Bend, Oregon

I just relocated to Bend and am looking forward to exploring. If you happen to see me around town, please say hi!

 

I'll keep an eye out, we're bumper twins lol

 

Awesome...sweet rig BTW. I doubt I'll miss it around town!

 

Any cool 4x4 access, dispersed camping near a lake? Just upgraded to a 4WD OR from a 2WD and want to get out and do a little exploring, hopefully something within a couple hours that can be done on a weekend.

 

Wickiup and Crane Prairie

 

The road to Irish and Taylor lakes is "high clearance" only and offers some chances to flex. Mosquitoes can be downright hell though depending on time of year.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, these have been on the list for a while, sounds like it's time to cross them off.

 

This place looks great, do you know if stock suspension and tires are enough to clear the trail obstacles?

 

Should be no problem. Haven't been out there this year but have a couple friends that made it in stock rigs last year (one of them in an old VW vanagon).

 

I did it last year on stock suspension and loaded with camping gear. Keep in mind there was big fire in that area last year, I know waldo lake is closed but not sure if any of that area was damaged.

 

anyone been up up FS370/todd lake rd yet this season? or up edison yet?

 

Not sure if there’s a southern oregon thread/Grants Pass area since that would be a lot closer

 

Hey everyone,

I've been planning an Oregon trip from Colorado for awhile now. I'm planning on being in/around Bend Monday and Tuesday next week, the 4th and 5th.

The original plan is to camp near Lava Lake Monday night, made the reservation a month or two ago. I saw this morning there is a fire, Pete's Lake Fire, around there and Lava Lake is pretty close to the edge of the closure/evacuation area. This one started like a day or two ago.

I know it's hard to predict how a fire will behave, but is this a common occurrence around Bend? I'm starting to get a bit worried and maybe should find another camping area.

I also have a bike rental from Pine Mountain in Bend and was planning on riding from Lava Lake to Bend, but am starting to doubt that as well. It looks like the air quality is pretty poor from all these fires.

I have a camping reservation near Oakridge next Saturday, the 9th. I haven't seen as much fire activity around there, but maybe I'm not looking in the right place.

Does anyone have any insight or opinions on any of this?

 

Unfortunately it's hard to predict fire behavior, however, the closures are typically an expansive "safe" zone to prevent people from potentially getting in the way during a worst case scenario. So I'd say as long as you're not in the closure area, you'll be allowed to camp as normal.

One thing to note though is the smoke. The smoke has been on/off for me out in Redmond depending on the winds. I know closer to those fires it's a lot worse and depending on the wind, you might get smoked out. If you're sensitive to smoke, this might be a bad time to visit.

Watch Duty is a great map for keeping up to date with fires
https://www.watchduty.org/

 

FWIW, im usually better than most in SW bend. EX, AQI was over 500 in sisters a week ago and it was 40 at my house. However, It has been pretty bad for us recently.

 

Lava Lake is at a Level 1 evac from the Pete's Lake fire. Like others have said the smoke is your biggest enemy, but generally I would stay away from anything that is Level 1; the nominal wind direction blows from the West so I imagine it'll just keep getting upgraded unless the moisture in the forecast is actually worth anything.

Oakridge is fine right now; the Bed Rock fire north of Oakridge is coming to a close, but stay away from areas Southwest of Oakridge as there's a complex of small fires over there. One thing to consider is Hwy 126 is closed in all directions near the junction of 242 due to a fire that jumped containment lines over the highway this morning, so if you were planning to take 126 into Eugene before heading down to Oakridge you will want to stay straight on Santiam Hwy into Sweet Home, and then take I5 down to Hwy 58.

Welcome to Oregon during fire season -- friendly reminder please don't burn shit.

 

Thanks for the watch duty app. it seems pretty useful instead of having to navigate google maps and find fires that way. I will reference this a ton.

The smoke is a big concern. I've seen some pictures and news reports from Elk Lake Resort just north of Lava Lake. The last I saw was a lot of smoke and pretty hazy air. It has me torn because in the article it states they still want people there but I'm questioning if thats a good idea.

I didn't realize there was another set of fires southwest of Oakridge. I will need to resarch more about those. The road closure on Hwy 126 shouldn't be a problem for the route I'm taking.

I was planning on heading to the Redwoods later in the trip too, but the Smith River complex fires close the route I was planning on taking from Oakridge to the coast, Hwy 199. Reading through the Redwoods website last night, they make it sound like these fires are common and shouldn't deter visitors from coming. If I do make it down there, I would definitely stock up on supplies well before getting to Crescent City/Hiochi. Maybe Brookings or Gold Beach.

Another question about burn bans. Those lava boxes/ignik fire cans, essentially a propane ammo can fire thing, are these allowed? They don't ban these in Colorado during burn bans. Is it the same in Oregon?

 

They want people there because all of their money comes from tourism. Sure the degree of fires we’re experiencing is “normal” as of late, but at the end of the day it’s your set of lungs you’re looking after. It’s ultimately up to you.

What’s allowed/not allowed depends on the specific forest.
https://gisapps.odf.oregon.gov/firerestrictions/PFR.html

I’m pretty sure there’s a fire inside of redwood national park at the moment but it’s pretty mild.

 

Tourism money makes sense. Thats what I was thinking.

That is a pretty nifty fire map. Nice to know what the restrictions are in different areas. Interesting they prohibit the use of power saws from certain times in some areas, but whatever.

Is there a map of road cameras in Oregon? Like a website where you can look at the camera feed?

We have that in Colorado, https://maps.cotrip.org/@-106.34053,39.2679,8?show=normalCameras
Makes is handy when figuring out if a road is covered in snow or ice or something. If it's a thing for Oregon, maybe I could get an idea of what the smoke or haze is looking like in an area.

*edit. found a map https://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/Road-Conditions?mainNav=RoadConditions&curRegion=0