This is the "I f*cking love Oregon" thread

digging this oregon weather lately, im really scared for summer.

 

Went on a solo adventure to eastern Oregon, Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in Lake county a few days ago:

View of the Warner Valley, Poker Jim Ridge to the right. This area is right under some military airspace, and shortly after taking this picture I saw some F-15 jets come out to play, chasing each other around in high-G turns, dropping flares, and I heard one sonic boom. It was so loud, the ground shook!



View from a small basalt cliff:



Had to turn around and back track a long way when I saw this invitation to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, with nothing good to winch to.




So much wide open space with very little sign of human activity:

 

So in a case like that, then the road is mud but everything is dry around it, can't you just drive around some brush "off road" and get past the mud hole? I'm not used to that terrain at all. It made me think of that Alaska Offroad adventure show where the path on the road was always rutted and muddy but it was solid on either side but they bogged down in the mud for the sake of sticking to the road.

Around here you need to stick to roads because its all 9"-60" diameter trees on either side.

 

I considered it, but the sage brush a little farther down the road was pretty thick and about 18" tall, and the section to bypass was too long so it just wasn't worth the risk. This and a couple of other spots made me wish I had one of those Pull-Pal winch anchors, but they are heavy, expensive, and I usually explore places that have enough trees for winch recovery so I don't think I'll buy one.

 

^^^thats a great place, i was down there a few months ago when the pink flamingos were around nearby. Hot spring spas and steens mountains are a good visit in that area. I remember staying at the diamond bed and breakfast a few years ago. Miss that area.

 

Leslie Gulch. Certainly within my top 10 faves in Oregon. Tough to choose though, so many incredible places. Was excited to find a thread on this topic, I could go on and on about reasons Oregon rocks for a very long time, with lots and lots of pictures........warning, I may begin seriously stalking this thread : )

 

'Shrooms were out and fish were biting in Eastern Oregon last weekend.





We rode for sixty miles and didn't see a single person.

 

I am so jealous you live in Eastern Oregon!! We plan to move that way someday. Figured we'd have to wait til retirement, cuz a job hunt there would be brutal. Then we even thought of moving to Boise since it's big enough to have some jobs, and at least we'd be a good amount closer to all the stuff we love over there.

Anyway - just wanted you to know (and it looks like you do, and you even appreciate it!) you are very lucky to live in such an outdoor paradise, complete with a Taco to getcha around of course, and I am extremely jealous and will now go back to planning my next trip there, which will be way too short like they always are, because I never want to leave once I am there.