NWestern Oregon

[savingdogs]

I'm up IN the mountains, so if you ever feel like picking salmon berries, c'mon up! lol Actually I'm trying to rid the property of so many. That is part of why we have the goats. Salmon berry covers a lot of our property. We have five acres near Campers Hideaway, maybe you guys know where that is at. I have thought of making jam but it would probably take too much sugar. The things have no taste. I mean those yellow-orangish berries, look similar to rasberries but not any flavor.

Oregon is a gorgeous state, we love being able to visit the sites there. My favorite spot however is McMenamin's Edgefield because we can stop at the falls.

We actually have those red huckleberries growing on our property, but not very many. We are down a little too low in altitude for them because we are at 1700 feet and I read they like south facing slopes above 2-2500 feet primarily. We have spent vacations going berry picking, we LOVE it. However now that we live here in the woods, we have not gone out into the "other" wilderness very much, we tend to go back to civilization now when we go somewhere. I live on a very remote road, five miles from Amboy. We kind of decided to permanently get away from it all.

Lovely state. I call myself the Washingtonian from California on here because, well, I am, but I lived in the city up until the time we bought this place, so I'm really not familiar with a lot of the things that folks from the country know about livestock, etc. We have been up here on the mountain almost three years now, but it does seem like such a change, it is learning a new lifestyle.

 

[Oregonclan]

That is really back there, but I am sure peaceful (watch out for the "things" that go bump in the night). We live in an established rural farming area, just outside of Sandy (basically we live along the portion of the Barlow Trail. Speaking of, there is a place you should see. Head up to Government Camp, and just above Zigzag, stop along the right side of the highway along Laurel Hill. You could easily Google it, or find it on the Forest Services website. At the beginning of the trail, there is a marker that explains the portion of the Barlow Trail, and how the pioneers got down the hill. The hill is really steep, and they would chop chop down trees to lash onto the back of the wagons to act as a brake, to keep the wagon from tumbling forward and just crashing. There are still plenty of the trees left behind that you can still see the scorch marks from the big two man saws, there are spots coming from the top of the hill, downward that you can still see ruts along what is becoming the overgrown trail. It is a spot few know about.

Another spot is at Summit Meadows beyond Government Camp. I have a Mt. Hood National Forest map, but cannot find it right now, however, the website for the Mt. Hood National Forest will likely have it, plus information. So, of course, go there in nicer weather, but at Summit Meadows is a small "cemetary" where the immigrant camp was, this site is called the Pioneer Womans Grave. It is fenced in by an old picket fence, and is right in front of what is now someones summer cabin. If you go up in mid to late August, you will find the place alive with huckleberries, including low growing versions that are fairly tiny. It is an interesting place.

Also, don't miss the chance to take Highway 26 through eastern Oregon, into the Ochoccos and to John Day Fossil Beds, the scenery is beyond incredible there.

As for learning about things to do with the animals, I believe listening to local old timers is your best bet, we have one next door to us, and he and his wife are gems.

 

[savingdogs]

I love the Oregon Trail! It is one of the reasons I wanted to move up here. I've been to Laurel Hill and the Pioneer Woman grave....I'd love to explore more of the Oregon Trail however. I like the museum in Oregon City. When we first moved here we saw all the sights, now we rarely leave our particular branch of the wilderness.

I have not done the fossil beds but love "splunking" for rocks. We used to do that a lot when our sons were younger.

We grew up near the coast and tend to miss the beach now that we live in the mountains, so our last vacation a few years ago was to Seaside, Haystack rock, all that.

 

[Oregonclan]

Most of John Day Fossil Beds is off limits to collecting. However, if you like to, you can stop in at Fossil, OR, and behind the high school, along a big hillside, you can collect fossilized leaves, pinecones, etc...They only ask that there be a donation, the suggested amount for a family is $15.00, goes to support the efforts to maintain the site and the high school too.

What makes the scenery in Northern/Northeastern Oregon is the open vistas that you can take in both the high mountains (Blue Mountain chains) and the deep river valleys, and some of the bare, only grass covered mountains which rise so dramatically over the river valley.

 

[savingdogs]

I agree, it is a beautiful country. I can see us moving around the Pacific Northwest but would not really like to live anywhere else.

Course on a rainy day like today I get ansy but....that is why it is so green and pretty here. And we don't usually have to water!

 

[RudeKittyLuvsTesla]

Hi y'all... I am Kat and I'm in Salem Oregon. Great site. I feel much more prepared and much more confident.

 

[Marianne]

Wecome Newbies, from central Kansas!