Three weeks in Oregon

[paulj]

As mentioned in my Oregon Loop planned trip thread
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5022
we just completed a three week loop around the state. I have created a Google map with nearly 100 placemarks outlining the trip. The map would be clearer if I could use different markers for camp sites, roads, etc.

Google Map with placemarks
backroads map

Principal information sources for this trip were:
Google Earth
DeLORME atlas
Back Roads of Oregon by Earl Thollander (1979, bought used)
Oregon Byways, Art Bernstein, Wilderness Press
100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon, W L Sullivan
Waterfall Lover's Guide Pacific Northwest, G A Plumb

The trip started with a quick drive across Washington to the SE corner, with a stop to see Palouse Falls. Then several days in Hells Canyon area, through Ontario (with a visit with HenryJ) to the Owyhee area of SE Oregon. Then across the Basin and Range mountains (Steens, Hart, Warner).

Around Memorial weekend we went north to the LaPine area (south of Bend), and then sought out waterfalls along the upper Umpqua and Rogue Rivers. Then on to the coast via Bear Camp Road (Grants Pass to Gold Beach). After a couple of days on the coast, it was back up the Umpqua, 'over the hill' to US97, and west over Willamette Pass, and north to the Camp Sherman area.

Finally a quick return to sage brush country around Lake Billy Chinook, Madras and Shaniko, and back into the mountains along the Barlow Ck.

We returned to Washington via the forest service roads east of Mt Saint Hellens.

Here are 3 of the 19 waterfalls we saw - Palouse, Tokette, and Watson

 

[stevenmd]

VERY COOL Paul!

 

[paulj]

HenryJ wrote that we were able to stop by and talk with him on our way through Ontario.

We stopped by the Owyhee Dam as he had arranged, but no one was around. So we continued on to the main campground on the lake, where we camped in a civilized, if a bit crowded, setting among weekend boaters. On the way back out we stopped to photograph the dam, and happened to encounter HenryJ's contact. He'd been called away the night before to fight a brush fire. So we still got a personalized tour the dam's museum.

The Owyhee Dam was constructed around 1930, and served as a prototype for the larger Hoover Dam. It provides irrigation water for a large area on the Oregon - Idaho border.

paulj

 

[paulj]

The first backroad we drove in the Hell's Canyon area was the Dug Bar Road along the lower Imnaha River. This starts in Imnaha, 30 miles from Joseph. The first 6 miles are paved, then it turns into rough gravel as it climbs above the river. Eventually it returns to the river. At mile 19 it crosses the river, and climbs over a ridge and drops down to Dug Bar on the Snake River. Speeds are on the order of 10 to 20mph due to curves, exposure, and roughness. This is the favorite byway in the Bernstein book.

We stopped for lunch at the mile 19 bridge, making good use of the Element's tailgate to provide shade. Then we drove a bit beyond that, and returned to Imnaha. The last part was somewhat rougher, though my Element was still handling things ok. But I felt that if we drove all the way, we'd want to camp at Dug Bar and head back the next day - and the prospect of camping at the hot, lower level was not attractive. As interesting as the views were, I didn't want more than a couple of hours of this kind of driving in a day.

Back in Imnaha, we turned up the Hat Point road. This climbs to nearly 7000' so can be blocked by snow well into the summer. This was pretty good gravel, even the first 5 miles which climb steeply. As it turned out, we were able drive all the way to the Mamaloose airstrip, where we turned back at snow drifts. Trucks with better clearance were driving the remaining 2 miles to the point. There were also a lot of spring bear hunters out on ATVs.

We spent a pleasant night at the Saddle Creek campground overlooking Hells Canyon and Seven Devils mountains in Idaho.

paulj

 

[paulj]

In terms of scenery, my favorite area was the Succor Creek and Leslie Gulch area south of Ontario. The roads through here are mostly good gravel. Some gravel on the Succor Creek part was fresh and course, and the upper part of the Leslie Gulch leg was loose and washboarded. There's a fair amount of traffic to the boat ramp at the end of Leslie Gulch, where it meets the upper end of the Owyhee reservoir.

We had lunch and a hike at Succor Creek, and camped at Leslie Gulch. This was the only time we got rain, a couple of windy thunderstorms. Fortunately BLM has enhanced this campsite with sun shelters - most likely to discourage dispersed camping in the Gulch area. There were signs warning of flash flood dangers, since the road runs along the canyon floor. But these storms only produced a few trickles. We spent much of the following morning hiking a couple of the side canyons.

