Road Trip

Abert Lake and Rim

It was time for a road trip!  A friend from Seattle came down to Bend in his pickup on Thursday night, we loaded up my stuff, and headed east.  This was a classic road trip of yore.  Lots of driving, no itinerary, just a few days away and a desire to see something new.  It is getting hard for me to achieve that last goal these days.  The back roads were wet, limiting the options, but we still managed to check out the Black Hills near Christmas Valley and hit a back road into Abert Lake that I had not yet traveled. Spent a night in the cold and snow near Cabin Lake, a second might on a beautiful ridge top in Diamond Craters, and the final night at Chukar Park near Juntura.  Some observations:

* Leslie Gulch was crowded, as it has been in the last few years.  There are almost a million people in the greater Boise - Treasure Valley area. This is no longer a remote area.
* Succor Creek is beautiful, but too close to the Boise sprawl.
* Those large side-by-side off road vehicles are everywhere.  It was sobering to see the amount of damage caused by them, particularly near Succor Creek SP.
* Diamond Craters is fantastic.
* This should be a great wildflower season in Oregon's High Desert with all of the moisture we have had.

Pete French's Round Barn

Heading down into Leslie Gulch