Good afternoon Overlanders!
A couple of friends and I just finished a long weekend out in Eastern Oregon. We did part of the OTG Alvord route but took a couple of detours and explored a little more of the area around the Alvord and a little further into Jordan Valley. On the first night, Friday, we stayed at the Narrows RV park and let me tell you, when I say these people are absolute angels, they really are! We hadn't planned on staying in an actual camp ground but it was 8:30 and dark and we didn't want to continue until 10:40pm when we originally were going to arrive at our destination. We decided to find a spot but were greeted by one of the owners. She was amazing. She said we could settle up in the morning and to let her know if we needed anything. We took one of the largest spots in the far back and finagled our rigs into it as to not take up too much space (We all have RTTs so it was an easy squeeze).
Saturday morning we took our time getting ready, paid for our spot and hit the road by about 9:30am. We made our way down to Jordan Valley/Rome area and took a fun dirt road over to the Pillars of Rome. These were absolutely stunning. We got some amazing pictures and even went up a small hill to get some cute vehicle shots with the pillar's in the background.
Rome station was a great place to fill up before heading back towards along Steens Highway and turning on to Folly Farm Road which turns into a road called the East Steens Road. The road turns to gravel very quickly and it scared the poop out of me when I was taking in the scenery and suddenly felt the front end of my car drop and the rumble of a washboard road. The pavement and the gravel are basically the same color when it changes from one to the other. The East Steen road feels like it goes on forever and ever and ever. Unending gravel and wild sage brush while you take in the Steens on the right side of the road. This was so cool to see even in the midst of the haze from the wildfires in Northern California and in Southern Oregon on the other side of the mountains. It was crazy to be that close to the mountains and see them go up into the sky. (it makes you feel very very small)
Once you finally break free of the never-ending valley of rolling hills and sage brush, you find yourself staring at the odd sight of a beach or what you think is a beach, you get this amazing view of white ground that is brighter than everything else that is between the base of the long stretch of mountains. The Alvord campground is nice but you have to pay to use the restrooms. If you're just looking for a quick pitstop and an easy place to toss trash, go about a half mile to mile up the road to the Frog Spring sign. There is a vault bathroom (I did not go in it so I have no clue how clean it is.) and a very large dumpster to toss trash into. All in all, the area is well kept. This is an easy access down to the salt flats, we originally went down a different spot with a couple of ruts but SUV's and small trucks could make it down with no issue. At Frog spring small vehicles (i.e. Sedans) can make it down no problem. Don't pay for access at the Alvord Campground, it's free access if you can find a road down.
From there we headed in to the flat. This was so much fun. Zoomzooming at 50-60mph while maintaining a reasonable and safe distance from each other was the time of my life! The salt bed is soft and plush and there is little resistance to the tires. The biggest thing to remember is to stay on the white colored areas. If you go into the darker area, almost a brown sugar kind of color, that's where it gets sticky and the mud will trap you. Other than that, honestly it's time to have some fun!
We decided to call it early, we had been driving for a while and it was a good time, around 3:30 to set up shop. We drove out a little ways and popped the tents open and set up home base. My suggestion to people who go: A) Bring a canopy of sorts or an awning to create some shade. We sat under our RTTs for some shade and it was nice enough with a breeze to not be too hot. B) Bring some sort of pass time. If that's a game of corn hole or a volleyball and net, so be it. It's good to have something to do. We loved chatting with each other but it would have been nice to have some good ole camping games or something. (We even forgot a card deck!) C) Water. Water. Water. I did not drink enough while we were out here and ended up with a gnarly headache towards the evening. Even after a few bottles, it lingered like crazy. You are in a higher elevation and it's hot and dry, best to keep hydrated even if you think you have drank enough, you haven't. Keep on it.
The night was absolutely beautiful. The sky was clear, despite a light haze, but you could see the big dipper and little dipper, we even saw Jupiter in it's bright orange glory. You could see almost all of the milky way after blue hour and the sunset was ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. I mean reds, yellows, oranges, small hints of purple. Oh my gosh, it's been so long since I got to see the sky like this. Pictures don't do it justice.
