"The lure of the open road never goes out of style."
"If a friendship lasts longer than seven years,
psychologists say it will last a lifetime."
One of my early ideas when I created my Updated Bucket List for YEAR 77 was to select a few "long-distance friends" and arrange a Harley ride to visit them. My good friends Dennie & Alison Christensen are serving an LDS Mission in Monroe, Oregon managing Camp Alpine. I always enjoy a long Harley ride, so I decided to ride to Monroe to visit them. I know they are truly enjoying themselves in Oregon - between what I show from my visit with them, and a memo written by Dennie that I have reproduced at the end, you can get a feel for what their life is like during their 18-month assignment.
NOTE: I apologize for the length of this blog. As a famous writer once said, "I didn't have time to make it shorter."
The Trip: It's a long trip to Camp Alpine (round-trip from Monrovia was 1,900 miles) but I enjoy a long motorcycle ride and it was great to visit Dennie & Alison. Dennie and I were relatively close to Monroe when we went on the 2015 Summer Scooter Ride, except we rode up California's beautiful Coast Highway, into Oregon as far as Diamond Lake; a great ride with wonderful scenery. However, I wanted to make a fast trip to Monroe so I decided to stay on I-5 North all the way to the California/Oregon border and on to Eugene, Oregon. From Eugene it's just 22 miles off the freeway to Monroe and about 8 more miles to Camp Alpine. I left home early on Sunday morning, September 24 and rode to Red Bluff where I spent the night, riding on to Monroe and Camp Alpine the next day. The early miles along I-5 , particularly from about Grapevine to Sacramento, are just flat agricultural crop land and can get boring after a while . But the mountainous areas after Red Bluff, particularly through the Lake Shasta Recreational area and beyond toward Eugene, are just breathtakingly beautiful. I left on Wednesday to return home and spent the first night in Red Bluff, then decided to take an alternate route from there for different scenery and to spend an extra day to avoid such a long ride on the last day. I went onto Highway 99 at Sacramento, riding through Fresno to Bakersfield where I spent the night, and then on to Monrovia on Friday morning. It was a long trip for a such a short visit, but definitely worth the effort.
The photo below shows the route on I-5 from Monrovia to Eugene, Oregon.
The photo below shows the route from Eugene to the city of Monroe (population of 680) and on to Camp Alpine (permanent population of 4, but as many as 200 during many weeks in the summer high season when all the young women are there camping).
Monday, September 25: I arrived at Camp Alpine early afternoon after a six-hour ride from Red Bluff. I wish I had the words to describe the gorgeous landscape and wonderful atmosphere at Camp Alpine. It is isolated, but without the feeling of being lonely; i.e. there are neighbors nearby, their companion couple, Randy & Linda Olsen, live next door, Dennie & Al have a very nice, fully-furnished home with all the conveniences you would want (including a nice extra bedroom and bathroom for guests like me), and of course the town of Monroe is nearby. I have tried to include some photos that show the beautiful area within the 170 acre camp, but as always, photos just don't do it justice.
That evening Dennie showed me around the town of Monroe (it didn't take long) and then he and I had a nice dinner at the Longbranch Bar & Grill (Alison was finishing up some paperwork and then going for a walk). After dinner the three of us watched a little of the Dallas Cowboys/Arizona Cardinals football game and had a good "catch-up visit." A quick note about their kids: Lacy & Scott are living in College Station in Texas. Scott is teaching at Texas A&M and working on his PHD in accounting. Tyler & Kimberlee are living in Barrangquilla, Colombia. Tyler is a project manager on a construction site building a Mormon Temple. They will be transferring to Salt Lake City in December of this year to open an office there for his company. Tessa & Sterling are living in Salt Lake. Tesa works at the LDS Business College and is also working on her Masters using an USU online graduate degree program, and Sterling is working for Fidelity Investments. Chad & Morgan are living and maintaining Dennie & Alison's home in Riverside. Chad has a degree in para-medicine and is working on the various certificates required for him to work as a paramedic. In the meantime he is working for the Southern California company called "Got Junk?"
Below, Dennie & Alison and I are at the main Camp Alpine sign as you enter the camp, next Dennie & Alison are shown relaxing in the yard in front of their home, and then Randy & Linda are shown on the porch of their trailer accommodations next door. I must say that in the short time I was at camp it was clear that these four people work very hard and are very conscientious. They have opportunities to relax, but they take their work very seriously.
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Tuesday, September 26: Dennie took me on a 3 1/2 mile walk around the camp property. I've included a map below that gives some idea of the extensive area, camp sites, facilities, and trails on the property. We walked many of the trails and I tried to take some photos to illustrate the camp facilities.
The atmosphere for a morning walk around Camp Alpine is wonderful - very quiet, except for a few birds and squirrels, and full of beautiful ferns, trees, and even the moss on the trees is impressive. Periodically there are benches to rest (and contemplate? or meditate?) and enjoy the atmosphere. Toward the end of our walk we came to "Girls Rock" which has a double meaning and I dedicate this photo to my girls.
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Later that morning Dennie had made a tour appointment at Hull-Oakes Lumber Company, a local saw mill. This saw mill began operations in 1937 and is the last saw mill to have operated fully under steam power. Because of the steam power being unique, we were excited to go on the tour. The tour was fun, and informative, but it turned out that they went to electric power three years ago. Don Wagner was our tour guide and he told us that there were 60 employees in 1937 and there are 60 employees today, that the company has no debt, that all equipment on the property today has been purchased at closing saw mill auctions, and there are no computers on site (essentially that was correct, but there was one computer operating the huge saw that makes initial cuts on the logs). It turns out that the company is unique in a different way than we had thought; i.e. they have no lumber on the shelf for sale - everything is special order for a specific customer and no other saw mill makes these cuts. It was a fun and interesting tour. I've included a couple of photos below. The last photo is an 85-foot table at a local picnic area. The plaque says "This 85 foot table was cut from a 422 year old Douglas Fir by Hull-Oakes Lumber in 1986." You can't tell, but that's Dennie & Alison standing at the end of the table.
