Christmas Valley - Hart Mountain - Alvord

[OREGON]

Just got back this evening from the Alvord.
20th
There was a sand storm at Christmas Valley and non stop winds. We met up with Bob around 11 at Rupe's place. We played around on the dunes for a little over an hour but it was really difficult to navigate in the cloud of sand. Visibility was a couple hundred yards and down to 100 feet at times.

BOB GETTING HIS TRAIL FLAG READY


RUPE'S NEW PLACE
We got the grand tour and were able to escape the sand storm for a little bit. Its coming along great and he just put a chicken coupe out back


BOB ON THE DUNES


That night we stayed in Silver Lake and ate at the Cowboy Dinner Tree. The food was amazing. Started off with salad and homemade dressing. Then there was cowboy beans and rolls. That in itself was a full meal. Then came the 30+oz. steaks and baked potatoes. We waddled out of there and stayed at a cabin in town.

On the 21st we headed south and ate breakfast a the Homestead Cafe in Paisley. The food was great and waitress (probably owner) was a sweet lady. From there we continued south and had snowy/ icy road until were arrived in Plush. We got gas at the store in town and head to the Hart Mountain Refuge.

The first photo op, a really big buck ran behind our vehicles. We were hoping to see more on the trip through the refuge but didnt.


We made it to the Hart Mountain Hot Springs around noon. We enjoyed some of Bob's home brew and sat in the springs for about an hour.



After that we continued towards Frenchglen. We wanted to take backroads to Catlow Valley but a lot of them were grown over by sagebrush and others just ended on the map. So to save time we just went straight on through to Catlow highway.



We stayed in Fields that night and got to enjoy more great cooking at the cafe. Tom and Sandy were great hosts and gave us some ideas for the next day's trip.

22nd

We just went for a drive from the Catlow Valley area and ended up at Domingo Pass.
This first pic shows a couple hundred Antelope. Center of the pic and about three hundred yards down from the crest of the ridge.








Looking towards Catlow Valley


At the top of Domingo Pass



We made it back to Fields around 2pm. Bob aired back up and headed home. We hit the hot springs one last time and then headed back home through Burns. It snowed hard all the way across the bottom of the Steens until we hit Hwy 78.

[Jerry]

Very cool. Thanks!

[nightfoam]

Way cool. I was just wondering yesterday what the weather was like down in the Steens area right now. Was it cool down there? I saw the low last night (sunday evening) as 8 in Burns

[chazmataz]

Awesome pictures! Man i sure wish i could have made that trip. Never been over that way other then the summer time

8 Degrees! Now thats Cold!

[roller bear]

looks like you had fun again james, more snow and things would have got real interesting

[lcsodiver]

Here are some more photos from the trip.... we had a great time! hope more can go next time! more snow and mud would have been great!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Bob

[roller bear]

bob, looks like you had your landing lights on that building. those lights still amaze me

[JDavis]

Wow, looks like you guys did some good exploring!!

Thanks for sharing the photos.

~ Jon

[OREGON]

Great pics Bob. Im glad you were able to make it. Maybe this summer well get a larger group together like the first Christmas Valley run. Id also like to do some exploring down in the Owyhee Canyonlands.

[OREGON]

and from inside