Trip Report: Modoc NF Back Country Discovery Route - July 10 - 14

[Toy Man]

Modoc NF Back Country Discovery Route:

The participants:
Dick and Sandy – Xterra
Richard, Jan and Tara – Grand Cherokee
Mike and Art - Tacoma

10 July 2008 - Thursday
Accompanied by Richard, Jan and granddaughter Tara, Sandy and I leave Beaverton at 7:00 AM and cruise south on I5. A nice easy drive down to Gold Hill where we exit and take highway 140 to Klamath Falls arriving there at 2:30 PM. K. Falls was a warm 90 degrees.

After checking in at the motel, Richard and Jan accompany me for a drive along the east bank of the Klamath River. We start at Highway 66 and make our way over the Topsy Grade to just south of the California state line and then east to Dorris and back to Klamath Falls. A nice drive that enables me to complete the Section 3 Route of the Oregon Back Country Discovery Routes.
Oregon Off-Highway Vehicle Association

We meet for dinner at The Creamery brew pub. Art and Mike arrive later in the evening.


11 July 2008 - Friday
We leave Klamath Falls at 7:00am and drive south to Captain Jack’s Stronghold.
I find the Stronghold to be more interesting than I expected. We spend about an hiking the trails.

We then drive to the Lava Beds NM where we visit the ‘lighted’ cave.
Hint: - take the hard hats/lights that the visitor center offers.
Hint: - enter for free if you arrive before 9:00 AM. $10 per vehicle otherwise.

We leave the Lava Beds and head south and up into the Modoc NF. We drive on the paved road down the east side of Medicine Lake and over to the lookout on the top of Little Hoffman mountain. Nice view point but only room for about 4 vehicles at the top.

We start the BCDR (1.00 PM?) at the bottom of Little Hoffman mountain. Back up the hill towards the Lava Beds NM then east gradually dropping down from the highlands onto the escarpment. Large trees in the highlands with smaller trees on the drier area of the escarpment. The usual BCDR mix of good gravel/dirt roads with frequent excursions onto more ‘interesting’ roads/trails.

We arrive at the Reservoir F campground about 5:00pm. Nice unimproved campground with about 6 large spaces set among tall pines. Toilet but no other amenities. Small lake with various waterfowl. Most of the campers were fishermen. Very few mosquitoes.

Big fires to the south of us but we only saw a slight haze on the southern horizon.

The GPS says we drove 151 miles today in 5:48 hours of driving time.

The BCDR has good signage. Missing a few signs and some signs have been vandalized. The BCDR is shown in yellow on the Modoc NF map and we found it to be correct except for a blockage/abandonment at 41 38.160N, 120 57.046W. We back tracked and took the right hand track at 41 28.227N, 120 57.440W. (Do not go thru or along the fence.) You will see several BCDR signs during the re-route. We re-joined the original route at 41 36.748N, 120 55.824W.


12 July 2008 - Saturday

We are up early and leave the campground at 6:45am for Alturas. Nice dike road between Reservoir F and Reservoir C. This area is a large swamp/marsh with high lush grasses. We saw deer, antelopes and two large Sandhill(?) cranes in this section.

After Reservoir C the road becomes a wide/smooth gravel road that we make good time on. We pickup pavement shortly before dropping down off the escarpment and on into Alturas. Gas and breakfast in Alturas and then back up the hill. I had originally planned to drive the 4x4 section of the route but changed my mind and drove north to Jane’s Lake where we pulled into the campground for a break. This is a very nice unimproved campground with tall trees and overlooks a small lake. We are the only people at the campground.

The road now starts to wind thru the tall pines and then we start a long descent off the escarpment down to and along Goose Lake. Across the dike road and into Davis Creek where we stop at the store. Surprise – Davis Creek has gas and diesel. The store clerk is very friendly and after we fill out the free rock digging permits he gives us maps to the various obsidian diggings along with his recommendations. There is a nice display of obsidian and other rocks at the store.

After the store we start climbing the Warner Mountains. After a few miles we turn right and drive 1 1/4 miles to an obsidian dig. Art and Sandy hike back along a dirt track to the pit where they proceed to try to haul the mountain side back to our vehicles.
The obsidian pit/dig is at 41 43.030N, 120 18.934W.

Back to the route and up the mountain where a few miles later we round a corner and find the mountain side and road bed composed of obsidian nodules. This is the most prolific place to find obsidian. It is also the place to find the double flow and needle forms of it are found. We talk to a commercial miner working the site while Art and Sandy proceed to add more ‘treasure’ to our vehicles.

