Okay so before I go on I just wanted to say that this is my first trip report so any comments or constructive criticisms will be greatly appreciated.
I live in central Oregon and I got an elk tag for the Silvies Unit which encompasses much of the central/eastern Oregon. I have yet to really explore this area so I was hoping to make a trip of camping, exploring, and some hiking through the woods in search of a cow elk. Also, I purchased a 2001 Dodge Ram CTD about 2 months ago so this would be a good first multi-day test of the vehicle. I am hoping to make it a multi-day camping platform that can handle most roads and generally get me and my wife to some fun areas to explore. I made a map of my entire route with approximate GPS coordinates of road changes and campsites. You can access the map here: http://goo.gl/maps/5aMuv
I started the trip by driving east out of Prineville on Oregon Hwy 380 until I turned off of Hwy 380 east of Paulina onto the Grindstone Road. I traveled southwest over this nice gravel and dirt road through some amazing high mount desert down past Grindstone Creek and on to the South Fork of the Crooked River. After intersecting the GI Ranch Road I headed south past some upland pastures and pivots before turning back southeast onto Buck Creek Road and on to Allen Road. Late afternoon faded into darkness and I cruised along through the night and rain on some slick two tracks and rutted jeep trails. Most of these turns were unnamed and unmarked so having pre printed maps or a good GPS and a compass are pretty essential. I turned northeast onto Bulger Ridge road and the snow started to fly and the road become slick. After throwing into 4wd I continued to climb up the ridge. Although in the dark and I only saw what my headlights lit up, I think this would be a great road with some good views in the daylight. This road eventually dumps onto FS Road 4225, which had signs that it was to be decommissioned in 2012 or 2013, so I don't know how much longer it will be driveable. I continued on to get to the Morris Meadow area and finally arrived and found a nice camp spot just off of FS Road 4520. It was a good spot up in the trees about 100 yards off the right (south) side of the road. The snow was flying so no dinner for me and instead I jumped into the back for a cold one and some map reconnaissance for the next day's hunting. I awoke to a dusting of snow and nice crisp partly cloudy skies...perfect!
I made up some hunter special sandwiches (bacon, american, cheese, and caesar dressing) and I was off and running.
Alot of guys on here have specialized kitchen boxes and trunks for camping. I really like a recommend a good aluminum rafting dry box. We have a whitewater raft so our dry box doubles as our camp kitchen. They are durable, water tight, bearproof, and they can be carried around and lashed down pretty easily. We have a kitchen box that was custom made by Recretec in Albany, Oregon and it even has legs so you can stand it up and use it as a prep area.
After hunting until early afternoon I got back in the truck and headed north and up in elevation, driving down past Buck Springs campground (nice spot with a few campsites and vault toilet), and headed up along the Silver Creek canyon. I had some nice views of Silver Creek canyon and the ridgetops to the northeast before dropping down to cross Silver Creek and continuing up toward Delintment Lake. Delintment Lake has a big developed campground that was pretty busy when I arrived so I doubled back toward the Tip Top Spring campground off of Whistle Creek road. I found a campsite just off of Whistle Creek road about 0.5 mile east of Tip Top Spring that was not a good campsite, but it was okay for the night. It was on the ridgetop and not well protected and the wind howled all night, but I was tired and crashed out.
I hike about 11 miles the next day and got back to the truck and headed down the FS Road 41 which is paved. I dropped down southeast and found a good camp spot off of Boone Prairie. It wasn't really a camp site, more of a flat spot in the trees, but easy to get into and really nice tucked at the base or a ridge on the lee side and out of the wind. There were a couple of really nice sites north up road 4332 but they were taken. I might try them again next summer. The drive down was also filled with a ton of spur roads leading off into the woods that I'm sure would provided plenty of adventure for day trips. There is also a Forest Service fire lookout nearby on Donnelly Butte that would be fun to explore in the future.
I woke up and from there I drove down to FS Road 4335 and traveled west for a few miles before jumping out to hike around in the woods. I got a nice long day in with some rain all afternoon and when I got back I decided to stay close and I drove down to a great little camp site on Wickiup Creek just downstream of FS Road 4335. Flat, trees, fire ring, and a nice little creek...everything was good. Made a nice fire and cooked up some tortellini with a few nice beers before settling in to bed. During the night the snow came again and I awoke to a winter wonderland.
I took a few "artsy" pics of the campsite and truck before heading out hunting.
After a nice long day of hunting I headed back to the truck and back out to FS Road 41 before dropping down FS Road 4130 heading down through the Silver Creek Valley and coming out just west of Riley, Oregon. All in all a great trip and definitely a place I would head back to. If any of you out there are looking for an area to explore in eastern Oregon I would recommend this area. None of the roads were really challenging in any way, just really fun to drive and beautiful.
Anyway, I hope the map and photos are useful and if anyone has any questions shoot me a message. It seems like they are closing alot of the roads in the western portion of the Forest so Google Maps and GPS devices may not show all the correct open roads.
