Trip to Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area

Had been to the Oregon Dunes National recreational area last weekend. This has been on my to-be-visited places list ever since I read about the adventures a fellow blogger had at those dunes sometime 2 years ago. So, we started from Seattle on Friday evening and stayed at my friend's place in Portland that night. Started our drive on Saturday morning for the destination via the 101 route.


I have heard about how driving on the 101 route is such an amazing experience. I got a first hand experience of the same only last weekend. It was so beautiful, all along and the perfect summer weather we had only made the drive all the more memorable. The first time you get to see the Pacific ocean and drive along it is truly memorable. There are too many beautiful view points along the way. So, if you are driving & have missed a good view point, do not worry. There is another one right around the corner.


But I am digressing her since the trip was all about the ATV ride on the sand dunes and it was the one that I was looking forward to the most. After talking with those who have already done it, one thing was clear - it is not going to be easy and enjoyable. Looks like it is quite easy to fall off the drifts in the dunes and thus the ATV gets toppled very easily. That was one reason why the insurance companies stopped covering these ATV rides. All these only made me apprehensive as we reached the ATV rental place.

At the rental place, there is a brief lesson on the do's and don'ts while riding an ATV. The one thing they tell you as one of the most important points is that while climbing uphill a dune, you should always do it in a straight line bcos otherwise, your vehicle will get stuck in the sand. The next important thing is that there is a lot of illusion in these drifts that you find in the sands. In other words, these sand dunes are more like snow. So, when you climb up a dune, you have to be extra careful to slow down right as you reach the top of the dune bcos the drop from the top can be very steep in some places. The part of this lesson which made us all wary is about the consequences that we have to face if we topple the ATV and damaging the vehicle & the accessories in the process. There were separate charges for each and every minor damage (all this bcos of there being no insurance coverage for these ATVs) and the cost of those repairs were anything between 20$ to 200$.

We took the 1-hour ride option for 45$. From the rental place, the guide leads you to the dunes and as with all these attractions, they take you through a crowded area completely covered with trees and then suddenly you are right into the middle of the dunes. The way you get to encounter the dunes does take you by shock & awe. Whichever way we turned, all we could see was the sand dunes. It was just too good. The guide led us through to the center of the dunes and that is when and where the fun begins. We found out quickly that whatever that was mentioned in the pre-ride lessons were very imperative and helpful. As with everything, we slowly got used to riding the ATV. It was way too fun riding our ATVs up those huge imposing dunes. Some dunes that are so steep and looking at which your first thought would be to skip them, are actually easily climbable. Like with every other adventurous activities that we get to do over here (skiing, rafting, sky diving, etc), the adrenaline rush that we experience during this ride was awesome.




The only downside to this whole experience was that the ATVs got stuck in the sands quite often and that obviously slowed us down. The biggest mistake we did that was in our eagerness to help our friends to get their ATVs out of the sand, we left our own ATVs in an uphill section of the dune from where we ourselves required help to get the ATV out.

Couple of advices if you plan on going there:

• Take the 2 hour ATV ride. Though it costs double the price of an 1-hour ride, it should be worth it. The problem with the 1 hour rides (the ones which we all took) is that you start getting comfortable with the ATV & the dunes & the maneuvering it requires only after 40 mins and by that time, you are hardly left with 5-10mins to enjoy it bcos you have to get ready to go back to the rental place.
• Do not ever stop the ATV while you are climbing uphill.

In the evening, after the individual ATV rides, we took the organized buggy tour ride. The buggy is something like a F1- race car that can seat anywhere between 6-20 people. This is where a professional driver rides the buggy along the dunes and this too was a lot of fun. He was liberally driving at 55 mph but it felt more like 70 mph bcos of the excessive winds. It is like a roller coaster ride only that there is no set path here and he just rides along the slopes of the various dunes. If you are not upto the challenge of the individual ATV ride, this one is the perfect fit for you to experience the dunes. The video below was shot by me as I was holding the camera as we were in the buggy ride.



