{"id":2328,"date":"2004-08-20T14:53:26","date_gmt":"2004-08-20T21:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/?p=2328"},"modified":"2026-10-12T08:47:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:47:33","slug":"2004-klamath-falls-oregon-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/2004-klamath-falls-oregon-road-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Klamath Falls, Oregon Road Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Oregon Road Trip Stories. Just because we live Oregon doesn\u2019 mean we can\u2019t road trip in Oregon. Everyone else gets to write about it, so why not us? Shawn Fendick had been planning a trip for some time now. A guys trip. That means no \u201cwives, scrappers (kids) or non-skaters\u201d in his words. Klamath Falls was picked as the destination. Shawn had originally wanted to rent a mobile home so we could get a keg and keep it on tap next to the park. Since we had people from different parts of the country joining us (yay! road trip) and leaving us on different days, the mobile home fell through, but the keg didn\u2019t. What follows are some details and a lot of pictures spread out over four days, culminating in a live appearance by legendary long playing but sporadic recording punk rockers, the Dickies!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klammath Falls Road Trip: Aumsville Detour Day 1 8\/13\/04<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1: On Friday the 13th we all left work and converged in Aumsville Or for a send off. Joining us was Steve Grover, who couldn\u2019t make the whole trip because he lost his balls, I mean didn\u2019t have a job. In our minds, that meant he sure as hell could have gone, but what did we know? Also present was Cal Skate emissary and patron of the arts Paul Fujita. Ironically, he couldn\u2019t go because he had a job. Between Paul and Grover, we figured that their excuses cancelled each other out so that they could both go, but they weren\u2019t hearing it. Nate Frank came in tow with Grover, and fun was had by all, especially the visitors from California and the locals. As it sometimes happens in Aumsville, Jeff Taylor came out of the woods like Bigfoot and began to terrorize the skate park with Bigfoot sized shenanigans on the transitions. A big 4×4 Suburban drove by and a bunch of rednecks yelled out \u201cSkate or Die!\u201d They must have been fans of the videogame. At 9:00 pm we hit the road for Klamath Falls and arrived about two in the morning, delusional and hallucinating, at the strip mall of camp sites, KOA. Waiting for us were about 50 of Shawn\u2019s friends, all of who had ridiculous nicknames, and none of them whose names I was able to remember. Oh yeah, and the keg was tapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paul Fujita – Cal Skate Emmisary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Former Blockhead, Jeff Taylor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Paul Fujita<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nate Frank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Taylor? Aumsville local.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Steve\u201d \u201cOld Blurry\u201d Grover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Roy Starin from California, thanks to Mark Ryback.= for the assist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jeff Taylor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jeff Taylor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next page – Day 2<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Klammath Falls Road Trip: Day 2 8\/14\/04<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning we woke up way too early, iced up the keg, loaded up and drove to the park. It was about 150 degrees out there in the dessert sun, and we got a case of Klamathida, which is like Chlamydia except for instead of being an STD, it\u2019s more like heat exhaustion meets Attention Deficit Disorder, with a little bit of Vertigo and Agoraphobia thrown in. The folks at city hall were nice enough to pay for a skate park, but for some reason they couldn\u2019t fork out a thousand bucks for some shade or a water fountain adjacent to the park, which was a major oversight. In any case, we were severely overwhelmed by size and diversity of the park. We skated as long as we could without passing out again. Seriously, there is a lot to contemplate in this park. I didn\u2019t even bother doing the usual overview shot because it just wouldn\u2019t work. We decided grab some food and a dip in the pool back at camp before sessioning again. It was clear that talks of hitting other southern Oregon parks were premature since we would need time to explore and acclimate to Klamath Falls. We returned to a reinvigorated session. I didn\u2019t get many pics that day. It was just too much.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The park is huge. It has no less than seven distinct areas for skating, which we will give different names than the local probably have. Some highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A kind of snowboarding-type run that has something like moguls on one side, a square hip on the other, and funnels down into a giant half bowl that is something like 13 ft tall with a couple of feet of vert. At least that is our educated guess.
\nA square bowl that has about a 7-8 foot deep end 4 foot shallow and a hip on the right.
