Part IV: Fremont Miner's Retreat

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Fremont Miner's Retreat, a little bare-bones cabin in a settlement of about four other houses. There's a little pond ("Lake DePuddle"), a friendly ghost (in the house next to us), and an old electrical station that was used for mining operations. We went into the minimalist, ramshackle town of Granite for breakfast and had a good conversation with one of the locals, who told us all about bear and cougar sightings, trails, campsites, and how to mine for gold. On Wednesday we circumnavigated Olive Lake, which was more of a challenge than we expected because of the remaining snow and many downed trees. But all in all it was a mellow day, and finally a relaxing one.

On Thursday we left the cabin and had breakfast in the town of Sumpter. Afterward, we visited the Sumpter dredge, an impressive, gigantic contraption that was used to mine gold for several years. Later we checked in to the Geiser Grand Hotel again, getting the same room for a second night. (This time, we had a ghost sighting; see below). We took a walk to the park (where Melina had a bloody run-in with another girl, who hit her in the nose) and browsed through the very well equipped Baker City library.