So, if you are someone who is at a drivable distance of this place, you should give this place a visit. Its worth the drive and the beautiful & scenic 101 drive just makes the whole trip all the more worthier.

Montana - God's Own Country

I know I might get flak for the title of the post from our neighbors across the border. But Montana is one place that has been abundantly blessed by nature that the title of God's own country will be only appropriate. Why this sudden post about Montana? Well, many should have guessed it. A long weekend has just passed by and you are not a desi if you do not undertake some kind of trip. So, to carry on the 'rich' desi traditions, myself along with 2 other friends of mine went to the Glacier National Park in north-west Montana and spent 2 unforgettable days in the close confines of nature. Some of the highlights from the trip:

1) We all should have heard about how sparsely populated Montana is. I have had a first hand experience of the same when I drove through the entire breath of Montana last year en route to Mount Rushmore. And this time around, we were actually venturing into the most remote parts of the state (we were a few miles away from the Canadian border) and as expected, there were hardly people anywhere on the roads. That brings us to this highlight. The roads are so sparsely populated that even on a 2-lane undivided freeway (one lane each way), the speed limit is an unbelievable 70 mph. The maximum I have seen on such similar roads in other states is 50. It was definitely a very memorable experience driving at such high speeds on such roads, which given the mountainous terrain of the area, had a lots of curves and sharp bends. One such road can be seen in one of the pictures below.

2) The trip was marked by one good day followed by one bad day. We had planned to start around 3am on Saturday morning so that we will be at the park at around noon. So, I get up at 2:30 and head straight to check the India Vs Bangladesh score. There it was, another Sachin century. Wow...it felt so good to start the trip and the whole first day went on well, with us doing a decent & tiring hike. But the next day was not to be another good day. The second day was when we had planned to visit the Eastern side of the park and which is where most of the beautiful sights are located. On our way to the eastern entrance, we find this really beautiful scenic view. So, we stop our car to take some pictures. But that is when disaster struck :( We got the 'Battery exhausted' message on my digital camera. Looks like I had not properly charged the battery the previous night and so there was no charge left in the battery. Imagine how helpless we would have felt. The eastern entrance is a good 2 hours drive from where we had booked our cabins. So, we ended up taking pictures on our cell phones. I was saying that we are a disgrace to the entire desi community bcos desis usually carry the best products when it comes to digital cameras and camcorders.

3) The National Parks foundation issues this National park pass which is valid in all the national parks across the nation. I would strongly recommend buying this pass. The pass costs just 50$/ year but the benefits of the same run into hundreds of dollars. Ever since I bought it last October, I have used it 5 times in 4 different national parks and thus I have saved more than 75$ so far. If you are in an area like Seattle where there are so many national parks in driving distance and if you are someone who is into visiting such national parks quite often, then this park pass is a must-buy. Basically, the more you use, the more you save.

4) The park as such was so beautiful. And on top of that, there were not too many visitors to the park, even given the fact that we visited it on a long weekend. I would have said Evvlo azhagaa irukku-la to my friends umpteen number of times that they got tired of myself saying it and asked me to stop it :) Everywhere you stop your vehicle, you will get a gorgeous view of the mountains some of which were still snow clad. There were lakes, hiking trails and scenic falls galore throughout the park. We did couple of moderately tough and immensely satisfying hikes. Also, the name Glacier national park can be very misleading, in the sense that, you do not get to see any glacier from up-close, like the way we do in say Alaska. The best you get is a glimpse of the glacier from a few miles away from it. Only if you go on 10-15 mile hikes, will you be able to get to the point of seeing the glaciers at a very close range. The other thing that is hard to miss about the mountains is that the peaks of the mountains are so sharp with pointed tips. The reason behind them is the fact that the glaciers are actually stuck between these mountains and when they melt away, they erode the mountains in this uniquely shaped way.

