Camped overnight in Champoeg SP and went exploring on foot this morning. Walked the whole park for a total of about 7 or 8 miles. There are nature trails, bike paths and some road walks. There is the old abandoned town of Champoeg which was destroyed by floods in 1861 and again in 1892 and subsequently abandoned. There is a very small cemetery with the grave of the daughter of a pioneer Trapper and his Nez Perce wife. They also have a small museum which was under destruction when I was there, a gift shop and a Kitchen Garden which is said to duplicate the typical kitchen garden of the mid 1800’s.
There is also a barn on site that has been restored to look as it did when it was built in 1862. During the restoration process, they discovered that much of the material used in the construction was not ‘new’ or original to the barn, but most likely salvaged material from s pre-flood barn, which they state that this makes it the oldest still standing building in Oregon. The old farmhouse is gone, but the staff at the SP have built a kitchen garden with much of the same kind of produce that would have been used 150 years ago.
No pictures today as it was quite rainy and threatening all day. Since I was on foot I did not want to take the chance of getting my camera equipment soaking wet. (pictures taken the next day)
Got some good news today. The parts needed to hook the Durango to the RV have finally arrived. The RV dealer expects to have it ready tomorrow afternoon. So I will spend the night here at the SP again, walk to one more historic site in the morning, then head out around noon to grab some lunch and work my way down to Salem to pick up my Durango and head north to continue my grand adventure.
Views of the Kitchen Garden at Champoeg SP