Ochocco NF in the Hatch, warning tons of pics

[ferox]

I always like seeing peoples photos of their Subaru adventures, so I thought I would throw some up from my last camping trip in the Maury Mountains, Ochocco National Forest, Central/Eastern Oregon. Normally, I would take the Jeep for a trek like this for clearance, cargo room, and rock hauling ability, but it was still in the middle of several upgrades. So I rebuilt the carb, changed the oil and filters, packed the Hatch and we were off. The odo had just rolled 290k.

 

 

It was dark when we got to Elk Horn campground, but we had the place to ourselves. Nice place, recommended, no fee.

 

 

I generally like to get more remote than official campgrounds, so we crawled around and found a nice spot on the edge of a lava plateau.

 

It was beer' thirty at that point.

 

 

Whelp, we made a little campfire, had a little dinner, and my wife lost a dental filling. She was ok for the night, but the next morning she wandered around in the lava field and actually got a cell signal. She made a dental appointment and we drove 200 miles back to Portland to make the afternoon appt. I realized my radiator fan hadn't been coming on, so I put in a new fan switch. As I was pulling out of the driveway to hit the store for re-supply I discovered I had a flat tire. The next morning I got a new set of Toyos and we were back on the road, and back to the Maurys 18 hours later. We decided we could find a better camping spot, so we explored some more.

 

I rolled a rock and got it stuck under my cat, so I resisted the urge to gun it and pulled the scissor jack for proper rock extraction.

 

 

We did find another camping spot, it was very nice. We later discovered that this area must have been a major Native American flint-knapping area because it was littered with flakes and discards. We saw one lone antelope up here, which was the first I have seen solo and at elevation. They are usually in herds in the lowlands. I gave us a nice show and hauled out of there at around 40 mph, so about ~2/3 speed.

 

 

 

We got some nice hiking in. Didn't see or hear another human...just the way we like it. Me looking for the mountain lion, who's scat we started seeing around. This looked like a good den area

 

 

Found some nice old growth Juniper. This broken old tree is probably over 2,000 years old in my opinion, maybe a lot more. I have found a lot of ancient Junipers out here in the 5000-7000 ft elevation range. This one is around 5,500 feet. Some day I would like to do some real field research on these and find out for sure. This one was over 4 ft in diameter at the base.

 

 

On the way back from that hike I started to snow. No problem, but it sleeted all night, and my otherwise awesome tent decided to suddenly stop being waterproof. We "slept" in puddles.

 

 

We still had one more night of camping before meeting friends in Bend, so the next day we decided to make a day of it before driving back to Portland again. My wife went for a run while I drank my coffee. Turns out, she ran up behind a mountain lion in the road. She mistook it for a horse at first because it was so huge. Luckily she's a very quiet runner and got out of there as it was turning around. She came running into camp breathless and carrying a giant Flintstones club of a stick and I'm thinking, man she must really like that stick. She was totally freaked. Like many women, my wife has mixed feelings about firearms, so I have to admit it was kind of cool to have her ask me to strap on the Browning. We decided to spend the rest of our day elsewhere.

 

We did stop to look for cat prints, but the road was hard packed gravel.

 

 

We stopped by the Maury Mountain Agate Beds but it requires a good amount of digging and has been picked over a lot. The view was nice though

 

 

We decided to go to the Southfork Limb Cast area and try our luck finding limbcasts. It is known for pink and green quartz casts. It turned out to be a very non-descript, middle of nowhere, amazing place. Limbcast material was everywhere. Truly a rockhounding bonanza.

 

 

We got there late, so we didn't get too much but it was awesome.

 

Driving out:

 

 

 

Back to Portland, shower, sleep, back to Bend

 

Dropping into Warm Springs Indian Reservation

 

 

Tumalo Falls

 

 

 

After a fun weekend in Bend it was back home for some R & R

 

 

We did over 1,200 miles on this trip. The car drove like a dream. I have been using the STP oil additive recently and the engine is really smooth and quiet. We got 31 mpg on the highway fully loaded and foot to the floor on the mtn passes. I would have preferred not the drive so much, but the fact that the car drove so well made it much more tolerable. It was about as much fun as you can have with stock wheels and no lift

Edited July 14, 2012 by ferox

[maozebong]

looks like a pretty great trip out there.

 

 

are there lots of deposits of cool minerals out there? i wouldn't know, ive never been out there, and ohio doesnt have anything like that.

[idosubaru]

nice photo journal.

 

so you've seen mountain lions before? that's awesome, i can't imagine that. i've camped/hunted at 10,000 ft in Colorado three different times and no signs of the reclusive jokers. my grandfather went to the same area 25 years and only heard one one time, never saw any.

[ferox]

are there lots of deposits of cool minerals out there? i wouldn't know, ive never been out there, and ohio doesnt have anything like that.