We encountered a light snow showers on the drive out.

paulj

 

[haven]

thanks, paul!

Paul,

Thanks very much for sharing your notes from the trip. Entries like, "rough short cut to FS77; dented rear subframe" make the reader cry out for more details!!

Aside from the stop at your friends' house, did you camp for the entire journey? Please share comments about your camping setup.

Was the cell phone coverage as poor as some suggested? Did you take a short wave radio or another way to summon help?

Chip Haven

 

[paulj]

From Jordan Valley in the SE corner we drove up to the historic mining town Silver City in Idaho. The first part of this drive is a modern industrial quality gravel road that served the a recently closed Delmar mine (2002?). Then the route becomes a narrow, rougher track to the historic town. This stretch hasn't been graded recently, though a number of the culverts appear to be new. A storm a couple of years ago did some major damage to roads in the area. The road east over the pass on into Idaho is in better shape, newly graded and rolled.

Silver City is a mix of dilapidated buildings and ones in various stages of repair. As befits a mining town established before cars, the 'roads' in town are pretty random, steep, and rutted.

Because the BLM campground on the edge of town was not very attractive, and there was still hints of snow in the area, we chose to return to Jordan Valley for the night. This also gave us an early start for the longer drive to Steens mountain.

paulj

 

[paulj]

After Hat Point, we drove south from Imnaha along the upper Imnaha river (good gravel) to FS 39 (paved) and on to Halfway. FS 39 had just been opened the week before.

The most promising campground near Halfway was FS McBride on FS 77 NW of town. From the DeLORME map it appeared that the shortest way there was via 7710 (a branch off 77) from Carson (on the road to the historic Cornicopia mining district), or an unnamed one directly west of town. Since I couldn't find the 7710 start, I tried the unnamed one.

Turns out it is called Old Ranger Station road, or 7705, and signed as unsuitable for passenger cars. Since my Element falls somewhere between a passenger car and an SUV I plowed on ahead. It was mostly single track, a bit rocky and rutty in places. By choosing my track right, the Element handled things fine. I even caught up with a Wrangler - though he may have been taking things leisurely.

However I did take one bump a bit too fast, and heard a solid thump on an unseen rock. When I got to camp I found the damage - a dent in the rear floor jack lifting point. This is on the rear subframe that supports the rear differential and connects the lower suspension control arms. It's the lowest point on the Element, and one that I have scratch on rocks on other trips.

As far as I can tell, it only dented the bottom of the frame, and did not distort it, or damage either the suspension or the rear drive system.

On latter rough roads (such as Pike Ck above Alvord desert), I remembered to take the rough spots slowly, avoiding suspension bounce, and didn't hear any further ground contact.

paulj

 

[paulj]

The Eastern Oregon hiking book got me onto several other short but rough tracks.

One was the one up Pike Creek of the Fields Denio roads on the east side of Steens mountain.

Another was the forest service road from the Plush Cutoff road to FS 3615 in the Warner Mountains. 3615 is mostly paved, running north from OR 140 toward the top side of Abert Rim. Again study of DeLorme showed a branch 3720. I was told, at the gas station/bar/grocery/jewelry store in Plush that it was rough but passable.

It started out as a ranch road, running past pastures and cattle loading pens. I've learned to be cautious on these nature surface (non gravel) roads when the level off and run on north facing slopes - they are more likely to be muddy there. This one had a few mud spots, though the worst were dried ruts. Particularly near the top, there was an area that probably saw logging traffic while the ground was still wet. But by carefully choosing the high ground between ruts, and crawling over questionable spots, I made it without any ground contact.

The hiking book also describes a hike up Hagar Mountain in the next range to the west (south of Silver Lake). When I got to the gate mentioned in the book it was open, so continued on. These switch backs were steep enough to be pushing the power limits of the Element's gearing. It wasn't until the last switch at the timber line that I had a chance to pull off the road and park. We hiked the last couple of switchbacks to the lookout (about 7000').

