Tuesday: Wiggle with the Weather

When Roy and Anne arrived they brought with them news of a change in the weather. So far we have been in the Great Central Valley, which is basically a desert. Rain arrives usually in sprinkles. Cold is when you need to put long trousers on, in fact one never bothered listening to weather forecasts unless exceptional weather was expected. Now we have driven up to the Weaverville Area, into the Northern section of the Coastal Range of mountains and are remembering that there is something called WEATHER. That weather may well affect our plans to explore the North West. We had sort of taken that into account by leaving this trip so late in the Spring, however Roy and Anne now brought the news that North of us there was weather coming along! For the next week it would be wet  and cold. If bad weather does come along then it will influence decisions about destinations. The closer one is to the coast the wetter it is, but also warmer. Rain falls by inches, but rarely gets below freezing. Inland the mountain range is called the Cascade Mountains. The further East you travel the drier it gets,. But also it also colder, because you are higher, travel is often restricted by road closure due to snow, even in May or June. By the time you are 150 miles inland and over the Cascade Range you are back into High Desert.
Our plan had been to travel the coast for a while then traverse the mountains and explore the Cascades from the High Desert side of the Mountains. However, rainfall predictions suggested that the coast would be very wet and cold. We may also find that snow would prevent us moving across Oregon. So we decided on a game change. We will now move immediately East, round the bottom of the Cascade Mountains, near Mount Shasta,staying in California. Then move North up Route 97 staying to the East of The Cascades until we hit the Columbia River, then move back West to the coast and up into Washington. So tomorrow we drive, with Anne and Roy, about 80 miles North through the mountains to Etna.

View Oregon Plan A in a larger map