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During the afternoon Dennie and I took a tour of the Camp facilities. The whole layout is impressive I can imagine there is a lot of activity during the summer high season. There are many additional activity sites that I'm not showing here. Photos below from the left: 1st row - Archery Range, next two are the outside and inside of a meeting hall which includes a full professional kitchen. 2nd row - The Amphitheater, next two are the "pond" where the girls can swim and canoe, or use a Zip Line that runs from one side to the other - the girls drop off into the pond whenever they want. Not shown are two Confidence Courses, that have many well thought-out obstacles. I couldn't get a good photo, but they are very impressive. They are geared to group rather than individual participation and designed to build confidence and team unity.
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On Tuesday evening the three of us went into Monroe for dinner and Dennie's weekly jam session with some of the local musicians. We ate at Benny's Pizza Joint and listened to music at the Community Center. A fun evening.
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A Little Background: Camp Alpine is a camp to be used by the young women belonging to the Mormon Church in nearby localities. The young women come in groups, with a leader from the Church, and a nurse and a life guard, and spend a week at the camp. There could be as many as 50 different groups at the camp at one time during the high season. They bring their own camping equipment, food and supplies. Dennie & Alison, along with another married couple, maintain the camp facilities and generate a weekly report to the camp Directors covering their activities; i.e. accomplishments, upcoming plans, and photos where helpful. Dennie says the only predictable activity is mowing. They have huge grass meadows that require mowing every week or so during the summer, and using riding mowers, all four of them mow. I've reviewed one of their weekly reports and I can tell you they are very busy. See the photos below:
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I must say, however, Dennie seems to have the ability to still have some recreation. The first photo shows Dennie at a beautiful waterfall while he and Alison were out for a walk, and the second one also shows off the impressive scenery when he is out for a bike ride.
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Dennie prepared an excellent letter summarizing the nature of Camp Alpine and he and Alison's activities and responsibilities. I have reproduced the letter below for your interest:
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August 3, 2017
Hi All ~
Now that we’ve been at Camp Alpine for nearly 4 months, I thought I’d provide an update to friends on how and what we’re doing. As an overview, Camp Alpine is an LDS owned recreational camp near Monroe, Oregon. Monroe is located about 30 miles inland from the central Oregon coast, approximately halfway between Corvallis to the north, and Eugene to the south.
Camp Alpine is used for Stake Girls Camps in weekly blocks each year from mid-June to late August. During the rest of the year the camp is used by Scouts, various youth groups, Ward and Stake groups, and for family camping. There are two senior couples that live and serve at the camp on a rotating schedule. The other couple leaves at the end of August and will be replaced by a new couple. We were asked if we could be here for two full Girls Camp seasons, so are planning to stay through the fall of 2018.
The camp is situated on 137 acres, and contains over 20 individual campsites, five (5) miles of hiking trails, a small lake with canoes, several obstacle/confidence courses, three zip lines – including one that drops into the lake, an archery range, and an outside amphitheater. Structures include a large meeting/dining hall with a commercial kitchen, a bunkhouse for winter camping, a house (2 bedroom + office) where we live, and a travel trailer RV where the other senior missionary couple resides. It’s hard to describe how beautiful it is here with the camp nestled in a heavily wooded forest.
Monroe (pop 680) is about six miles from camp. Among a few other things, Monroe has a convenience store, a very nice public library, Monroe High School (with a pretty good baseball team), and Benny’s Pizza Joint (excellent pizza). The nearest gas station is in Junction City, about 15 miles south of Monroe, which is where we attend church (Junction City Ward). We travel to Portland (approximately 2 hours each way) to attend the temple and do some shopping/sight-seeing at least once each month.
Although each day can be quite different, a typical day includes an early morning walk, an hour or so on administrative matters in the office (correspondence, reports, reservations, etc.), lunch, then outside work (mowing, trimming, clearing trails of overgrowth and fallen trees, equipment maintenance, general repairs, painting, etc.). Our role changes significantly when Girls Camp is taking place. We spend much less time with routine maintenance work, and shift to more of a “host” role. We selectively participate in the YW programs, activities, skits, devotionals, etc. The young women, adult leaders and cooks have been planning their stay for many months and are so excited to be here. Their enthusiasm is contagious!! We are also invited to join them in their meals, which is wonderful. I’m not accustomed to eating three meals a day, but I’m trying to adjust!! The girls are up by 7am, and go strong all day. We frequently can hear them singing and laughing until 11pm, and beyond.
A highlight for me is the weekly acoustic jam session/sing-a-long at the Alpine Community Center (Alpine is a small unincorporated area a few miles from our camp with one business – a very popular tavern!). The weekly jam typically has anywhere from 8 to 16 local musicians who play and sing traditional folk and bluegrass songs for several hours. Alison and I attend with the other senior missionary couple – he plays guitar, she plays violin and mandolin, and I play acoustic guitar. Other regulars that attend play guitars, banjo, mandolins, violins/fiddles, concertina, and stand-up bass (played by 12-year-old Jerome). We go around the circle and call out songs and the group plays and sings. I’ve learned a lot of traditional folk and bluegrass songs, as well as contributing some of my favorites. It’s a blast!!
We're looking forward to a visit from Ron Hadfield in September, and would welcome any of you for a visit if you find yourself in this part of the country.
For additional photos and information about Camp Alpine, go to the following link: campalpine.blogspot.com.
All the best,
Dennie