6th Annual Boys Fall Camping Trip - South Central Oregon (2019)

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:

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.   

Annual Labor Day Family Campout - 2019

We had such a great time last year camping a Little Crater Campground, on Paulina Lake in Newberry Crater south of Bend that we decided to go with the same place again this year.    Unfortunately Abbie was a little under the weather this year recovering from Pneumonia, but we made the best of it.  Some friends from Church - Pete and Dara came up Saturday for dinner which was really fun.

 Around Camp


Hike up the "Big Obsidian Flow"


Pete And Dara Visit with a big batch of Dutch oven Chili!


On the lake and of course a visit to the hot springs




Gearhart Wilderness Adventure

Kelly and Abbie were down in California, so the boys went away to play for the weekend.  I had picked this book up from Costco earlier in the year and figured this would be a good opportunity to pick out a weekend adventure trip.

Our destination was the Gearhart Wilderness area.  See this map below of Oregon - its in the extreme south central/eastern part of the state.

On Friday we drove after work south and stopped and camped at a campground just off the 97 just North of Chiloquin. 

Saturday we got onto the route - basically a circumnavigation of Gearhart mountain on fire roads.  This was true eastern Oregon back country driving.  Very few people (even though we were in the heart of tourist season).   The driving was beautiful and being a little higher in elevation made for perfect warm days (not hot) and cool nights.  One of the neat spots we hit Saturday morning was an old fire tower still standing and accessible but no longer in operation for what looked like many years.  

After the fire tower we continued on to our next stop Campbell lake where we cooled off, had some lunch and tried fishing. (no luck).

For our evening camp spot Saturday we have a few options but we ultimately chose a campsite called Sandhill Campground.  We had it to ourselves - not a soul besides our group for the afternoon and evening and not even a car drove by.    It had the Sprague river bubbling through the campsite giving us our own private river beach.  A magical place.  (I have heard it gets busy in the fall for hunting season).

The campground also had water accessible by an old fashioned hand pump.  Boys had never seen a working hand-pump so Noah decided he wanted to get his water that way.


Alder Springs Hike/Swim

A warm, but not hot day for early July so we decided to try a water hole in the desert called Alder Springs deep in a desert Canyon.  north of Bend.  It was a rough drive in and very desert dry at the parking lot so we weren't sure what to expect.  We hiked in and down into the Canyon for a couple miles and found this beautiful hidden spot on the creek where we swam and played for the afternoon.  

The hike into the Canyon

Swimming and playing in the creek


Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery, Metolius, Camp Sherman

While staying at Black Butte this weekend, we did a half day exploration close by to visit Wizard Falls fish hatchery with Lunch in the hamlet of Camp Sherman.  The fish hatchery was really fun - Felt like something out of the 1960's.  While there we did a short hike along the Metolius River.  The river here is amazingly blue, as its only a couple of miles from its source.  

Snowpocalypse 2019

This past week we got hammered with snow.  We beat a single day snowfall record in Feb that was set in 1917.  Since Monday we had over 30 inches fall in our yard... and its March now!

Around the house

Cross country skiing in the Neighborhood

Walking after the storm

Playing