May 14 – 28, 2023
Southern Oregon RV Park
11 Peninger Road
Central Point, OR 97502
2 Weeks in Ashland. What’s standing out?
Well, strictly speaking we stayed in Central Point, which is North of Medford, which is North of Phoenix, which is North of Talent, which is North of Ashland. But who cares. Ashland is famous. So, practically speaking, we stayed in Ashland!
Land for Sale!
We found a piece of land that we fell in love with! So beautiful! Rural enough yet just a few minutes out of town. 10 rolling acres on a gentle slope with grassland and some trees. A little ditch. You barely even see your neighbors.
And after a little bit of research, we let it go. Too many constraints and not being able to do with it what we want to do with it. This would be a permanent and all-year-round undertaking. It would suck up our time, energy, and money. Not ready for that. Not yet. Not in Oregon.
Ashland and Surroundings
Ashland is pretty cool. It has a nice downtown with stores and restaurants. The Shakespeare Festival is the big thing here. Good parks. Nice trails. Fewer homeless people than Medford and other places nearby, but still noticeable. It’s hilly! It has a 24% road. Steep and narrow dirt roads in the woods that scare JJ. Lots of forest on the Southwest side. Fires???
Emigrant Lake is worth visiting. Nice campgrounds there. The lake did not have nearly as much water last year, people say.
Pacifica Gardens. This is a little refuge to the West. Ponds, trails, botanical gardens (Oregon style), lots of Madrone trees, rescued horses for adoption, etc. We drove through some interesting farmland on the way out.
McLoughlin mountain is just 40 miles to the East. You see it from so many places. And it is beautiful! Snow-covered.
Where else did we go?
Crater Lake! Still mostly snowed in. Campground still closed. Definitely worth seeing, though. And the drive there and back was beautiful too. Stopped at the Rogue River Gorge and walked the loop trail. What a nice surprise!
The Lodge at Crater Lake looks interesting. Maybe staying there for a night sometime?
Klamath Falls and Klamath Lake. The West site is beautiful. A little RV “resort” off the beaten path. Good boating and fishing there. Restaurant with a nice porch, overlooking the water. They add the view to the price of the food.
The wildlife refuge was unreachable by truck. Is it just for kayaks?
Weather
Ouch. Have I ever sneezed as many times elsewhere? How many times did I complain that it’s too humid? All those red, itchy eyes! Thank god my eyedrops still work. Did we just visit at the wrong time of the year?
The RV Park
It’s a county park. Not exactly cheap but very clean and well maintained. Spacious. Would we come back? Absolutely! JJ says it’s one of the best parks we have stayed at.
It also has a bike trail that extends all the way to Ashland and maybe even beyond. And a little bit to the North from the park. Unfortunately, approaching Medford is uncomfortable. Lots of homeless camps there, including a “tent city” near Campingworld. We turned around before we could reach Medford and never went back.
The park is not gated and visitors come here to fish in the ponds. Despite all that, it feels reasonably safe.