Well. It’s been a whirlwind few days. We made our way into Willamette National Forest, and were immediately smacked upside the head with the moody, cloudy, foggy Oregon forest goodness.
We even popped up above the clouds for a good portion of our first leg into the 1.7 million acre National Park.
Willamette National Forest is incredible, and we’ve only explored a tiny, tiny bit of it. We lucked into an incredible, quiet creekside campsite within Willamette called House Rock.
We got the last site in the campground and somehow, it may have been the best one there.
We had a very relaxing afternoon, did some reading in the hammock, and then headed out to explore a nearby waterfall.
A short 15 minute walk up the creek was a gorgeous little waterfall. Still unsure of it’s name.
About as soon as we wrapped up the last photo we wanted to make (a token waterfall selfie), the skies OPENED UP and we quickly donned jackets and threw cameras in pelican cases.
We managed to wait out the storm, cook dinner, and set out the next morning into Bend, with the intention of heading to Ruffwear World HQ and rallying with a very good, very old friend of mine who’s also roadtripping right now.
Thrilled to have our very first #handstandsdownthecoast guest appearance by none other than Dan Duerden! We met up at Crux Fermentation Project for some incredible (mostly overproof) beer, long overdue catch-ups, and awesome food.
Next up was a stop at Ruffwear World Headquarters. We LOVE, LOVE Ruffwear products, and just about everything Avery owns is Ruffwear. We had an incredible chat with some of the folks there, left with stuff for friends, many stickers, demo products, and a new jacket for the dog, which was long overdue. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality, Ruffwear!
After Ruffwear, we headed up, and then back down one of the gnarliest driving roads I’ve ever been on in search of WATERFALLS!
So this is Proxy Falls. (and that’s Dan). Wow, hey?
We spent a few hours shooting in and around, jumping logs and leaping rock to rock.
Dan may or may not have brought some local beers up to the falls.
Overall, we were just floored by Proxy, and so glad to have taken the time to get there.
It was quite literally all downhill from there. We ran out of light, could not find a place to stay, and were starving. We thought a local bewhouse in Bend that was open late would be a good stop for food. Nope. Pretty much a dive bar with very loud music and very medicore food. Dan and Tracy were a little. . .Unsure?
After many unsuccessful attempts to find a campsite, motel, hostel, or anything due to 5000 QUILTERS ATTENDING A QUILTING FESTIVAL (?!?!), we gave up and hit Walmart to crash around 12:30am. Not ideal by any means, but we all got a few hours of sleep.
Dan set off for other objectives upstate, and we’re headed to Crater Lake today, in desperate need of a shower, laundry, and a restful nights sleep.
Until next time 
-Rod