The other pictures are from a side road in the Hart Mountain refuge, a beach access track at Cape Blanco (which I did not try driving), and hike up DeGarmo canyon in the Hart Mtn rim.

paulj

 

[paulj]

The last challenging road that I drove was Old Barlow road. This was the first road into the Cascades back in the Oregon trail days. It runs from Wamic near US 197 to Barlow pass on OR 35 on the SE flank of Mt Hood. I drove most the way on FS 48, a good paved road up the White River valley. At FS 43 I switched over to the old road (FS 3530), which follows Barlow Ck at this point. For 2-3 miles it was a narrow, but relatively smooth dirt/sand track. Then as it loops away from the creek it got rougher. The Element was still handling it fine, but it was getting on toward 5pm. So I decided to turn back and camp at Barlow Ck campground (5 sites with outhouse and garbage collection).

We had the site to ourselves, camped right next to the creek, and only a few bugs.

If I'd tried it a bit later in the season, and earlier in the day, I would have been up to running the full length of the Barlow road. It might be better to start at the upper end, assuming that it is rougher. Lower down there appear to be more access points.

paulj

 

[paulj]

While driving on badly washboarded gravel road in the Descutes Nat Forest near Hole-in-the-Ground, we felt and heard some major thump-thump. Turned out I'd picked up a 4 inch piece of rat tail file, handle first, in the right rear tire. While I had a full size spare, I decided this was a good chance to try out the Safety Seal tire plug kit.

I was able to effect the repair without removing the tire, by jacking up that corner (with a wood board under the jack). In retrospect, I probably should have remove the tire, since I had to push pretty hard to get the plug into the hole (even after using the corkscrew tool).

This was also the first time I used my air compressor for more than adjusting tire pressures. It's a $40 imitation of the $200 models 4x4 shops sells, but it did the job without problem (but with a couple of cooling off periods).

To play it safe I drove on to the nearest town, La Pine, did some grocery shopping, and camped at a nearby FS campground. This is growing Bend/Sun River recreational area. Since the tire held its pressure overnight, we continued with the trip.

paulj

 

[paulj]

We camped every night except for the one in Joseph. One night, in an aspen grove in Hart Mtn refuge, we slept in a 2 man tent. The other nights we slept in the car.

It is possible to sleep in an Element either by lowering all seat backs, or by raising the rear seats, and sleeping on the rear floor. I had modified mine, by replacing the rear seats with a 4' long platform. By lowering the front seat backs, I get a nearly level space 8' long, and almost 4' wide.

The platform also provides storage for a full size spare, and tools, tarp poles and other gear. We sleep on backpacking air mattresses (about 2" thick).

This arrangement works particularly well in cool weather, since interior temperatures can be as much as 10F warmer than outside in the morning. In rainy weather I rig an awning over the side (from the roof rack).

I've also used at camper-top tent enclosure over the clamshell tailgate. However, with all this gravel road driving, the back can be quite dusty, so I prefer to use side awnings.

Some nights of this trip were warmer and buggier than ones in the past. When really buggy it is easier to keep a tent bug free. But this trip I successfully used some bug netting on the car. Over the back (including the rear skylight) I draped a 'mosquito bar', the 2 person Mosbasa tropical style netting that some outdoor shops sell. I hold this in place with bar magnets and spring clamps.

On warmer evenings it was also handy to circulate air with a Coleman fan. I have the one that takes 4 D cells, and has a ring around the foam fan blades. It most cases I just ran it for a hour or two, just circulating air while things cooled down.

paulj

 

[paulj]

On the subject of cell phones, I had two with me, an older Verizon one (2-3 bands), and a newer Virgin Mobile.

Both had a signal in the Clarkston/Lewiston area.
Verizon had reception in the Enterprise/Joseph area; Virgin did not. Neither had reception between.
I also got through from the Hat Point road, at an overlook within sight of the mountains above Joseph (30 miles?).
Verizon also had a signal in Halfway.
Both worked around Ontario.
Verizon appeared to have a signal outside of Jordan Valley (around the Delmar mine?), and maybe at the base of Steens Mtn - though I couldn't make a call.
Both worked around LaPine, Madras, Hood River, and Medford.
Verizon worked at Gold Beach, but Virgin did not.
I was also able to send a text message on Verizon from on top Hagar Mtn.

When I had a signal with one or the other, I sent a brief text message to my son's email account.

But away from towns like these, or major highways, and a few high spots, we did not have any reception. So most of the time I kept them off, though we did have a car charger.

The Pilot truck stop on US 97 sold the Wilson antennas and adapters. I was tempted to get one, but I don't think it would have helped in any of the remote areas.

paulj

 

[Brian894x4]

Nice pics.

LOTS of familiar territory there. Glad you had fun.

 

[kcowyo]

Great write up and photos paulj. :clapsmile