Eastern Oregon is expansive, historic and full of adventure if you can take the heat and make it through the rugged terrain. This September we teamed up with some friends with a Tacoma + Fourwheelcamper and we camped our way though: Ochocoos, Crane, Three Forks, Alvord and Steens.
Meet “Ollie” our Fuso FG + Oliver Camper Adventuremobile! This is one of our final stops on the trip in the Steens, Kieger Gorge is visible in the background.
On our way through John Day we stopped at the Kam Wah Chung Heritage site and were blown away by the work of Ing “Doc” Hay and Lung On.
Wildflowers were plentiful in Three Forks. Here we are descending down to the Owyhee.
We got a prime site near the river and were in awe with the scenery.
Lost the bottom half of my Chaco sandals. Used a tire plug tool and zip-ties to put it back together.
Also got a flat on Plan B, I got the wheel off but didn’t have the tools required to get the tire off the wheel.
Met an amazing fishing guide named Kelly who taught me a ton and really put me onto some fish! Small mouth went crazy for a fly he makes called a “meat banana”.
View of our camp from a ridge. You can kind of see the “Three Forks” of the Owyhee from this point.
Spending 3 days in the same spot meant plenty of time to setup an antenna and play with HAM radios!
Some of the driving made me nervous but we covered some great desert trails with amazing views.
Tod coming towards us across the high desert.
We went slow and savored the views.
Then we headed off for the serenity of the Alvord desert.
Alvord provides some awesome photo opportunities! Just bring your wedding dress.
I really like the Fourwheel camper setup even though it is a bit different than our rig. It was great exposing both types of campers to a variety of challenges and seeing how the trade-offs play out.
Finally cooling off at Pate lake in the Steens, roughly 7,000' in altitude with one hell of a washboarded road.