\nA cellular mitosis bowl that some like to call penis-shaped. It\u2019s reminiscent of a mutated capsule from the Turf, except the far end has two end caps, one of which is over vert. Otherwise, it\u2019s long, deep and narrow, complete with a roll in against one end cap, al la the Turf, but with pool coping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blinky bowl. It might officially be called a bear claw, but it looks more like one of the bad guys in Pac-Man. Big 8 or 9 foot deep end with three tight round pockets across the back of the shallow and one on either side where the waterfall is, creating a nice hip.
\nA small street-type area with a banked wall, quarter pipe, really mellow ditch Garter Snake run. Stairs and railing ledge.
\nA mini figure eight bowl that is really tiny, maybe 8 feet across at it\u2019s widest.
\nSome more mini-mini half pipes at the top of the park that ends up being a staging area for the Snowboard run.
\nVarious humps and bumps around the outskirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We met Corey and Jordan from Orange County California who were in the midst of their own mini road trip to Oregon. They amused us with their generally accomplished skating and generally odd sense of humor. Also there was a guy in the most elaborate knee brace I have ever seen. It was full leg length and it was crammed full of padding and who know what else, besides the world\u2019s crappiest old Rector knee pad. Add to that a yellow construction helmet, crazy red beard, a textbook case of plumbers butt, bright green shirt that said something about a \u201cHucklebuck\u201d festival on the front, and \u201cON MY FACE\u201d in huge letters on the back. I asked him what a the heck a hucklebuck was and he said \u201cI don\u2019t know, but I got some on my face. Can you find it for me?\u201d That didn\u2019t keep him from riding hard in the capsule on a long board. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture. I did get some good ones of park local Travis, who is definiely a smart ass, and a good skater to boot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At dusk we broke for grub and beer. Next to the Thai restaurant was a goofy store that sold skateboards, Magic the Gathering card games and Nascar crap. Needless to say, the selection was pathetic, and comprised mostly of Shorty\u2019s and World Industries gear. Big surprise\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gateway to Heaven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shawn has certain priorities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Corey from Costa Mesa. policethepolice.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Corey from Costa Mesa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hucklebuck on his face, hardware on his leg.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Travis from Klamath Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Travis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Quiver!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Extreme Hobbies!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My Wizard beats your Animal Chin!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next page – Day 3<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Klammath Falls Road Trip: Day 3 8\/15\/04<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 3: Wake up a little easier this time. We heard weird semi-coherent voices through the night which turned out to be camping bird. Spent some time trying to figure out what company put out a Jason Parks model that one of our crew was riding. It must have been a late 80\u2019s or early 90\u2019s offering. When we got to the park this guy Frederick was there with his wife and kid, and he was tearing the place up. BIG frontside airs in the corner pocket of the mitosis bowl and a series of HUGE airs in the snowboarding run section, Judos, all kinds fun stuff, almost all of which I failed to capture on ones and zeros. Also present was John from California. He had wicked mismatched argyle socks but no Uncle Wiggley Argyle skateboard. He did have some nice lines though, as evidenced by the photos. He had met Grover in West Linn a couple of days ago. We were getting along so well that it didn\u2019t even matter that I asked him if his girlfriend was his daughter\u2026 See, she looks really young, and there were a lot of guys with their kids there and I know lots of people who had kids when they were teenagers, and oh, never mind. I\u2019m sorry John. I\u2019m sorry John\u2019s girlfriend too. More locals today, including Travis, who has been making the Oregonian contest rounds and this other kid whose name I didn\u2019t catch, but was skilled. A 10 year old named Sam was there, representing local skate shop Ride On. If you see anyone at the park without the \u201cRide On\u201d logo on their grip tape, it\u2019s a safe bet they are from out of town. Sam was going rather large. Sam has been to Reedsport too. Shop owner Steve was going to do some doubles with Sam for a photo until he broke a kingpin. Does that still happen? I guess so. Hopefully he\u2019ll be able to find some place to buy another one, maybe at the mall or the card game\/Nascar\/skate shop in the strip mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The camp bird.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jason Parks board. What Company?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Klamath local Travis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Corner air in an over vert pocket! Fredrik Tibblin from Mammoth Lakes CA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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John from California<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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John from California<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fredrik Tibblin from Mammoth Lakes CA. It looks like a bail, but it aint.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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K-Falls local. Name?