Southeast Oregon including Owyhee River

[T.Low]

Jerry of Backroad Drivers Northwest invited me to go on a Memorial Day trip they were doing with Pacific Northwest Backroad Adventures. Once they spoke to the BLM and decided they probably wouldn't go on level 3 trails and/or need low range,so he invited Jen and I along. We'd never been to this particular part of Oregon before, so we were eager to check it out.

For this easy trip, Jerry would not choose any of his Jeeps, or even his modified Bronco II, rather his modified F-150 7700 with 33" MT's and Flip-Pac camper. An "SUV" trip as he calls it, so my modified AWD Astro gets the green light to join the crew. I installed an OverlandVans 4-5" liftkit, Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks with indash remote, 30" AT's, 4:10 gears with an Eaton posi, home made (TommyBuilt) guacho couch that pulls out into a bed, a coleman electric cooler, and my trusty old Thule awning.

We needed to rendezvous at Denny's in Ontario, Oregon, at 5am Friday morning. Of course I had to work late, so we finally pulled out of Bellingham, Wa, at 7pm Thursday. Arrived at Denny's at 3am, then realized we crossed time zones so it was now 4am. Sawed some logs for an hour, woke up geeked to go.

There were 7 rigs Friday, 10 Saturday, 5 Sunday, and just us solo Sunday nite camped at Leslie Gultch and driving homeward Monday morning thru Succor Creek.

The goals were loosely defined as getting down into Owyhee River, crossing if low enough, and on another day, find the 3 Corners marker of Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada.

Jerry did an excellent job of keeping 10 rigs together, and facilitating the decison making process. He is a true leader of men. He's got my vote for whatever he may need it for. As we pulled out of Denny's I was still wondering what my handle would be on my new CB radio when they informed me it would be "Tom".

The slideshow is not quite a half a beer and a few chips long, so I'll throw in some quick videos (that seemed to loose a lot of quality once uploaded onto youtube).

I know its the Diet Coke of Expo, but we had a blast seeing that area! Hope you enjoy it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CpfllNrews&feature=user

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xis2DKzOEMw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DlrrvAEm-Q&feature=user

http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee258/wannahuckmastinky/Owyhee May08/?albumview=slideshow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2kPrhGKUwg&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqGQJ87lHXY&feature=related

 

[Bill Beers]

Stupid firewall at work, no lunch break viewing for me. I'll give this a read tonight Tom!

 

[4Rescue]

No way, have a look over in the completed Expo's section, I just rafted the Owyhee 2 weeks ago.
We put in at Three forks.

Great to see more people have gotten to experience that place on earth. And what a remote place it is for America eh.

Good stuff, thanks.

Dave

 

[Bill Beers]

Great pictures!! I especially liked the sunset picture. It is neat to see that area in spring. I'm surprised you had so many water crossings, though I bet part of that was being there in the spring!


-Bill

 

[4Rescue]

Yeah we were both lucky to get to see that area when it had alot of greenery. Most of the pictures I'd seen of the area looked pretty BROWN.

Cheers

Dave

 

[JIMBO]

:safari-rig: Beautiful videos, but I kept looking for Hewl Houser, from California !!

--:REOutIceFishing: --JIMBO

 

[T.Low]

spring

Great pictures!! I especially liked the sunset picture. It is neat to see that area in spring. I'm surprised you had so many water crossings, though I bet part of that was being there in the spring!


-Bill

Thanks for the comments, guys. Yeah, the spring seems to mean "green" and "water" alright. I guess the Owyhee is usually about a 2ft deep crossing, but it was roaring way too high for us to cross. But, like you said, it meant that we had a bunch of smaller crossings thruought the days.

It would be fun to do a multi sport trip in that area: paddling, mountain biking, and overlanding. But especially the paddling. Glad you liked it.

I couldn't get the pictures on the photo-bucket slideshow to go "full screen". Am I missing something?

 

[ntsqd]

Very nice pictures!

I've been wanting to get up into that part of the world for some time now.

 

[spressomon]

Great pics and trip: Thanks for posting! We had NE Nevada/SW Idaho in our gunsights for our annual Ghost/Mining Town Tour this past April but our late winter kept too much snow and cold up that way...so we diverted to the SW instead.

I noticed you were in the McDermitt Reservation area. Did you get through Devil's Gate?

 

[rusty_tlc]

Great pics and trip: Thanks for posting! We had NE Nevada/SW Idaho in our gunsights for our annual Ghost/Mining Town Tour this past April but our late winter kept too much snow and cold up that way...so we diverted to the SW instead.

I noticed you were in the McDermitt Reservation area. Did you get through Devil's Gate?

Theres always next year.

 

[T.Low]

Great pics and trip: Thanks for posting! We had NE Nevada/SW Idaho in our gunsights for our annual Ghost/Mining Town Tour this past April but our late winter kept too much snow and cold up that way...so we diverted to the SW instead.

I noticed you were in the McDermitt Reservation area. Did you get through Devil's Gate?

I'll have to check the route, but I believe there was a washout before Devil's Gate.

We stopped to fill up, and Jerry spoke at length with the store owner who goes into the area frequently. He told us of some washouts and alternative routes. If you look at the 3 Corner's video, you see the storm coming in, which influenced our plans. When leaving the marker, we decided to head out the same way we came in, which was actually really cool ( there was so much scenery you couldn't take it all in, and seeing from a completely different angle it was a totally different view).

I don't mean to sound like a moron, but we drove 2k miles in a 4 day weekend, and I basically just followed the guys who planned the routes. We very well could have done something without my knowing what it was.

 

[spressomon]

I'll have to check the route, but I believe there was a washout before Devil's Gate.

We stopped to fill up, and Jerry spoke at length with the store owner who goes into the area frequently. He told us of some washouts and alternative routes. If you look at the 3 Corner's video, you see the storm coming in, which influenced our plans. When leaving the marker, we decided to head out the same way we came in, which was actually really cool ( there was so much scenery you couldn't take it all in, and seeing from a completely different angle it was a totally different view).

I don't mean to sound like a moron, but we drove 2k miles in a 4 day weekend, and I basically just followed the guys who planned the routes. We very well could have done something without my knowing what it was.

No worries! It IS a VERY COOL place to explore! Thanks! Dan

 

[T.Low]

No worries! It IS a VERY COOL place to explore! Thanks! Dan

I agree totally.

With so many places to go and explore, I try to shy away from repeating trips. But if they want to go again next spring, I'm in. There's still so much to see in that area.

Cheers

 

[T.Low]

FYI, Bill, the Tacoma and the Cherokee are both from Lake Oswego. Casey and Ryan.