Builds Ozzi, 2000 HZJ78 in Canada - travel/maintenance/build (1 Viewer)

[janyyc]

Heading south meant crossing the US border once again, this time at another small outpost in Nelway. The officers here took their job very seriously, giving every vehicle an inspection, so it was slow going, but eventually we were through and in Washington State.

Nelway from the Canadian side - note the Crown Vic - haven't seen one of those in gov't use for ages.

The first town we passed was Metaline Falls, where it was clear some sort of festival was ongoing. It turned out to be their yearly "Bigfoot Festival", which seemed to be a big draw from surrounding areas.

More interesting to me was a canoe workshop tucked away on one of the side-streets.

A little more driving and we were in Spokane, where we stopped at the Costco to refuel and buy a single bottle of wine (to the surprise of the receipt-checker), and at a brewery downtown for a Fathers' Day Eve burger & beer. Still running away from a bitterly cold wind and rain, we continued south along stunning roads, including parts of the Palouse Scenic Byway.

 

[janyyc]

Heading into Colfax, we started seeing numerous railroad speeders on trailers, and suddenly we saw where they were unloading them - apparently a little get-together and run of these charming little vehicles.

 

[janyyc]

The highway dips into Idaho, and soon one is presented with a dramatic view of Lewiston ID and surroundings.

We drove through town, filled up water at a water fountain next to a tennis court (that took a while), and made our way to Umatilla National Forest. Just inside the National Forest, there was a beautiful spot with a spectacular view and this would be our camp for the night.

 

[janyyc]

Despite the pictures showing a beautiful, sunny day, it was actually windy and cold, so a fire was in order.

 

[janyyc]

After a cold nights' sleep we woke and started the fire, made breakfast, and took a quick and hot shower under a pine tree.

We drove a little further into the National Forest to see another viewpoint, and though our campsite was better, here we could "pose" the Troopy for a photo.

Then we followed Highway 129 south into the northeastern corner of Oregon.

I often plot routes by studying maps, equating twisty roads to scenic drives: once again, this theory was proved to be accurate, as the road between Lewiston ID and Enterprise OR was spectacular.

 

[janyyc]

We swung into Enterprise, and as charming as it and the many other towns we would pass were, absolutely everything was closed on a Sunday, everywhere. It was impossible to get a coffee, or visit a brewery, even dinner options were limited to fast-food chains.

We stopped in Elgin to see the Opera House and railway carriages.

In La Grande, we refuelled and stopped for coffee. The weather forecast was constantly evolving, and despite heading into regions where no rain was supposed to fall, the situation was worsening. With no reason to be anywhere in particular, we decided simply to press on. We drove south on the freeway a little towards Baker City, pictured below, (it is so much more pleasant to drive a Troopy on the scenic byways than an American freeway), and then headed west towards John Day.

 

[janyyc]

Though there was no cell phone service, my last updated precipitation map showed a good campsite in the Malheur National Forest as having little risk of rain. After driving on a picture-perfect highway towards the park, we headed to a designated campground (fine, but without any character) and proceeded deeper into the park towards a fire lookout. The road was rutted and a bit slippery from mud, but we didn't bother locking in the hubs and made it comfortably. The sun even came out for a few moments once we reached the top!

Of course we headed a little further down the mountain to camp, as the wind and temperature were not welcoming, and I took the opportunity to photograph some beautiful popcorn lupin, Indian paintbrush, and collect some unusually early slippery jacks I came across.

 

[janyyc]

OK, we completely avoided rain - one point for us. Instead, though, we were presented with snow. Yes, June 16, 2024, snow in central Oregon. Living in Alberta, I'm used to crazy weather, but somehow we Canadians always think "down south" = warm.

At first, it was innocent and amusing. We were literally camped on the track (judging by the lack of tracks in the muddy sections, there hadn't been traffic in a long, long time), and we simply used the road as a base for our campfire ring. The snow was a stark contrast to the late spring flowers.

The beer we had for the evening kept up with the theme, as we joke in the family that my dad loves snow. Perfect Fathers' Day!

We had corn on the cob for the evening meal, which we grilled directly on the fire.

And then things got more interesting...

 

[janyyc]

Of course the temperature was also rapidly falling, and was under 0C. By pure happenstance, we had chosen an ideal spot - not windy, covered by the massive pine tree above us, and we could sit by the fire rather comfortably.

The snow did accumulate quite quickly.

Winter camping has never been on my radar or wish-list, and will definitely remain off of it for now, since any setup we have will always focus on outside living, but the situation was quite amusing and we fully embraced it.

We called it a night rather early, and entertained ourselves inside with some travel shows I had downloaded onto my laptop. Our fingers were frozen solid from cleaning up and packing everything, with the full knowledge and foresight that the following morning we would simply change and go.

 

[janyyc]

After a surprisingly good nights' sleep, all in long-sleeves and at the very edge of our sleeping bags' capabilities, we woke to a layer of snow on the entire vehicle.

Obviously we didn't have a window-scraper with us, which meant using the old-school credit card method instead. Ozzi was happy to oblige and started beautifully - certainly the glow-plug replacement in winter helped. We made our way down from the higher elevation and found snow even at lower elevations, though without such significant accumulation.