Enjoy!
I live in central Oregon and I got an elk tag for the Silvies Unit which encompasses much of the central/eastern Oregon. I have yet to really explore this area so I was hoping to make a trip of camping, exploring, and some hiking through the woods in search of a cow elk. Also, I purchased a 2001 Dodge Ram CTD about 2 months ago so this would be a good first multi-day test of the vehicle. I am hoping to make it a multi-day camping platform that can handle most roads and generally get me and my wife to some fun areas to explore. I made a map of my entire route with approximate GPS coordinates of road changes and campsites. You can access the map here: http://goo.gl/maps/5aMuv
I started the trip by driving east out of Prineville on Oregon Hwy 380 until I turned off of Hwy 380 east of Paulina onto the Grindstone Road. I traveled southwest over this nice gravel and dirt road through some amazing high mount desert down past Grindstone Creek and on to the South Fork of the Crooked River. After intersecting the GI Ranch Road I headed south past some upland pastures and pivots before turning back southeast onto Buck Creek Road and on to Allen Road. Late afternoon faded into darkness and I cruised along through the night and rain on some slick two tracks and rutted jeep trails. Most of these turns were unnamed and unmarked so having pre printed maps or a good GPS and a compass are pretty essential. I turned northeast onto Bulger Ridge road and the snow started to fly and the road become slick. After throwing into 4wd I continued to climb up the ridge. Although in the dark and I only saw what my headlights lit up, I think this would be a great road with some good views in the daylight. This road eventually dumps onto FS Road 4225, which had signs that it was to be decommissioned in 2012 or 2013, so I don't know how much longer it will be driveable. I continued on to get to the Morris Meadow area and finally arrived and found a nice camp spot just off of FS Road 4520. It was a good spot up in the trees about 100 yards off the right (south) side of the road. The snow was flying so no dinner for me and instead I jumped into the back for a cold one and some map reconnaissance for the next day's hunting. I awoke to a dusting of snow and nice crisp partly cloudy skies...perfect!
I made up some hunter special sandwiches (bacon, american, cheese, and caesar dressing) and I was off and running.
Alot of guys on here have specialized kitchen boxes and trunks for camping. I really like a recommend a good aluminum rafting dry box. We have a whitewater raft so our dry box doubles as our camp kitchen. They are durable, water tight, bearproof, and they can be carried around and lashed down pretty easily. We have a kitchen box that was custom made by Recretec in Albany, Oregon and it even has legs so you can stand it up and use it as a prep area.
After hunting until early afternoon I got back in the truck and headed north and up in elevation, driving down past Buck Springs campground (nice spot with a few campsites and vault toilet), and headed up along the Silver Creek canyon. I had some nice views of Silver Creek canyon and the ridgetops to the northeast before dropping down to cross Silver Creek and continuing up toward Delintment Lake. Delintment Lake has a big developed campground that was pretty busy when I arrived so I doubled back toward the Tip Top Spring campground off of Whistle Creek road. I found a campsite just off of Whistle Creek road about 0.5 mile east of Tip Top Spring that was not a good campsite, but it was okay for the night. It was on the ridgetop and not well protected and the wind howled all night, but I was tired and crashed out.
I hike about 11 miles the next day and got back to the truck and headed down the FS Road 41 which is paved. I dropped down southeast and found a good camp spot off of Boone Prairie. It wasn't really a camp site, more of a flat spot in the trees, but easy to get into and really nice tucked at the base or a ridge on the lee side and out of the wind. There were a couple of really nice sites north up road 4332 but they were taken. I might try them again next summer. The drive down was also filled with a ton of spur roads leading off into the woods that I'm sure would provided plenty of adventure for day trips. There is also a Forest Service fire lookout nearby on Donnelly Butte that would be fun to explore in the future.
I woke up and from there I drove down to FS Road 4335 and traveled west for a few miles before jumping out to hike around in the woods. I got a nice long day in with some rain all afternoon and when I got back I decided to stay close and I drove down to a great little camp site on Wickiup Creek just downstream of FS Road 4335. Flat, trees, fire ring, and a nice little creek...everything was good. Made a nice fire and cooked up some tortellini with a few nice beers before settling in to bed. During the night the snow came again and I awoke to a winter wonderland.
I took a few "artsy" pics of the campsite and truck before heading out hunting.
After a nice long day of hunting I headed back to the truck and back out to FS Road 41 before dropping down FS Road 4130 heading down through the Silver Creek Valley and coming out just west of Riley, Oregon. All in all a great trip and definitely a place I would head back to. If any of you out there are looking for an area to explore in eastern Oregon I would recommend this area. None of the roads were really challenging in any way, just really fun to drive and beautiful.
Anyway, I hope the map and photos are useful and if anyone has any questions shoot me a message. It seems like they are closing alot of the roads in the western portion of the Forest so Google Maps and GPS devices may not show all the correct open roads.
Enjoy!
