Oregon BDR 10-11/13-2024

[tobyw]

In what may be the most fortuitous timing ever, a group of us threw a dart at the calendar and landed on the mid-October timeframe to run the Northern sections of the newly revised Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route (ORBDR). The original ORBDR followed a much more Easterly route as you progressed North, running through the likes of the area around Ukiah and into the Blue Mountains. Some of you may recall that OG and myself toured a slice of it several years ago (http://www.peakputters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7185 ) and had a grand time doing so... Fast forward a bit and a newly updated ORBDR route piqued my interest, particularly because it traverses a section of the state in which I had very little experience, and that is the area between Bend and Hood River. In terms of the ORBDR map these are sections 5, 6, and 7 running from Bend up to Hood River, but we chose to run it "backwards" and start our journey in Hood River. With the leaves changing in full force and remarkably clear weather, I don't think our timing for the trip could have been any better.

The group consisted of OG in his red JLU-R towing his DIY adventure trailer; Mr. and Mrs. Dryside in the white JKU-R; Rottwheeler in his grey JT-R towing another DIY adventure trailer; Kenny in his black Power Wagon; Marcus in his white Silverado towing an IBEX trailer; and me with the Donkey and my POS trailer. We all left Thursday at different times, with a handful of the gang staying the night at Kenny's cabin near Hood River, while myself, OG, and Marcus took the scenic route and stayed the night at the Ice House campground along the Klickitat River. If you ever get the opportunity to stay there, I absolutely recommend it:

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Day 1: Section 7, Hood River to Clear Lake

Completely by chance, the fragmented group met up at Carmen's Kitchen in Bingen, WA around 0830 on Friday morning. After a quick BS session it was discovered that Dryside's JKU-R was marking it's territory, so a quick investigation ensued:

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Luckily it turnt out to simply be water from the washer fluid reservoir, so we saddled up and made our way to the originally scheduled rendezvous point in Hood River:

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With everyone bunched up, we headed out like a terd of hurtles and were immediately rewarded with stunning views all around as we pushed South through the countryside:

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Soon enough we arrived at the end of pavement, and stopped to air down:

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The ascent was rapid, and the views of the dirtpile otherwise known as Mt. Hood were stunning:

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We found a suitable place for some lunch, and just so happened to find a legit hand-crafted pizza oven

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Bellies full, we pressed on:

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Section 7 lets out at the Snow Park just outside of Government Camp, where we stopped for a quick stretch before hitting the highway for a few miles:

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Our camp for the night would be at Clear Lake, and we found a fantastic little spot to fit our ragtag group. We set about the task of assembling our various outfits for the evening, started a fire, and spent the next several hours having an absolute kick of a time around the fire sipping adult beverages, eating, and telling stories well into the night:

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[tobyw]

Day 2: Section 6, Clear Lake to Detroit

Day two started with a brisk morning around the propane fire pit, as we didn't want to hassle with having to drown out a wood fire as we left camp. The sunrise over the lake was incredible:

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We hit the trail around 0900 and were immediately greeted with what turnt out to be everyone's hands down favorite portions of the entire route:

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During lunch, OG went full Mario Kart on me:

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At this point we were on final approach into the town of Detroit, and traversed the section that has been ravaged by wildfires nearly every year as of late, including this year:

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From the thriving downtown of Detroit, we made our way back up in elevation along the Southern edge of Detroit Lake and stumbled upon quite possibly the best campsite ever. It was nestled along the banks of Blowout Creek, and someone has clearly put extensive effort into making this a legit destination, complete with stone steps down to the firepit overlooking the water. It was a fantastic find after a long day on the trails:

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[tobyw]

Day 3: Section 5, Detroit to Sisters

Camped along the moving water, Sunday morning was just flat cold... That said, no one was complaining as we ate breakfast and broke down our outfits for the final time on this epic journey. The plan for the day was to run Section 5 out to Sisters and play it by ear at that point as to whether we wanted to push further South onto Section 4 toward Bend/Sunriver. As it turns out, based on time and general interest, we chose to end our ORBDR adventure in Sisters but not before having another banner day out on the trails:

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The transition from thick forest into the cinders of Central Oregon was, frankly, brutal as the trails have been nothing short of ravaged by the SxS crowd, and there was simply no way to get to a comfortable speed whilst towing the bevvy of trailers we had in the group. Mercifully we stopped for lunch at the admittedly disappointing Skylight Cave just outside Sisters:

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A quick review of the map and the clock had us hopping back in the rigs and making the final push out to pavement, where we breezed through the town of Sisters and on to Redmond to air up, fuel up, and most importantly grab celebratory Slurpees:

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It had been three full days, racking up over 200 miles of trail since leaving Hood River, and every bit of it was epic. We had amazing weather, lights-out views, over-the-top camp food, and conversations ranging from sports to rigs to gear to narwhals and spotted owls... Suffice it to say these are the types of trips that make lifelong memories and friends to go with them. I hope everyone reading this can do the same at some point