Trip to Hart Mountain

The Chewaucan River near Paisley

A three-day Memorial Day weekend provided a great opportunity for a road trip out east. Our objective was Hart Mountain, where I have not been in over a dozen years. I was eager to see what 10 years of rest from cattle grazing have done for the antelope refuge. Our first night out was spent on the banks of the Chewaucan River, one of my favorite Oregon streams. There has been a good deal of enhancement work done along the lower portion of the river and it looks great. Now if only the upper portions can be restored we'd have a fully functioning Great Basin Redband Trout river system. Still, a beautiful place to hang out for a night. We then continued on to Hart Mountain where the throngs of Memorial Day campers were waiting. In all of my previous trips combined I have not seen this many people at the Hart Mountain Hot Springs Campground. Too bad, this is not a place that benefits from too much company. Still, the sagebrush ecosystem is looking great, and the wildflowers were terrific. We managed to grab a hot springs pool away from the "improved" tubs and had it to ourselves. The wide open spaces were great once one got away from the campground. The next day we decided to head back west a bit and ended up in the North Warner Mountains. Not many campgrounds around here and the mosquitoes were hungry near the water sources so we stayed at the South Fork Crooked Creek trailhead instead. A nice high elevation aspen grove with trails heading off in two directions. Good trip, I am eager to return to the Chewaucan area for more explorations.

Hart Mountain views

Looking north to Poker Jim Ridge

In the North Warner Mountains