It was crazy quiet to the point where your ears would start ringing if you or your companions weren't talking or music wasn't going. Even with cars flying past in the distance, you couldn't hear them. Occasionally you'd hear the soft hum if a group went by but it wasn't bad at all. I believe there is an unspoken rule out there about not getting close to anyone and leaving plenty of room to not dust anyone and to make sure you're not camping close to anyone. We all go out here to avoid people and enjoy nature, it's clear everyone understands that. We enjoyed the stars at night and honestly three out of four of us went barefoot. It was reasonably warm out, but as the night went on, we all slipped into hoodies which wasn't terrible at all. I suggest leaving string lights or something on at night so others who are exploring at night can see you. (I would assume that people would have headlights/lightbars on but we all know what "assuming" does)
The next morning, Sunday, we took our time getting ready, even more so than the day before. Cooked breakfast, enjoyed the sun and didn't pack up until about 10:30ish. We ended up out at Field's station after looking for a couple of springs (Borax springs). When I say to be prepared to spend money on gas on this trip, I mean it. Fields was $5.99 a gallon and my little Subaru at half tank, took about $37. I cried a little inside but never the less we signed the book at Field's and got some water, snacks, some beer, and took off again. One of our members got a milkshake and said it was REALLY good. So that is not a stop to skip out on. It's a good place to stretch and take a walk. There are vault bathrooms and a place to wash feet. (I forgot to mention that I went barefoot the entire time we were out on the flats. You don't have to worry about rocks and sticks and other pokey things. It's really cool)
Come to find out, due to little research prior to arriving to the Steens that most of the trails are closed unless you have a deer tag. This is due to fire restrictions, which is state wide. You can't have any open flames during this time because we haven't seen a drop of moisture in months. We were going to try to get to the Wild Horse Canyon which is just up the mountain from the Alvord campground but with it being closed we decided against it. We figured it would be time to head back to Burns and figure out our next camping spot. After a little bit of brain storming and a potty break at Safeway, we decided to go back to The Narrows RV park since they were amazing the first night of our trip. (We love supporting quality local businesses.) The Narrows RV park is about 30 minutes from Burns. You drive up and over a small palisade before heading out past what was a reservoir. The first night we were out there it was dark and we did come across a few deer but thank goodness for ditch lights, am I right? Bambi was hiding in some brush and thankfully didn't decide to commit deer-icide in front of my car. We got settled into our new spot at the Narrows. After speaking with the owner who checked us in and was happy to host three cars with RTTs. (Sometimes you don't know how campgrounds will receive you when you've got an RTT. Some RV grounds will refuse but thankfully Narrows RV has wet and dry camping at reasonable prices) The park has a fully functioning kitchen that serves amazing looking burgers, a small diner area, shop, showers, bathrooms and a cabin. There is a grassy place for ground tents and a couple of tables. This place is CLEAN and I mean clean. They take pride in their spaces.
All in all, if you end of deviating from the OTG route, there is plenty to do and plenty of places to stay. This is the cool thing about Overlanding, you can explore to your heart's content. I hope that this post wasn't too long and boring for you all but I wanted to share this awesome experience and because of it, we are already wanting to do another trip down there with some more people.
A couple of friends and I just finished a long weekend out in Eastern Oregon. We did part of the OTG Alvord route but took a couple of detours and explored a little more of the area around the Alvord and a little further into Jordan Valley. On the first night, Friday, we stayed at the Narrows RV park and let me tell you, when I say these people are absolute angels, they really are! We hadn't planned on staying in an actual camp ground but it was 8:30 and dark and we didn't want to continue until 10:40pm when we originally were going to arrive at our destination. We decided to find a spot but were greeted by one of the owners. She was amazing. She said we could settle up in the morning and to let her know if we needed anything. We took one of the largest spots in the far back and finagled our rigs into it as to not take up too much space (We all have RTTs so it was an easy squeeze).
Saturday morning we took our time getting ready, paid for our spot and hit the road by about 9:30am. We made our way down to Jordan Valley/Rome area and took a fun dirt road over to the Pillars of Rome. These were absolutely stunning. We got some amazing pictures and even went up a small hill to get some cute vehicle shots with the pillar's in the background.
Rome station was a great place to fill up before heading back towards along Steens Highway and turning on to Folly Farm Road which turns into a road called the East Steens Road. The road turns to gravel very quickly and it scared the poop out of me when I was taking in the scenery and suddenly felt the front end of my car drop and the rumble of a washboard road. The pavement and the gravel are basically the same color when it changes from one to the other. The East Steen road feels like it goes on forever and ever and ever. Unending gravel and wild sage brush while you take in the Steens on the right side of the road. This was so cool to see even in the midst of the haze from the wildfires in Northern California and in Southern Oregon on the other side of the mountains. It was crazy to be that close to the mountains and see them go up into the sky. (it makes you feel very very small)
Once you finally break free of the never-ending valley of rolling hills and sage brush, you find yourself staring at the odd sight of a beach or what you think is a beach, you get this amazing view of white ground that is brighter than everything else that is between the base of the long stretch of mountains. The Alvord campground is nice but you have to pay to use the restrooms. If you're just looking for a quick pitstop and an easy place to toss trash, go about a half mile to mile up the road to the Frog Spring sign. There is a vault bathroom (I did not go in it so I have no clue how clean it is.) and a very large dumpster to toss trash into. All in all, the area is well kept. This is an easy access down to the salt flats, we originally went down a different spot with a couple of ruts but SUV's and small trucks could make it down with no issue. At Frog spring small vehicles (i.e. Sedans) can make it down no problem. Don't pay for access at the Alvord Campground, it's free access if you can find a road down.
