[Jerry]

Up the Crooked River
June 21 & 22, 2008

[NOTE: ARRANGE FOR LODGING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE]

This will be a two-day scenic tour following the Crooked River and other streams through the mountains of Central Oregon. Plan on a long day Saturday and a much shorter one on Sunday.

We will meet Saturday morning in Prineville and take the paved Paulina Highway for several miles passing through the communities of Post and Paulina, reaching the geographical center of Oregon near Post. From Paulina we will drive graveled county and Forest Service roads to Suplee and Izee then north over the Aldrich Mountains to Highway 26 and the town of John Day. If time allows in John Day we hope to visit the Kam Wah Chung Museum, a structure that was built as a trading post on The Dalles Military Road in the mid-1800's.


ONE OF SEVERAL OLD HOMESTEADS AT PAULINA

From John Day we will drive Highway 395 to the Starr Ridge Summit and turn west on the Izee Road then south on another Forest Service road, perhaps with a stop at the fire lookout on West Myrtle Butte, and arrive in Burns in the late afternoon.

After reaching town we will make dinner plans as well as time and meeting place for the Sunday leg by group consensus.

Our Sunday route has us leaving Burns via the Hines Logging Road that connects with a Forest Service road heading in a northerly direction. We will follow that route, taking time for interesting stops along the way, until we reach the community of Sublee. From there we will take other Forest Service roads west and north passing the Big Summit Prairie on our way to an intersection with Highway 26 east of Prineville.

MAKE MOTEL RESERVATIONS EARLY!!! Some Prineville motels are already booked and others are filling up fast. Our original plan was to spend Saturday night in John Day, but we had to change plans due to limited or no room availability. Even Burns motels are filling up fast. If you are thinking of going, RESERVE NOW!

Meet on Saturday morning at the Apple Peddler Restaurant (541-416-8949) in Prineville, Oregon. Come early for breakfast and plan to leave at 9:00 AM sharp. Please be on time as Saturday will be a long day and we need to get an early start. We will monitor Channel 22 on the C.B. radio. As to lunch, if it works out that we pass a restaurant around lunchtime we will stop, otherwise we should plan on snacking or stopping for a tailgate lunch along the way. Bring drinking water and snacks regardless.

Motels with available room space as of May 28th:
(There might be more so check around)

In Prineville -
Rustler's Inn
541-447-4185
http://www.rustlersinn.com/contact.html

In Burns -
Silver Spur Motel
(541) 573-2077
http://www.silverspurmotel.net/

We hope to see you in Prineville and we think you will enjoy the tour.
Jerry & Evelyn

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BACKROAD DRIVERS NORTHWEST