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{"id":3662,"date":"2021-07-09T12:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T20:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/?p=3662"},"modified":"2022-02-23T12:04:21","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T20:04:21","slug":"eastern-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/eastern-oregon\/","title":{"rendered":"Beating 2021\u2019s Summer Heat and Bad Juju in Eastern Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"

With 2021\u2019s sweltering heat even in early July, we continued to look for camping at high elevation and near water.  Believe it or not, Halfway, OR<\/span><\/strong> met our needs more than halfway.<\/p>\n

HALFWAY AND FISH LAKE<\/h4>\n

Halfway, OR<\/span><\/strong> is \u201chalf way along\u201d the route to Enterprise, OR<\/span><\/strong> via the dramatic Hells Canyon Scenic Byway<\/span><\/strong>.  We took a detour from that route to climb into the mountains west of town to reach the Fish Lake<\/span><\/strong> campground.  It was very quiet during the week (even on the 4th<\/sup> of July) so I\u2019m guessing mostly locals use the area.  Each spot had great lake access, of which, we took full advantage and again broke out the raft.<\/p>\n

Hot summer days were good for reading, hammock naps, and paddling the lake.  We did see some people fishing but never witnessed a catch. <\/p>\n\n\n

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    Fish Lake<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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        There was no cell signal at our campsite, but with the bikes we were able to ride to nearby Twin Lakes<\/span><\/strong>, an abandoned hilltop fire tower, and a location part way to town that gave us a few bars of service.  The 20 mile ride was a good way to break up the week and Doug fit in some \u201cdanger\u201d by ignoring all warning signs for a good pic of the Wallowa Mountains<\/span><\/strong> in the distance from the top of the tower.<\/p>\n\n\n

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              HELL\u2019S CANYON AND THE LOSTINE WILDERNESS<\/h4>\n

              When laundry became a priority, we packed the RV and headed back out on the Hell\u2019s Canyon Scenic Byway<\/span><\/strong> for the town of Joseph<\/span><\/strong>.  Hells Canyon<\/span><\/strong> encompasses over 70 miles of the Snake River<\/span><\/strong> that flows from the Hells Canyon Dam<\/span><\/strong> to the Washington<\/span><\/strong> state line.  It\u2019s safe to say that most of Hell\u2019s Canyon<\/span><\/strong> cannot be reached by car\/RV and at the overlook, it\u2019s easy to imagine that the land below is much the same as when it was occupied by the Nez Perce and Shoshone tribes, with little human interference.<\/p>\n

              Joseph, OR<\/span><\/strong> is one of those towns that\u2019s small enough that every high school graduate was being honored along its main street, photos and all.  There were a handful of restaurants, boutiques, the laundromat and an obligatory ice cream shop open.  Its main drag is approximately 6 blocks long.  Its sidewalks are clean, the buildings well maintained, and the workers were friendly. <\/p>\n

              We left in a good mood not realizing that a string of bad karmic events were headed our way<\/p>\n\n\n

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                Downtown Joseph, OR<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n

                Exploring the Lostine Canyon<\/span><\/strong> (just SW of Enterprise), \u201cwe\u201d hit a hidden stump while negotiating a tight turn in the first of two Lostine<\/span><\/strong> campgrounds.  Doug spent the next morning performing some \u201cfield repairs\u201d of a plastic panel behind the front bumper. Upon departure, adding insult to injury, we hit the RV\u2019s retractable step on yet another hidden stump.  This required some hammering to straighten out and for the next few months, standing on one leg and using the other foot to \u201chelp it up\u201d each time retraction was needed. <\/p>\n\n\n

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                  The second Lostine<\/span><\/strong> campground was a more open\/RV-friendly campground.  Here we dipped our toes in the cool mountain stream and tried, unsuccessfully, to coax Bailey into a little swimming.  Doug hiked 4 miles up (2,400 ft ascent) to Maxwell Lake<\/span><\/strong> (beautiful, but hard to enjoy due to swarms of hungry mosquitoes) for sunset views of the Wallowa Mountains<\/span><\/strong> behind the campground.  When he arrived back at the RV much after dark, I realized that without cell signal, we hadn\u2019t made a very good plan regarding what should be done if he hadn\u2019t returned.<\/p>\n

