Oregon - Day 1 - driving through hills and forests to Oregon

Wild Goose Meadows RV Park, Lakeview

Sunday, 1 May 2022

It rained off and on all night and, during our 2nd walk this morning, we got a little snow.  But the forecast was for reasonably warm weather today, and the snow wasn't sticking, so I didn't worry about the drive.

today's route

Unlike yesterday's drive, which was mostly on the interstate, today was 30 miles on US-95 and the rest on NV-140, which became OR-140 when we crossed the border.

I spent much of the drive through Nevada crossing broad flatish valleys, some with crops and others covered with desert plants, all surrounded by more mountains.  These mountains not only had snow on top, but the snow looked fresh; I guess they got more of what I saw while walking in the campground.

countryside, including snow-capped mountains.

I saw a small, white building a little way off the road, with a sort of tower on top shaped like a very large bowling pin.  There were no cars or fence or sign to say what it was, just a gravel road leading up to it and a couple of big power boxes by the main road.  No antenna, nothing special besides that bowling pin on the roof.  Sometimes Google will tell me what a building is but not this time.  Some top-secret government confirmation of a far-out conspiracy theory, no doubt.

I saw the first highway warning sign for a BUMP that I've seen in Nevada, so I figured I'd better be careful.  But it turned out to be less than an average railroad track.

We stopped at a rest area that was pretty bleak but at least gave the dogs a place to stretch their legs.  A guy in a Corvette stopped there to use the restroom; said he'd driven that morning from Westover (Utah-Nevada border) and that he'd had rain and snow the whole way across.  That would have slowed me down, but I'm not driving a Corvette.  He said it was okay because we need the moisture, which is sure true.

I'm beginning to think that posting those wild bull signs, rather than the placid cow signs, is intended to make drivers pay more attention.  I saw a warning sign for pronghorn (antelope), though no real critters except cows, who were all lying down against the strong cold wind.

I'm sorry to report I hit a bird - my first in a long time.  Very upsetting, though the way they've been flying around it's surprising there haven't been more.  All morning I've seen them sitting or lying on the roadway, and when I get close they suddenly fly up and usually fly across in front of me.  This time there were 3 of them together and they flew in different directions, which I think was confusing to this poor little guy so he wasn't able to avoid me.  And I don't see them in time to take any evasive action, assuming I could figure out what would work.  Such a shame.

I started seeing wild burro signs:

I saw so many of them (signs, not burros) I started counting and got to 5 in Nevada and a couple more in Oregon.  I'm sorry that I didn't see any more burros than I have elk or pronghorn, which I also often see signs for.

I passed a sign to turn for Blue Lake, which seemed odd because I distinctly remember a Blue Lake near West Wendover a few days ago.  Turns out there are indeed 2 of them, but this one seems to be much more inaccessible, according to online comments.

I passed a working windmill with a water trough nearby; they were out in the middle of absolutely nowhere though I suppose either cows graze in the area at times or wildlife gratefully come to drink.

I'd been going over several summits during the drive, all under or near 5,000'.  I passed a turn labeled "Opal Mines."  Turns out northwestern NV is known for its opals, and especially black fire opals.  These are so rare that this area is one of the only places in the world where they can be found.

I stopped at another rest area where we were alone for about 10 minutes, then suddenly a lot of Oregon cars stopped to use the bathroom and picnic table.  There was an oddity about this area.

Can you see the water gushing out of this pipe?
It did that for the whole hour we were here,
and no one came around to check on it.
I never figured out where it was going.

That water flow was just to the left of this photo.
You can see that water was badly needed here, but
that water didn't seem to helping out this dryness.

I passed warning signs for a trotting horse, a pronghorn, and a "Rutted Road - Use Caution."  (The road didn't seem any worse than usual.)

Then suddenly I was past the mountains, and I saw a sign: "Thanks for Visiting Nevada."  I can't remember another state thanking me for visiting, though I'm sure there were a few somewhere.  Followed, of course, by another sign: "Welcome to Oregon."

Oregon - my 38th state

I was greeted by Sage Hen Hills Summit, 6,349' - higher than the other summits I've seen today.  This was followed by Doherty Summit 6,240'.

After these summits, it shouldn't have been a surprise to see a sign saying an 8% grade was coming up, though this was followed by another sign saying, "Last Warning - 8% Grade Next 3 Miles."  What on earth was that "last warning" about?  Sure an 8% grade is steep, but I've seen them before without a suggestion that it'll be life-threatening.  But it turned out that this 3 miles of road included s-curves the whole way down to a broad flat desert plain with no hint of a guard rail, so I could see some sense in the warning.

That was followed by a 7% grade over 6 miles, which was actually 7% grade for 2 miles, with a breather section, followed by 7% for 4 miles.

At the bottom of this grade I saw acres of standing water (it didn't look like a lake - it looked too shallow) with nearby crops being watered, followed by an actual lake with geese and ducks in pairs.

I saw a sign saying it was "Unlawful To Pass School Bus or Worker Transport Bus when Red Lights Flash."  I don't remember seeing that worker transport bus bit before.

I started seeing several placid cow signs (no wild bulls here?) and several Bighorn Sheep signs (though no sheep).

Somewhere around the almost non-existent town of Adel, I started to see a creek running alongside the road.  It got bigger and bigger, with lots of water rushing in it, and then I got a great view of a small, pretty waterfall.

Deep Creek Falls

OR-140 is only 2-lanes-no-shoulder along most of its length, so I had to make do with an internet photo.  And I had to go online to figure out that the creek I'd been seeing was Deep Creek and accidentally saw that the map mentioned the falls.  And sure enough, this is what I saw.  Pretty nice for a creek.

A sign told me I was entering Fremont-Winema National Forest - a 2.3 million acre set-aside that runs from California up the Cascade Mountains into central Oregon.

I passed through Warner Pass Summit, 5,845', through hillsides full of evergreens, along a road of constant ups & downs and s-curves that would have been wonderful if I still had my Miata.  Then a couple of miles on US-395 to tonight's campground.

Though we were only on the road for about 5½ hours, some of which were spent in rest areas, I was still pretty tired when we got in.  We'll be here for 2 nights, so I was able to relax.