Halloween Road Trip

"I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude."

Henry David Thoreau 

Halloween weekend, while the heavy rains rolled into Portland, Cole and I hopped into my car, not-so-bright and early on Saturday morning, and headed toward sunny eastern Oregon.  We drove on I-84 through the Gorge, along the Columbia River all the way to Pendleton. After a quick stop to refuel, we continued east, on Highway's 11, 204 and then 82, through Enterprise and then into Joseph where I stopped to get photos of the beautiful Wallowa Mountains and also some friendly horses too. From Joseph, we took Highway 350 east and drove the Hell's Canyon Scenic Loop, stopping at the Hell's Canyon Overlook -- where I experienced the quietest view of a canyon ever, before driving Highway 86 to Baker City where we stopped for the night.

In the morning, after a good night of sleep and an hour added to the clock, we were back on the road, headed west, on Highway 7. We stopped at the Mason Reservoir, then the City of Sumpter to see a gold drudging machine, and then a covered wagon at an overlook in Prairie City, before visiting the Morse Gulch Overlook and John Day Fossil beds area off of Highway 26. As we entered the Mt. Hood National Forest, the sky became cloudy and as we got closer to Portland, the light rain turned a bit heavier.

It was an amazing 800 mile trip. I took about 1,300 photos and enjoyed the open road and solitude with only Cole as my co-pilot and my iPod belting out some good tunes.  On this trip, there were no detailed plans.  The only real major landmark I had planned to stop at was Hells' Canyon, the rest was up in the air.  It was wonderful to decompress from the work week and relax, to be alone with my thoughts and just see where the road took us, which was to some very beautiful places, all made better because they were all surprises.

I've taken many solo road trips, both short and long, and have always enjoyed my time. I thought a good travel buddy always made a trip better but I seemed to have an epiphany on this trip: I really do enjoy my own company and besides Cole, I might just be my own best travel buddy. Traveling alone allows me the time to truly be alone, adventure without anyone's help and allows me to completely rely on myself.  It gives me the freedom to really explore and just follow my intuition.  Best of all, it seems to fill my soul and who could really ask for anything more than that?

For a musical and visual snippet of my Eastern Oregon road trip, check out this video!

To view more of my photography from my nature-adventures, visit:

Kristin Roosmalen Photography on Zenfolio
or

Kristin Roosmalen Photography on Flickr