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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John from California<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Danimal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the sun went down, the session heated up in the Turf-like Mitosis bowl. Too bad. That\u2019s what we\u2019re calling it. That thing is arguably the most fun and challenging thing in the park, but make sure you skate out of it, because it\u2019s a bitch to get out of if you fall, especially if you\u2019ve been riding all day. See Miles for an illustration. We stopped by the Rivers Inn to see if we could skate the pool. We had heard conflicting stories about being able to skate it without staying there overnight as long as you flipped them a fiver. Well, that turned out to be false, so we flipped them the bird and took off. We thought about barging it but we didn\u2019t want to be known as the guys who ruined it for everyone. That, and Miles threatened to physically restrain us if we tried. Then we went home and tried to polish off the keg. Everyone got loaded and I made fun of Miles\u2019 sweatpants which he defended like Spock in a very logical manner. Shane got more loaded and borrowed a long board for the treck down the bike path a couple of miles into town where all the locals made disparaging remarks like \u201cnice looooongboard,\u201d as if it was a birth defect. He tried to pick up girls but said it was hard when they kept looking at him like they were thinking \u201cwhat the hell are you?\u201d Also, a bunch of this probably happened the night before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Travis, to the moon!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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K-Falls local Sam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dan in the Mitosis bowl.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kilwag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shawn Fendick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mild Miles and the mystery of the phantom limb.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dan Glowicki-san<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Rivers Inn pool.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Obligatory no skating sign. Are you sure there\u2019s no skating?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next page – Day 4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Klammath Falls Road Trip: Day 4 8\/14\/04<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 4: Oh man. Hard to get up today. Today is the day most of us leave. After packing up we got to the park in the middle of another heat wave, hung over and dehydrated. We made some half assed attempts around the park. The spoke tall tails of Grant\u2019s Pass and the necessity of voyaging there. We made a note of that and then sat around on our butts trying to wake up and get limber. With about an hour to go we got stoked by Corey and Jordan, and well, by our own Dan, (Danimal, Dantallica, Danterra, what have you) and had a spirited session in the Blinky bowl and the Mitosis bowl. The harder we skated the more fun we all had, guys and girls alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jordan from Huntington Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Danimal in Blinky or Bear Claw, whatever you prefer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ollie off the hip, Dantallica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Danzig on the huge wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kilwag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Danterra with a crowd favorite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kilwag. Backside ollie off the hip to 50-50<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kilwag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, fun was had by all, except for me when I slammed on my head in the Mitosis bowl. As I write this a week later, the back of my head is still swollen and I have a slight headache. Thankfully I didn\u2019t take off my helmet before the run. Even more thankfully (depending on your point of view) the whole incident was caught by no less than two video cameras. This vid cap was shot by Danterra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watching this over a decade later and it still gives me the willies. I feel like I cheated death. -k.ed<\/p>\n\n\n

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I can see for Miles…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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…and Miles…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Repo Dan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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…and Miles…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kevin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shawn Fendick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tyler, or Taylor as I like to call him when I’m drunk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The gal from Eugene<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In all the excitement and hard riding, we left an hour late just as another road trip from San Francisco was arriving. You see, some of us had to make it back to Portland in time to see our long time favorite punk rock jesters the DICKIES who were playing that night. Do you want to see the pictures? I know you do. Before you leave us, I just wanted to mention that I almost fell asleep driving on the way home, but didn\u2019t come near as close top killing everyone as Miles did when he was driving, wide awake. And now ladies and gentlemen, the incredible shrinking DICKIES!!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next day – The Dickies!<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oregon Road Trip Stories. Just because we live Oregon doesn\u2019 mean we can\u2019t road trip in Oregon. Everyone else gets to write about it, so why not us? Shawn Fendick had been planning a trip for some time now. A guys trip. That means no \u201cwives, scrappers (kids) or non-skaters\u201d in his words. Klamath Falls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2328"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6582,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328\/revisions\/6582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/features\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}