 

[janyyc]

We headed through the National Forest south, and emerged onto a county road.



From there we proceeded to Burns, OR, which was probably the least charming and enticing town we visited on this trip. Stopping for coffee, people were asking us with curiosity where we got the snow on our vehicle - despite driving for well over an hour, enough had stayed on the vehicle to garner attention.

From Burns, we headed south-east again - still running away from weather which just didn't allow us to warm up in the slightest. These roads were spectacular, some of the loneliest and emptiest stretches of highway I have ever encountered.

We turned off onto a ranch road, and headed towards some (relatively) undeveloped hot springs.

The hot springs themselves were a BLM campground. The setting was quite alright, with decent views, lots of birds, and a nice pool for bathing. Unfortunately the campsites themselves were quite uninviting, offering no privacy whatsoever and being essentially a large gravel parking lot, and in particular the fire pits were full of other peoples' refuse. However, we enjoyed lunch and a quick dip in the springs, which offered the warmth we so deeply desired.

 

[FJBen]

@janyyc
I remember growing up in the mountains of colorado. We went back packing and camping in early July. We went to sleep much like yours started, sleet and cold rain. We awoke to 6” of snow. While prepared for rain and cold weather, the snow was definitely not something we were ready for.

I feel your pain!

 

[janyyc]

We continued southwest, looking for a good campsite, and by simply following tracks on a map we reached a very secluded location through which no-one had driven in some time. We were surrounded by grassland, and despite the fire danger being "1 - Low" everywhere we made a solid fire ring from rocks which were scattered here or there, stomped out all the grass around, and lit a small fire to cook dinner on.

Some nice steaks we had purchased earlier in the day...

And very satisfying results!

After dinner I went on an exploratory walk, which naturally involved climbing the hill to see what was "beyond".

 

[janyyc]

Reaching the top of the hill, I was presented with an open view of more grasslands, and more curiously, 1 bar of 4G (nb: it's quite interesting that in the USA I found very, very weak service in many camps far out in the middle of nowhere, while in Canada service is truly limited to towns).

Golden hour was upon us as I returned to camp, and I enjoyed the play of light on the grasses.

 

[janyyc]

The evening was once again quite cold, so a fire of dead sage bush branches was just what we needed.

It was a wonderful nights' sleep, and we woke in the morning to prepare the usual breakfast. No shower this morning, the lack of trees and shower arm meant we were limited in what we could do!

 

[janyyc]

After packing up camp, we headed further on this track, hoping to explore something untouched. Indeed, we were treated to spectacular country, bringing to mind scenes from Western movies.

 

[janyyc]

Spotting some antelope in the distance, I sent up my drone to film them... They were skittish and very, very fast. I could not keep up with them!



We headed off of the track and onto the highway just north of Fields, OR, a small town with a general store, fuel station, and water tank. The entire 4Runner crowd had to stop to refuel at rather exorbitant prices, but not us - one of the benefits of 180L "in the tank". Pointing our nose northwards, we headed towards the Alvord Desert, constantly in awe at the varying landscapes Oregon has to offer. My plan for the trip had been quite different - basically to explore BC and make my way down South through WA and OR, but not deeper than Bend, which of course was our final destination. This was all "on-the-fly" exploration, and luckily with a suite of apps and sporadic cell phone service I could ensure every day had something spectacular to offer.

 

[janyyc]

The Alvord Desert came into view as we crested a little hill: a spectacular sight to behold, and one that we did not expect in the slightest on this adventure. What a place! After dumping our trash in the big communal bin, of course we couldn't resist having a go at driving on the dry lakebed.

 

[mt72]

The desert

 

[janyyc]

After finding our way off of the desert (not straightforward, actually!) we continued north alongside the desert, in the shadow of Steens Mountain, passing by some fields which looked completely dry, yet had machinery working and creating immense dust-storms. We hoped to cross the mountain (interestingly, it is not a range, but a single, enormous mountain) and explore on the other side, but that meant following tracks with no guarantee they would be passable. After turning off the "highway" (in any case no more than a gravel road), we encountered a gurgling stream with lush vegetation, and this marked the beginning of our ascent.

This section of the track is part of one of the Oregon BDR's, and follows the stream into the mountains - a pleasant and easy (though slow...) track.

Just as we reached the top of the ridge, we turned off the BDR route and started following a mixture of saved satellite maps and OnX "tracks", through a high alpine plateau. This may have been unwise, as we had the odds stacked against us: traveling solo, no recovery boards, no working winch. June in the mountains is definitely still spring (and it had been a remarkably wet one to begin with), and some areas were quite wet, muddy, and soggy. Judicious driving was the key. The biggest issue was that the tracks, though visible on satellite maps, were completely overgrown in parts, and driving was truly a two-person operation. My dad did the driving, and I did the navigating.

The land is a mixture of BLM with small private holdings, some of which we traversed using the easements.

I found a nice little write-up online of the region when searching for the above cabin, might be worth a read if you're interested: A Tour of Cabins atop Steens Mountain | ADVENTURETACO - https://adventuretaco.com/a-tour-of-cabins-atop-steens-mountain/