The various Santiam Rivers were our exploration target for today. We left Blue Ox RV in Albany, turned left and headed east on OR-20 toward Lebanon. We passed through Sweet Home and towns with other pithy names as we continued into the South Santiam River watershed. Above Sweet Home, OR-20 get skinnier and more serpentine. There are very few trucks using this route over the Cascade Mountains, probably because the road would be terrifying in anything larger than our pickup truck due to numerous hairpin and 20 mph curves. To compensate for the squirrely road, the scenery as the road goes toward the pass is beautiful. The maple trees, providing shady canopies covering the highway, are clothed in thick layers of moss. Roadside waterfalls decorate the bluffs along the route. The River cascades west through rocky gorges. There are stands of old-growth timber. It is gorgeous.
Our Garmin became quite confused as we went further east up the Santiam Highway. Either the tall roadside trees and serpentine road blocked the device from communicating with satellites or our old GPS system is failing. Once we made it to the top of Tombstone Pass at 4236′, our normally-accurate Garmin indicated we were at an elevation of 3526′, a substantial difference. Either the Garmin or the guys who made the sign at the summit are assuredly gunnybag.
Once we started down the descent on the other side of the pass, we drove through big expanses of crumbled lava with a great view of Three-Fingered Jack, a strangely-named mountain east of us. We passed over the ridge between the two Santiam Rivers and followed OR-22 down into the watershed of the North Santiam River. This branch of the river has been dammed in a couple spots, forming gorgeous blue reservoirs. We passed through towns with strange names like Idanha and Minto before emerging back into the gently rolling hills and flat pasture lands of the Willamette Valley. Near the town of Sublimity, we turned north toward Silverton.
Silverton is a very attractive little burg with handsome older wood-framed residences. A lot of Craftsman style architecture here. Also here is one of Peggy’s nieces, Michelle, and we stopped by her place for a short visit. She has a nice place on the edge of town and was nice enough to take us on a driving tour of her pretty town after dinner. The number of truly gorgeous houses here is amazing. There must have been some affluent folks here back in the day because they sure built nice houses. The downtown is quaint, a river flows right behind the businesses on the main drag and the food we bought here was tasty. I would like to return to this part of the world again sometime.
Check out the scenery along the way. Click here