As we drive north along the ridges and valleys of the this old gold mining area we see a large trailer mounted suction dredge alongside a creek reminding us that some people still follow the lure of the yellow stuff. We finally turn east and follow Fandango Pass up the hill for a short ways before turning off onto the long steep climb to Panorama pass. At the summit I start down the good gravel road we came up on when Sandy says “What did that sign say?”. Turn around and go back to the summit. There is a small hand written sign that says the south road is closed due to a large tree across the road. Hmmm – looks like the South road is the one we were starting down. There is a small narrow track to left that leads off into the trees. I check the computer map. Damn – that’s the road we are supposed to take. I really don’t want to go down that faint track but it looks like that is our only choice. As we start down the Highgrade ‘road’, it becomes steep, narrow and impossible to turn around on and probably impossible to backup on also. I don’t have a good feeling about this but have no choice to keep going. Finally start seeing small benches where it might be possible to turn around. More narrow sections, small trees across the road that we drive around and spots of thick brush. Does not appear that anyone has driven this road in sometime. Now I really get concerned.

But we finally reach the bottom of the ridge and turn onto a slightly better road and follow it as it crosses and re-crosses a small creek. Most of the crossings have a concrete bottom to keep them from washing out. As we come around a brush obscured corner we see another crossing in front of us and a large golden eagle standing in the middle of the road at the edge of crossing. He is waiting for his lunch to swim across the concrete bottom but launches into slow and low takeoff as soon as we spot him. He flies into the branch of a tall tree that overhangs the road and casually waits for all of us to pass by so he can return to his ‘diner’.

A few more crossings and then we come to crossing where the creek/river is much wider and deeper. It looks like the road just ends here as all we can see is a gravel bank on the other side. After some confusion Sandy wades across and verifies that the road continues on the other side. Splish Splash - our three vehicles have no problems with the crossing. The road begins to improve, winding thru large trees as it follows the river. A short time later we emerge onto the grass lands of Surprise Valley just above the old town of Fort Bidwell. We drive into Fort Bidwell and find a little village with a few old houses and no services. The old mercantile stores have been boarded up.

A short break and then back on route headed north. We follow Country Road 2 as we do a long steady climb the summit of the Warner Mtn’s. just south of the Oregon/California state line. A short stop at an abandoned gold mine just before the summit and other stop at the summit where a four way intersection signals the end of the California BCDR and the start of the Oregon BCD Route 5. We do not drive the mile or so the border and the official end/start but continue on NF Forest road 2 down the hill to Highway 395 and the town of New Pine Creek.

The last time we were thru New Pine Creek there was a small store/café but that is now closed and there are only a few sad looking houses in New Pine Creek.

We zoom up Highway 395 (Look ma – no dust) and check into the Lakeview Best Western motel a little after 4 PM. A short rest and then a very nice dinner at Mario’s in the Fremont Inn next door.

The GPS says we drove 173 miles today.

- Continued -

[Toy Man]

13 July 2008 - Sunday
As we finished a day earlier than expected we decide to travel up to Summer Lake and drive the first half of the Oregon Back Country Discovery Route 2.

We have a nice drive to Summer Lake where we stop at the rest area and wander over to the store. The store is open and has gas. There were no stores open in Paisley.

A few miles north and we turn left onto a gravel road at the top of Picture Rock Pass.
Our old friend Mr. Dust greets us. At the top of the ridge we leave the route for the six mile detour down to the Fremont Overlook and Point. A big fire went thru this area some years ago and the large pine trees and the cabin that hung over the edge are all gone. The fire came up the face of the cliff and fire fighters were able to stop it shortly beyond the cliff face so the ridge top is still a very nice mixture of grass and trees. Great views overlooking Summer Lake from the overlook. Would have been better if not for the haze.

Back on route and a series of high speed roads off the back of the ridge and a long gradual descent into the Central Oregon. Nice country. We pick up a rough section just before Thompson Reservoir. A slow crawl down to the dam, across it and up the other side. We have lunch at the campground, the mosquitoes have lunch on us. We see just a few people. Sort of surprising on a nice day like today

Back on route we begin seeing dirt roads instead of gravel and in places the dirt has been ground to powder. HUGE rooster tails of dust. The vehicles behind us have to fall way back. Now the route begins to take us onto seldom used tracks. We find a lost dog but he will not come to us. About a mile further we say a sheepherder camp with a similar dog. No one around so I leave a note about the dog.

Just before we end the section at Highway 97 north of Chemult, Richard and Jan lead us up to the top of Walker Mountain. Again we nice views but the haze is even worse here.

Down the mountain, down the gravel road to Highway 97 then Highway 58 towards Eugene. We stop for gas/food in Oakridge about 5:00 PM and then it’s Eugene, I5 and home to Beaverton.

Whew – long day. Great trip.

Dick Hamilton – Toy Man

[RidgeRunner]

Very good report, Dick. Sounds like a good trip. I've got to get down there and do that one day.

Mick