                  A small bridge lies just at the edge of the campground and the waterfall just beyond on the Maxwell Lake Trail<\/span><\/strong>  is well worth the short hike. <\/p>\n

                  We hiked to Hunter Falls<\/span><\/strong>, which was roaring, on our way out of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n

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                    Lostine Campground #2<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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                      Maxwell Lake<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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                        Maxwell Lake Trail<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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                        Hunter Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n

                         PUSHING FOR IDAHO<\/h4>\n

                        We typically follow the rule of 3 \u2013 no more than 3 hours of driving and arrive at camp by 3pm but after a late start from Lostine<\/span><\/strong>, we decided to stop at Terminal Gravity Brewery<\/span><\/strong> in Enterprise, OR<\/span><\/strong> for some burgers.  We rarely eat out, so this was a real treat!<\/p>\n

                        Back on the road, we swooped through the curves with the setting sun exposing a fiery jumpsuit orange sky when karma slapped us yet again.  An antelope and it\u2019s baby came flying out of the brush right in front of us.  We slowed to check for the animals but both had disappeared back over burmbs behind us.  Although we\u2019re still not sure, the hit to the front driver\u2019s side bumper was so loud that the smaller antelope\u2019s likely fate was pretty certain and I whimpered and sniffled longer than many would.  We couldn\u2019t have prevented the run in, but both the hit and not knowing the outcome bothered me a lot, as did the string of unfortunate events.  Just a few days later, a deer kamakazied into the side of the RV on our way to Idaho bringing our not-so-grand total for the week to 2 stump jumps and 2 animals hit – before the carnage ceased.  The second deer incident was just as difficult as the first.  Now, driving at dusk always knots my stomach.<\/p>\n\n\n

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                          NEARING IDAHO<\/h4>\n

                          Our boondocking spot was a dirt parking lot near a sign noting \u201cBezona Water Access<\/span><\/strong>\u201d \u2013 a put-in for the Grande Ronde River<\/span> <\/strong>just to the north of the Oregon<\/span><\/strong> border.  The picture below doesn’t do it justice…it was quite possibly the ugliest location we\u2019ve stayed\u2026but it could also be that my recollection is colored by the antelope we\u2019d hit earlier that evening as well.<\/p>\n

                          Doug loved eastern Oregon<\/span><\/strong> and we did visit some amazing locations, but with all the bad karma, I was happy the day we entered Idaho<\/span><\/strong>.  I had hoped that somehow the portal into Idaho<\/span><\/strong> would require us to shed this bad karmic robe and it did. <\/p>\n\n\n

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                            Bezona Water Access<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                            With 2021\u2019s sweltering heat even in early July, we continued to look for camping at high elevation and near water.  Believe it or not, Halfway, OR met our needs more than halfway. HALFWAY AND FISH LAKE Halfway, OR is \u201chalf way along\u201d the route to Enterprise, OR via the dramatic Hells Canyon Scenic Byway.  We took a detour from that route to climb into the mountains west of town to reach the Fish Lake campground.  It was very quiet during the week (even on the 4th of July) so I\u2019m guessing mostly locals use the area.  Each spot had great lake access, of which, we took full advantage and again broke out the raft. Hot summer days were good for reading, hammock naps, and paddling the lake.  We did see some people fishing but never witnessed a catch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16,3],"tags":[29,62,63,23,18,30,10],"class_list":["post-3662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boondock","category-cycling","category-travel","tag-boondock","tag-hells-canyon","tag-lostine-wilderness","tag-oregon","tag-rv","tag-scenic-cycle","tag-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/2D02B9F7-2CD5-4AA3-AA2F-0420953351C1-scaled.jpeg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3662"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3963,"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3662\/revisions\/3963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wonderwherenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}