5) The only danger in the park is the presence of a large number of grizzly bears. Everywhere you go, there are signs (like this) warning you about the park being their habitat and had so many guidelines on what to do if & when you encounter a bear. Acting drop dead is one of the most recommended ways to follow when you come face to face with a bear. Due to these signs basically all over the park, I was scared to death almost entirely through the 2 hikes we did. Apparently, one of the common mistakes that humans do on facing a bear is that we tend to run away from it which is strongly discouraged bcos as I read somewhere, even the slowest of bears can easily beat Carl Lewis in a 100 m dash :)

Anybody within driving distance of this place should definitely plan a visit to the park on a 3-day weekend. (For us, this was a 9 hour drive) There is just so much activity to do in that area that even a 3-day long weekend might not do complete justice to this marvelous place. Highly recommended. Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Speed Limits

Speed limit is probably the one single law that everyone here wishes it was not there. Not surprising, since we all love to drive at mind-boggling speeds. Driving fast has our adrenaline flowing and we all love to do that. On the first day at my on-campus job in grad school, we had a game of ice-breaker where to a question as to what is the one law that you wish is done away with - almost everyone in the team answered 'speeding'.

Anyway, the reason I started to write about speeds was after reading this report that Texas lawmakers are contemplating on increasing the speed limits on interstate highways to 80 mph. 75 is the maximum speed limit that I have seen on highways here. 80, though being just 5 MPH more, looks as though it might be too fast. The reason they attribute for such a decision is that in a survey that they took, the average speed of almost 85% of the drivers on the road was 79 MPH on a 75 MPH zone. So, why to have a speed limit for just name sake and hence they just increased the limit.

There is also this rumor which I have heard from many folks that Montana does not have any posted speed limits during daylight. Of course, now that I have just been there, I can say it is not true. But I have heard that there WAS a time when Montana did not have any speed limit. So, I set about to do some researching and found this Wikipedia link. This link has all the details that one would want to know about speed limits in the US. More importantly, it also had some information about the Montana speed limit myth. From the link:

Montana had a non-numeric "reasonable and prudent" speed limit during the daytime on most rural roads. Montana Code Annotated (MCA) Section 61-8-303 said "A person ... shall drive the vehicle ... at a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation...so as not to unduly or unreasonably endanger the life, limb, property, or other rights of a person entitled to the use of the street or highway."

On March 10, 1996 [5], a Montana Patrolman issued a speed ticket to a driver traveling at 85 mph (140 km/h) on a lonely stretch of State Highway 200. Although the officer gave no opinion as to what would have been a reasonable speed, the driver was convicted. The driver appealed all the way to the Montana Supreme Court. The Court reversed the conviction and held that a law requiring drivers to drive at a non-numerical "reasonable and proper" speed "is so vague that it violates the Due Process Clause ... of the Montana Constitution".

Due to this reversal, Montana scrambled to vote in a numerical limit as it technically had no speed limit whatsoever in the meantime. In June 1999, a new Montana speed limit law went into effect. The law's practical effect was to require posted limits on all roads and disallow any speed limit higher than 75 mph (120 km/h).

So, it is indeed true that Montana did not have any posted speed limit during the years 1995 to 1999. During my road trip to Mount Rushmore few months back, I could see why they did not have a speed limit for so long since you would hardly come across a car. We went stretches of miles before even driving past 1 car. While I was talking about this trip with my friends, one of my friends here at work was saying that traffic tickets were very cheap in MT - like it would be 15$ or 20$ and that you can pay off the cop right there and then. And unfortunately, we got a first-hand experience during our trip when my friend was pulled over by a cop for driving at 84 MPH on a 65 mph limit zone. You know what the ticket was for this 19 mph infraction? 40 bucks. How funny?! I am sure a similar ticket in any other state would have cost my friend a good fortune.