From there we headed in to the flat. This was so much fun. Zoomzooming at 50-60mph while maintaining a reasonable and safe distance from each other was the time of my life! The salt bed is soft and plush and there is little resistance to the tires. The biggest thing to remember is to stay on the white colored areas. If you go into the darker area, almost a brown sugar kind of color, that's where it gets sticky and the mud will trap you. Other than that, honestly it's time to have some fun!
We decided to call it early, we had been driving for a while and it was a good time, around 3:30 to set up shop. We drove out a little ways and popped the tents open and set up home base. My suggestion to people who go: A) Bring a canopy of sorts or an awning to create some shade. We sat under our RTTs for some shade and it was nice enough with a breeze to not be too hot. B) Bring some sort of pass time. If that's a game of corn hole or a volleyball and net, so be it. It's good to have something to do. We loved chatting with each other but it would have been nice to have some good ole camping games or something. (We even forgot a card deck!) C) Water. Water. Water. I did not drink enough while we were out here and ended up with a gnarly headache towards the evening. Even after a few bottles, it lingered like crazy. You are in a higher elevation and it's hot and dry, best to keep hydrated even if you think you have drank enough, you haven't. Keep on it.
The night was absolutely beautiful. The sky was clear, despite a light haze, but you could see the big dipper and little dipper, we even saw Jupiter in it's bright orange glory. You could see almost all of the milky way after blue hour and the sunset was ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. I mean reds, yellows, oranges, small hints of purple. Oh my gosh, it's been so long since I got to see the sky like this. Pictures don't do it justice.
It was crazy quiet to the point where your ears would start ringing if you or your companions weren't talking or music wasn't going. Even with cars flying past in the distance, you couldn't hear them. Occasionally you'd hear the soft hum if a group went by but it wasn't bad at all. I believe there is an unspoken rule out there about not getting close to anyone and leaving plenty of room to not dust anyone and to make sure you're not camping close to anyone. We all go out here to avoid people and enjoy nature, it's clear everyone understands that. We enjoyed the stars at night and honestly three out of four of us went barefoot. It was reasonably warm out, but as the night went on, we all slipped into hoodies which wasn't terrible at all. I suggest leaving string lights or something on at night so others who are exploring at night can see you. (I would assume that people would have headlights/lightbars on but we all know what "assuming" does)
The next morning, Sunday, we took our time getting ready, even more so than the day before. Cooked breakfast, enjoyed the sun and didn't pack up until about 10:30ish. We ended up out at Field's station after looking for a couple of springs (Borax springs). When I say to be prepared to spend money on gas on this trip, I mean it. Fields was $5.99 a gallon and my little Subaru at half tank, took about $37. I cried a little inside but never the less we signed the book at Field's and got some water, snacks, some beer, and took off again. One of our members got a milkshake and said it was REALLY good. So that is not a stop to skip out on. It's a good place to stretch and take a walk. There are vault bathrooms and a place to wash feet. (I forgot to mention that I went barefoot the entire time we were out on the flats. You don't have to worry about rocks and sticks and other pokey things. It's really cool)
Come to find out, due to little research prior to arriving to the Steens that most of the trails are closed unless you have a deer tag. This is due to fire restrictions, which is state wide. You can't have any open flames during this time because we haven't seen a drop of moisture in months. We were going to try to get to the Wild Horse Canyon which is just up the mountain from the Alvord campground but with it being closed we decided against it. We figured it would be time to head back to Burns and figure out our next camping spot. After a little bit of brain storming and a potty break at Safeway, we decided to go back to The Narrows RV park since they were amazing the first night of our trip. (We love supporting quality local businesses.) The Narrows RV park is about 30 minutes from Burns. You drive up and over a small palisade before heading out past what was a reservoir. The first night we were out there it was dark and we did come across a few deer but thank goodness for ditch lights, am I right? Bambi was hiding in some brush and thankfully didn't decide to commit deer-icide in front of my car. We got settled into our new spot at the Narrows. After speaking with the owner who checked us in and was happy to host three cars with RTTs. (Sometimes you don't know how campgrounds will receive you when you've got an RTT. Some RV grounds will refuse but thankfully Narrows RV has wet and dry camping at reasonable prices) The park has a fully functioning kitchen that serves amazing looking burgers, a small diner area, shop, showers, bathrooms and a cabin. There is a grassy place for ground tents and a couple of tables. This place is CLEAN and I mean clean. They take pride in their spaces.
All in all, if you end of deviating from the OTG route, there is plenty to do and plenty of places to stay. This is the cool thing about Overlanding, you can explore to your heart's content. I hope that this post wasn't too long and boring for you all but I wanted to share this awesome experience and because of it, we are already wanting to do another trip down there with some more people.
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