Zoo.
Photo credit: S.E. Schlosser, copyright 2008.

It was rainy on Sunday, so as soon as I got to the Oregon Zoo, I bought two umbrellas -- large and small, since Mom and Dad might not have one (they will be joining me for the second week) -- and also a dorky-looking purple rain slicker, which saved my clothes and helped keep me warm. It was a great zoo, and I took some fun pictures. But since it was raining I didn't take enough time to sit down and rest, and sure was worn out by the time I left at one p.m.!

I grabbed lunch at a Quiznos on the way to Oregon City, and spent the afternoon browsing through the McLoughlin House, which belonged to the founder of the city and is reputedly haunted by his ghost, and then wandered over to the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center to read about the settlers in the Willamette Valley and their struggles to get to Oregon City. One

The reputedly-haunted McLoughlin House.
Photo credit: S.E. Schlosser, copyright 2008.

African-American woman was smuggled to Oregon in a box, since ex-slaves weren't allowed on the journey! She slept in the box all day, and stretched herself at nighttime. Stayed with the family for years after their arrival. Another fellow promised his son that the son could lead the wagon-train, but the son died four days before they left. So the man packed the coffin -- filled with whiskey or some alcoholic beverage -- and brought his dead son along to Oregon, pickled!! Got so famous along the way that even the local Native Americans wanted to see the pickled corpse! Weird stuff!

The Hilton was a magnificent hotel. I was so tired I just got room service and then soaked in the hot tub. I am not used to so much walking!

Day Three

Covered bridge, MacKenzie River highway.
Photo credit: S.E. Schlosser, copyright 2008.

I got up early and worked on Spooky Texas first pages, and was startled when room service brought breakfast. I figured it would be faster to order room service than to try to find breakfast after checking out and before hitting the archive.

The directions to the University of Oregon were great, and I parked right outside the PLC building. A nice lady named Cathy helped me find the archive itself, and Casey -- a charming folklore Masters student and the Archivist for the collection -- was already there. He spent the whole time digging out file after file of the old student papers for me, many of the stories previously unpublished. Then he photocopied the whole kit and kaboodle of stories I wanted for my files, and helped me write the citations on each and every one of the photocopies! All the while we talked "shop", since it turns out his Masters thesis is also on supernatural folklore, focusing in on Wild Men. I also met another folklore student while there who was specializing in Saint Nicholas stories, of which I know many. We also traded tales!

After I finished at the archive at quarter to three, I grabbed some fast food at McDonalds and headed out route 126 through the Cascade Mountains to Bend. I had heard that the MacKenzie River highway was spectacular, but it was even better than you can imagine! Vista upon vista, always going gradually up through the mountains, following the white water river.

Sahalie Falls in Bigfoot country.
Photo credit: S.E. Schlosser, copyright 2008.

Through lovely small towns, meadows, farms surrounded by white picket fences, orchards, covered bridges. Everything so green, with huge mountains framing them, and occasional glimpses of snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Then I was up in the mountains, in the Willamette National Forest -- which is surely the forest primeval! The pines were so tall and so thick you sometimes couldn't even see through the trees into the forest itself. Moss was draped everywhere, and the trees were massive. Could have been mistaken for giant sequoias anywhere else. The scenic (ha! How could it be more scenic than where I was?) Route 242 over McKenzie Pass was closed due to snow, so I went around through more of the forest.

As I got closer to the top of the Cascades, I started seeing the snow in the woods around me, and near the top I stopped by the absolutely massive waterfall called Sahalie Falls. The churning water was as aqua as a Carribean sea! I walked partway down toward the lower falls, but the path was blocked by the glacier, and I couldn't tell where it went under the snow. Didn't want to get lost, so I headed back up the path. I kept expecting Bigfoot to come wandering down the path toward me at any moment. It was that kind of place. Of course, I would choose that moment to remember the Oregonian folktale about Bigfoot attacking a hunting camp two men had set up deep in the mountains. When they didn't take warning and leave, one of the men was killed. Hmm. What was that noise I just heard over the thunder of the waterfall?!?

I kept going up and up in the car, and passed fields full of lava rocks with some stunted pines among them. Surreal! I kept stopping at lookout points to take photos of the surrounding mountain peaks with their massive snow-fields. As if a photo could tell the story!! Then I was among burnt trees, and read at the Mount Washington lookout about the massive forest fire of 2003 that had burnt the whole area. Amazing to see how fast it was coming back. The wind howled around me as I took pictures, and there was a kind of spitting rain, but I didn't care. It was glorious!

The rain went away as I passed the peak of the Cascades and went down toward the wild, desert highlands on the far side. Lots of sage brush and desert plants -- greener than Texas, but with the same wild west feeling. There were still massive pines, but none so tall as those on the western side of the Cascades. And then horses and ranches and large farm fields started appearing around me as I came first into Sisters (looks like a fantastic place to vacation!) and then Bend (ditto!)

By this time I was tired and needed a break, so I drove right to the hotel. Hmm. Not what I expected at all. The web site did not tell the truth. (It is sometimes impossible to tell about a place until you get there!!) It was way out of town, and was right out of psycho! I was the only registered guest in this place way out

The middle-of-nowhere! View from the spooky hotel
outside Bend. Photo: S.E. Schlosser, copyright 2008.

in the scrub brush, with a strange looking proprietor who made me pre-pay the room. Glad I did too, cause one look at the dark-paneled, musty smelling place made up my mind for me. I wasn't staying there!! If anyplace should have been haunted, it was that motel. Spooky doesn't begin to describe it!!

I hightailed it back to town, secure in the fact that it was prepaid so they wouldn't come after me -- with or without a knife!! -- and found a Marriot Town suites with lots of happy guests. I settled into a gorgeous suite that felt like home, washed my clothes in the guest laundry facilities, and ate at a lovely Microbrewery/restaurant across the street. Perhaps not as interesting a story as the psycho motel, but I felt a lot safer and slept better! Frankly, I was too freaked out by the place to even return long enough to turn in my room key. I'll have to mail it back to them (in an envelope without a return address!)

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