Alaskan Campers

I've been looking for info on camping sites in Oregon. I found this and think it's pretty interesting! It has made me change my plans to visit the coast in the fall instead of this coming spring. Stay away from heavy winds and rain.


Most of the information I've dug up early on seems to be focused on black-topping travels. I fully intend to keep looking for public land tracks and routes as my dominant interest areas.

Think I'll add a random outdoorsy picture now and then just to keep up the eye candy level. Places I've been or want to see.

Happy holidays everyone!

Dale

Annacortes, WA in a winter sunset 2025.

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It is a rainy Christmas Eve day here. So have been playing around in the truck, learning all the new to me buttons and knobs.

Having finished that, I decided to photograph the Raven symbols I've stuck to the sides of the vehicle on the front doors. I mentioned earlier that the Raven is my totem.

On the passenger side we have Raven stealing the sun.

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On the driver's side you can see Raven stealing the moon.

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For stealing the sun, moon, and stars and giving them to humans and thus bringing light to the earth, Raven, who found himself caught in the lodge's smoke hole, was punished. Before he could free himself his feathers which originally were pure white, were scorched black. And that is why all ravens are black today. There are several different versions of this story in indigenous cultures. I hope I didn't bastardize this too badly.
 
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I had been driving a 5th gen 4Runner for the past 11 years. Sold that to granddaughter. Now own an American/Canadian built truck for the first time in three decades.

Here is a Noobie question; what type sockets and wrenches to I need to carry, metric or imperial to work on the Sierra? Sure wish it will be metric only.

All my other recovery gear switches over with no issues.

Pic of the day: One of SWMBO's favorite things about the new camper. Real, built-in plumbing is something we've never experienced before in over 50 years of doing this.

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I had been driving a 5th gen 4Runner for the past 11 years. Sold that to granddaughter. Now own an American/Canadian built truck for the first time in three decades.

Here is a Noobie question; what type sockets and wrenches to I need to carry, metric or imperial to work on the Sierra? Sure wish it will be metric only.

All my other recovery gear switches over with no issues.
The correct answer is "all of the above"..... It is the dumbest reality! As well, the usual 8,10,12,14 mm common wrenches/sockets which after decades of Japanese motorcycles and Toyotas most of us could almost pick out blind, has now been replaced by lots of 9,11,13,15 mm etc., added in with of course, the SAE stuff.

edit: I must be showing my age as I forgot some of the more common fasteners on my Toyota FJ are 13mm (battery cables) and 15 mm (oil drain) so its not as cut and dry as I initially whined about......
 
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Travel Oregon, has some great resources. And even has trip ideas,

If you find yourself in the Pendleton area, and need a flat place to park, or a shop. Give a shout

The newer GM's have more metric, but still use both....sometimes you will need both for the same part....
 
East of Bend….the Obsidian Hills…you can walk out to look for chipped samples and find that the fractured rock you are strolling over is razor sharp, sharp enough to slice the soles of your boots! It’s easy to Grok why the Native Americans used that area for collecting material for arrowheads and spearheads.

North of there….the John Day fossil beds are a very worthy choice for your next explorations, afterwards then turn left and head up into the Ochoco’s and keep your eyes peeled for the somewhat friendly wild horse herds in those scenic forested mountains.
 
The correct answer is "all of the above"..... It is the dumbest reality! As well, the usual 8,10,12,14 mm common wrenches/sockets which after decades of Japanese motorcycles and Toyotas most of us could almost pick out blind, has now been replaced by lots of 9,11,13,15 mm etc., added in with of course, the SAE stuff.
Dang! That is what I thought. I think it was back in 1976 both the US and Canada officially converted to metric. You Canadians did a much better job in the conversion effort. As a field geologist for the federal gov't, we spent a number of years doing all our reports using the metric system. I loved it. Then lazy America slipped back into the stone age with SAE. I now think that there are only three countries still on SAE, the US, Liberia, and Myanmar. Or something to that effect. Enuf said....
 
AbleGuy, my brother and i visited the John Day fossil beds and the Ochoco mtns two years ago last May. I'd love to revisit both! We found a disbursed campsite in the Ochoco's where we had the place to ourselves for several nights. Mature Ponderosa forest. I'll make sure to check out the Obsidian Hills!

A nice off-camber two track in the Ochoco's.

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On the 15th of May we left the beautiful OR countryside and headed up north toward Leavenworth, WA. I wanted to take Todd camping along Icecicle Creek (sp?) as all USFS campgrounds were supposed to open on the 15th. No such luck, every campground was still locked up. So we headed back east toward Spokane.

The east slope of the Cascades is beautiful in the spring!


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We live in such incredible country here in the PNW. Any direction I go there's always something new to see and mountains to cross. These pics are from last summer in the Pioneer mtns in MT. Can't wait to get the Alaskan Camper back there!

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