Our annual fall trip this year was postponed due to harvest season in my new business so instead of our usual late September timing, we ended up going in early November and the weather could not have been more perfect - especially for November. Warm and sunny but not too hot during the day and cool crisp evenings.
This year, I selected a backcountry driving adventure that started in Christmas Valley in South Central Oregon and weaved north on backcountry fire roads eventually existing 100 miles north east of Bend on Hwy 20. We were joined by two other families this year - the Murphy Boys (Dad Patrick, and son Severin) who came with us last year to Big lake and the Swanson Boys (Dad John, with sons Shepard, and Ozzy). We had 3 main targets on this trip. A place called Crack in the Ground, the state champion Western Juniper, and Derrick Cave.
Previous years:
- 2014 - Sparks Lake, OR
- 2015 - Benson Lake, OR
- 2016 - Tam McAuthor Rim, OR
- 2017 - Deschutes River, OR
- 2018 - Big Lake, OR
After driving south and east of Bend for about 3 hours past fort Rock to Christmas valley and then north we hit crack in the ground. I had heard it was interesting but it turned out to be the hit of the trip! A mix of scrambling, canyoneering and caving all in one. It was way better than any of us had expected and probably one of the top places I have ever visited in oregon. We spent all afternoon exploring the cracks. All boys - kids and adults had a blast!
Given that its November and the days being really short, we decided to continue heading north to look for a potential camp site so we would have time to setup, cook and unwind before it got dark. About 5 miles north we came to Green mountain camp site which seemed perfect. A great high desert view, and not a single other person in the camp ground besides us.
We had a fire and told stories and of course had smores - of the gourmet variety with caramel/chocolate and peanut butter/chocolate.
The next morning arrive cool and crisp to start but quickly started warming up. We found a good spot facing into a hill and spend a couple hours allowing the kids to shoot cans. John brought a beautiful wood .22 rifle and I had a .22 pistol for the kids to plink with.
Late morning we got rolling north with our first target an old water pumping station we had heard about.
Next we started off to find the oldest western juniper in Oregon. This turned out to be quite a challenge with the spider web of fire roads that were not labelled correctly in many locations. Finally when we were just about to give up we found it!
After having some lunch at the state champion juniper, we rolled out to head to Derrick cave. Less than 30 minutes got us to Derick Cave which turned out to be an amazing very large lava tube.
On the way there PJ was with John and John let him steer his truck (an F350). PJ thought he was pretty cool.
One of, if not the tallest caverns I have been in in oregon. It had to be 70 ft in spots.
With the day getting late, we put it into high gear and headed north towards highway 20. The backroads were fun and uneventful with everyone getting home just after dark. A great adventure through the heart of the central Oregon high desert backcountry.
