Fully penetrating Oregon

I’ve been here before – deep into Oregon exploring and adventuring – but most of that time has been spent on the coastal side of the state with some day-touring of the mountains here and there, mainly to see the National Parks. When Kerri and I were planning out this year’s route (which was happening very, very early in our relationship… how did I not scare her off I do not know) we both agreed that Idaho and much of Oregon needed to be included. We both had gaping holes in our travel-maps for this area that needed some filling.

First on that list was John Day Fossil Beds National Monument which was only a few miles down the road from where we left off in my last blog post. Well, actually there are three parts to John Day NM and the first of those three was right down the road, about 45 minutes. The Sheep Rock Unit has the visitor’s center as well as Sheep Rock (seen below, I do not think it looks anything like a sheep). We came here to purchase my lapel pin at the visitor’s center and to see what the park was all about; fossils, lots and lots of fossils… and old – very old – dirt.We left the Sheep Rock Unit to tour the Painted Rock Unit, which we both felt would be the area to see in this park. I mean, painted hills? That’s cool, right? But first we needed to get rid of the trailer we were towing, and as luck would have it there was a BLM dispersed camping area right down the road from the Monument entrance. It’s not a big one, and with the hunting season in full swing the place was packed. We managed to squeeze in between a few other campers to drop the trailer for a single night’s stay. From here we jumped into the park to hike some trail, and take in the sunset that would light up those very painted hills.

In the Painted Hills Unit is a total of about 1.5 miles of hiking trail, none of which is spectacular if you compare it to other National Parks, but we hiked it anyway – all of it – making sure to take in the Overlook Trail in the hour leading up to sunset. The low sun was lighting up the hills perfectly, casting our own shadows onto them.

The night spend in the BLM area went smoothly and we packed up early that morning to make the 90 minute drive into Bend, Oregon. Here we planned to stay the work-week a few miles outside of town-proper in the National Forest. Upon arrival we found that all spots in the first mile or so of this silty-dirty road were occupied, almost all with homeless tent campers who have clearly been staying well past their 14 day maximum. We had to drive deep into the forest to find a mediocre spot to camp in a dusty intersection of two forest roads. Here we spent three nights, and were comfortable enough until the weather threatened three straight days of rain. It is not often I want to camp in town, but knowing what happens to this fine dirt when it gets wet, we made the call to get out on Wednesday night and moved to the local Moose Lodge in the middle of town.

Already having spent a full week in and around Bend, I must say I have been left with a let-down feeling. I expected so much of Bend, and the area just has not met those expectations. I do this a lot actually, and it is no fault of the place itself, but my own way of holding onto years of some fantasy I have built up in my mind. Bend, was just Bend, and nothing more. I went into town every single day to exercise at one of my gyms. Kerri and I dropped in multiple times for brewpubs, coffee shops, and to eat out. After moving into town itself I found myself at the Columbia Outlet store where I could not help myself but to purchase a down jacket and a beanie – items I seriously needed for our backpacking trips. Bend was Bend.

From here we continue South towards California. We have a few more weeks between here and the border but soon enough I will be ‘penetrating’ my most-hated of all states, so be nice to me.