Tons of cool rocks and minerals. The area we were in is adjacent to a valley area that has deposits all over the place. Thundereggs, jasper, agate, limb casts, petrified wood, and of course Glass Butte is a mountain of obsidian and the John Day Fossil Beds are on the north side of the main Ochocco Forest. The towns that are big enough to have a Chamber of Commerce will stake claims in the name of their Chamber of Commerce so the public can come and collect. There are also lots of ranches that charge a little money to come dig on their known deposits. They will also assist with back-hoes and stuff as well. It's hard to convey what it's like with all the public land we have here. It's a wonderland. I almost forgot the Sunstones down south (gem quality feldspar) with 6 acres of public collecting area and nice fee mines open to the public. If I think of it this weekend I throw up some pics of some of my finds. Edited July 19, 2012 by ferox

[ferox]

so you've seen mountain lions before? that's awesome, i can't imagine that. i've camped/hunted at 10,000 ft in Colorado three different times and no signs of the reclusive jokers. my grandfather went to the same area 25 years and only heard one one time, never saw any.

I actually haven't and it's a bugger because I have found lots of sign and been on other camping trips where my friends have seen them. I have always just missed them. I wish I had gone jogging with my wife that morning, but then again maybe we would have been talking and scared it off before we saw it. I have seen just about everything else, including a giant mated pair of Lynx, which is rare this far south, but no mountain lion or wolf. I don't think I have a healthy enough fear of the lions. I kind of wonder if they can sense that I am more likely to run toward them than away, so they don't reveal themselves to me. Someday I will see one and hopefully it's not the last thing I see.

[turbosubarubrat]

u should get a set of peugeot 14in rims with 195/75/14's on them gave my 85 brat a 3 inch lift plus if u tighten the suspension it will lift the front another inch:headbang:also it makes it so when u do very sharp turns the tires dont rub the fenders;)

[ShawnW]

The best old Subaru memories I have had are all in unlifted rigs. Smooth, still capable, and dead on reliable. Sometimes I think a few of the "upgrades" are downgrades in the end but I love em all.

[turbosubarubrat]

i think the 14in peugeots are a good upgrade they fill up the wheel well a little more and it gives it a cleaner look thats very close to stock without lifting:headbang:plus u can always through the 13s back on because same bolt pattern:D

[porcupine73]

Wow that's amazing, great photos and story. It looks like it was a wonderful trip. Once in a great while I will see a nice older Subaru around here but it is always with out of state plates since after about 10 years here cars just rot.

[Subruise]

makes me want to go back to Richardsons Ranch. Been there yet? I went as a kid and got lots of limbcast and thundereggs on a big hippy tribe/family road trip. If I ever leave WA and dont go back to MT itll be Oregon for sure. btw i like your two tone

[ferox]

i think the 14in peugeots are a good upgrade they fill up the wheel well a little more and it gives it a cleaner look thats very close to stock without lifting:headbang:plus u can always through the 13s back on because same bolt pattern:D

I agree the 14's are nice. I sold off the 4 full sets I had because I sold my two wagons and I am going to do a 5 or 6 lug swap in the future. I decided to just run stock until then. The 13" tires are a little cheaper too. If you know how to pick a line on the washed out backroads you can do a lot with the 13's. Eventually I am doing a 4" lift, so we'll see what tire size I end up with after that.

[ferox]

Wow that's amazing, great photos and story. It looks like it was a wonderful trip. Once in a great while I will see a nice older Subaru around here but it is always with out of state plates since after about 10 years here cars just rot.

Thanks, it's too bad about the rusty states. My newest car is 24 years old. This trip just goes to show how much value and capability a 30 year old Sube has. I wish Subaru would make a new version of the hatch with dual range and a lift. I think they would be so popular they would have a hard time keeping them in stock.

[ferox]

makes me want to go back to Richardsons Ranch. Been there yet? I went as a kid and got lots of limbcast and thundereggs on a big hippy tribe/family road trip. If I ever leave WA and dont go back to MT itll be Oregon for sure. btw i like your two tone

I haven't been to Richardson's yet, because I am always going remote, but once we are in a family way I think Richardson's will be the way to go. They are not far from where we were on this trip. Their property is highly productive, and I am totally jealous. It's cool that they let people collect there. Even though they charge a fee, they could just as easily hoard it all and sell finished pieces. It's way cooler when you collect it yourself. A friend of mine just went there with her family and had a great time..highly recommended to anyone passing through there.

 

Thanks on the paint job. It originally started as a little bit on the hood and eventually I just did the whole top. It's mostly bed-liner topped with epoxy wheel paint. It turned into a hardened enamel type texture and hasn't chipped at all over the past five years. Eventually I will probably do the whole car in green and black, but it works great for now.