For several years now, some old friends of mine have taken a spring reconnaissance trip into some of the remotest and most beautiful parts of Oregon. This year I was invited to tag along and I thought it would be a great way to photograph some of the areas of the wonderful state I live in but have never taken the time to visit.
Alpine meadow with the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness in the background.
The rules of the “recon” trip were pretty simple – on the first day drive non-stop on major highways and byways to get to the wilderness area and then once you have arrived avoid major roads and populated areas as much as possible. If possible attempt to be on National Forest land at all times, avoid any improved campsites in favor of pristine sites with spectacular views, leave no trace, be ultra cautious with fire, and eat and drink extremely well.
The Anthony Lakes Ski area.
Our route took us out Interstate 84 and just short of Baker City we cut off at North Powder and in to the Anthony Lakes Ski area.
On a back road into the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness. Snow stopped us about 1000 feet before the road would have ended.
One of the tricks with exploring the back roads is dealing with obstacles, the main ones being downed trees (we had a chainsaw), snow (we had 4 wheel drive vehicles) and the real showstopper – roads that appear on a forest service map but at some point simply cease to be navigable roads. On one occasion we traveled over an hour down a road with downed trees, small streams and endless potholes only to be met with a “Road Closed” sign forcing us to turn around and run the same gauntlet in reverse.
A curious antelope checked us out from the brush.
Three of our scouting party were hunters with ulterior motives. They had applied for elk and deer tags in the areas we were visiting and they were looking at the the lay of the land and for animal signs like tracks and scat.
We saw lots of Mule Deer does but no bucks.
Whatever your opinions may be regarding hunting (it’s just not in my DNA), my experience from the hunters I have known is that they care very deeply about nature and are generally very knowledgeable about the land and the flora and fauna upon it. We packed out all our garbage, buried our poo diligently and deeply, and we were very careful with fire.
Moth, spider and fly co-existing on a wildflower.
As we traversed the back roads the we came upon alpine meadows bathed in wildflowers.
In Portland we routinely see Mt. Hood and the other mountains of the Cascade Range in our typical travels roaming from British Columbia to Northern California and over to Central Oregon. But Oregon has lots of other spectacular mountain ranges in the northeast part of the state.
The Blue Mountains run from the Southeastern Washington \ Northeastern Oregon down along the west edge of the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon. On this trip we viewed peaks of the Elkhorn Mountains, the Wallowa Mountains, the Strawberry Mountains, the Ochoco Mountains and of course the Cascades as we returned via U.S. Highway 26 from Prineville to Portland.
We saw lots of cattle grazing and even tried burning a cow pie for fuel – not a good idea!
The picture above shows what a typical campsite looked like.
After a good breakfast we would hit the road and drive to areas of interest – typically lakes, rivers, or viewpoints we had spied on the map. We would break for lunch and maybe hit a small town to restock on ice and fill up on gas. Then around 3:00 PM would we start our search for that secluded, elusive perfect campsite.
Oregon has such a variety of terrain – forests, grasslands, high desert, mountains, coastline, valleys, canyons, along with hundreds of lakes and streams – it truly is a nature lover’s paradise.
“Armed camping” target practice.
And this was “armed camping”. Being with hunters and being in National Forest where target practice is legal, the boys wanted to try out their weapons on some beer can targets. We only had one target practice session during the 4 night excursion and boy are those guns loud – earplugs were definitely needed!
The picturesque Malheur River.
Once you get out of the Willamette Valley and away from the population centers and strike into the Wilderness Areas and National Forests you hardly see any people. Now granted it was mid-May and not exactly prime time for camping, but we never had a single car venture up the road to any of the campsites we picked. We could go hours between seeing another vehicle in the areas we drove through.
Unidentified roaring river of ice melt coming down from the mountains.
Once we had secured our campsite and raised our miniature tent city it was time to collect some wood, build a fire and have a little happy hour. When the coals were ready we would prepare and eat a hardy meal.
The rack of lamb pictured above was on the menu the first night followed by tri tip steak, penne in bolognese sauce, and pork loin. I put a few pounds on during the trip.
A hawk soars over the Malheur Reservoir.
This trip inspired me to get out and get lost in the Oregon wilderness. The roads were generally pretty good and with a good map I think our van could get to a lot of the remote spots we visited. Looking forward to next year’s reconnaissance trip!
Mt. Hood on our way home.