2 weekends - 2 trips

The last 2 weeks have been pretty hectic with myself making 2 trips during those 2 weekends - Had one of my most memorable trips the first weekend to Crater Lake and to the Grand Canyon & the Universal studios in LA this past weekend.

The trip to Crater lake was simply amazing. I had gone there last summer and this was how it looked then:

And this is how it looks now.


When I had gone to Crater lake last summer, the stark blue color of the deepest fresh water lake in the US just took my breathe away, the first time I caught a glimpse of it. I was entirely convinced that I had seen the single most beautiful sight that nature can offer (of course, all this next only to my personal favorite - Mt. Rainier). But I was proven wrong bcos it was actually this time around that Crater lake looked even more amazing. The whole area was completely drenched in snow. The drive to the lake was even more awesome, since as we approached the lake, we could see gradually increasing snow levels with even the trees being completely covered with snow. The lake is actually closed from October through May bcos of the extensive snow fall that area receives during those months. The view to the lake can be had from throughout the drive around the rim of the lake. But at this time of the year, due to the snow, only couple of view points were open for visitors. If it was the lake which was the highlight during the last trip, it was the incredible levels of snow that was the highlight during this trip.

We had rented couple of cabins in an area called Diamond lake, some 30 miles away from Crater lake. The resort is in itself located on the banks of another beautiful lake - the diamond lake. On day one, tried our hand at snowmobiling - it again was an amazing experience. The roads around that area were full of snow that it was advisable to travel around in snowmobiles rather than in passenger cars. In fact, if you take your car out on those roads, all you could have driven was at 20 mph speed whereas on the snowmobile, we reached speeds of about 60mph. If you are in an area where you can try your hand at snowmobiling, then please go for it. It is something which is worth the money spent on it (comes around 100$ for 2 hours).


The somber part of the whole trip actually only a week later after we had returned to Seattle. Bcos it was only then that we came to know that it was during the time we were in that area, that James Kim, the father who lost his life in the wilderness in the Oregon snow, and his family too were in the vicinity of about 10 miles from where we joined I-5 on our drive back to Seattle. The incident which had already captured my attention had an even bigger impact on me, after this.

The Grand Canyon trip was OK. This was my 2nd trip to the Grand Canyon but the first time I saw it, was also just around the same time - winter. So, there was not much difference in the experience between then and now. The one thing I observed this time around was the saying how each and every vantage point that the park service recommends offers a completely different view of the Canyon. At each of the places we stopped our car to get a glimpse of the canyon, it gave us some unique views of the canyon. Other than that, it was biting cold and with the wind blowing straight onto our faces, we couldn't spend more than a few minutes at each view point. Though this was my 2nd time there, I still not have enough time to take the hike all the way down to the river. Hopefully should be able to do it the next time around, when I plan to spend a whole long weekend just for the Grand Canyon.


The other interesting incident during this trip came when I was driving back from LA to Phoenix. With about 250 miles left in my drive, I had stopped for gas and filled about 8 gallons, hoping that it would take me into Phoenix without any problem (30 mpg on the highways is a rather conservative estimate). So, once I was done with that, I had completely forgot to keep track of the fuel level in the tank. Some 50 miles from Phoenix, to my horror, I see that the fuel indicator is way below zero. A completely isolated desert is not the ideal place where you would want to get stranded, where sometimes we did not have an exit for as long as 20 miles. The nearest exit from where I noticed the gas level was a good 5 miles away. Needless to say, those 5 miles were the scariest and most tension filled part of our drive when we finally made it to the gas station. When I looked back at how come I had missed noticing something which I usually keep an eye all the time, it is the dashboard of the car I had rented (Nissan Altima) which actually turned out to be the culprit. In most of the cars, the low fuel indicator is orange in color. It is orange in color in Altima too but over here, everything in the entire dashboard was orange in color as well. Thus, I could not distinguish the low fuel indicator from the rest of the details on the dashboard. I was left wondering how such a simple common sense thing was not considered by the Nissan engineers during their design.