A.Paris

Stumbled upon this area while stomping around in the woods today. It's only about a 10 minute drive out of town and the views were amazing! My buddy took some video with his phone (sorry for the shaky camera) and I snapped some pics to share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WX6dd270tI&feature=youtu.be

xxxtreme22r

whew I thought this was gonna be another Top Gear video. Looks Pretty cool. I love that panoramic shot.

A.Paris

Thanks! I'm surprised no one got a flat out there, those lava rocks are wicked sharp!

MudHippy

Those is some mighty nice Ponderosa pines ya got there. How do I know that for sure? Because I do! J/K, it's the bark on 'em. Very telling.

So just outside Bend eh? I just might wander on down there someday and take a look for myself. Not too far from Clackamas Co..

Thanks for sharing! Though I would generally say it's better to keep "unsanctioned" wheeling spots a secret(i.e. places where you don't have to pay $ to wheel there). Especially from the IDIOTS that prowl this site. Lots of the anti-wheelers running amuck here. Keen to get out there and throw whatever obstacle they can manage in our way, to keep us from enjoying our chosen pastime. JERKS!!!!

Learned that lesson the hard way...

But being that it's a middle-of-nowhere/one-horse town like Bend, what's there to worry about I guess. You could probably roll around there for weeks/months on end and never see another person.

And I don't see no good mud or other sufficiently challenging terrain. So what do I care if they shut it down? Gravel roads aren't really the kind of places I go wheeling/"trail riding" anyways.

So, the next time you head up that way and there's a shiny new gate blocking your access to it, you'll know how/what/where/why that happened...

Elton

looks fun them lava rocks sure do like cutting tires

spikeophant

I don't think they'll put a gate up on that road, it's a numbered FS road, and a powerline access road. We have hundreds of miles of numbered FS roads down here in Bend, with many out east where that one was running into our very large OHV trail systems that are maintained by the FS. I can't think of a single pay to wheel area around here, including developed rock crawl trails in the Fort Rock OHV play areas. That road wasn't very challenging, but was a fun cruise for the scenery, and there were a couple hill climbs.

We were on our way back from dropping loads of trash in a staging area in conjunction with the FS, we go out and clean up trash. In fact, in that very lava flow I was pulling out four loko cans. This was our second trip this year to do some cleanups, and I think we're probably close to 6,000lbs of trash removed.

MudHippy

First, I applaud your efforts. I've been known to load my bed full of trash and haul it out of the woods too. On MANY occasions. We like that.

Next, I hate to have to tell you this. But, YOU MUST PAY TO WHEEL IN ALL OREGON OHV AREAS! Most FS roads don't require an Oregon ATV permit. ALL OHV AREAS IN OREGON DO REQUIRE AN OREGON* ATV PERMIT FOR VEHICULAR ACCESS PRIVILEDGES! An Oregon ATV permit is cheap, BUT NOT FREE!

Last, we have developed rock crawl trails in central Oregon? Well I'll be damned! I might be down your way sooner than I expected...

What else are you guys hiding from us down there?

*http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/ATV/reciprocity.shtml

http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/ATV/qa.shtml

Team420

WOW... Pay to drive on dirt roads?? No thanks! Whats next... fresh air tax? we gonna have to pay to breathe too? Craziness !!!

James Woods

iTrader: (1)

Its not much its like $12 and you get a sticker for 2 years and that counts for all OHV areas in Oregon, at least I don't think it is a big deal, it costs money for those parks anyway. MudHippy I thought you were in Colorado or something, are you here in Oregon?

MudHippy

Molalla, OR. Officially. I try to keep it on the DL though. I tend to piss alot of people off on this site. And I don't need nobody slashing my tires in the middle of the night. They already sent the Tread Lightly crew out here to close down all the good/free trails near here. A certain ex-staff member on this site, who shall remain nameless, decided he had a personal vendetta. Didn't like the fact that I was putting pics up on this site of my truck smothered in mud. "Mudding is frowned upon these days".

James Woods

iTrader: (1)

It sucks when people stick their nose in other people's business when no one is hurting anybody or anything, it makes me just want to scream at them....IF YOU DONT LIKE IT THEN DONT PARTICIPATE its that simple.

spikeophant

Oh, yeah, you do have to pay for OHV permits, I suppose I don't count that really, that fee pays for the development they do of the OHV areas and staging areas. I don't think they should charge for using dirt roads, but if they go out, build motorcycle trails, make rock crawl areas, put in portapotties and maintain them, etc, they can get a couple extra bucks from me.


The rock crawl area I've been to isn't very large, but looks like it would have a couple challenging runs on it. It's pretty much all lava rock out here too, so I'm sure it's claimed more than it's share of tires. I had no idea it exsisted out there either until recently I stumbled upon it out cruising some FS roads east of Bend.

I don't do much serious wheeling really, I just like to overland mostly. We like to figure out a destination we can reach that's a ways away over unkown offroad trails, load up gear, and go explore. More about the trip than the destination and all of that.

matstaley

I was out in this same road a couple of months ago. Only encountered a couple of ATVs. Its a decent road. A little rough but otherwise not too bad. There are tons of trails/roads out here in C/O. You can drive practically all day out there and not see anyone at all.

JonnyBoy

Yeah, having worked for the Deschutes NF in Fire, they aren't closing roads anytime soon unless the fire danger gets really, really bad. Even then, any road with no vegetation in the middle of it is still open. I never did get out to the little rock crawling part of the OHV area there, didn't have a rig worthy enough at the time. There is a Central Oregon wheelers club, too, I believe. There's plenty of open roads that have some roughish crawling terrain out there Mudhippy, but you're right about the no mud.
What was the number of that road, out of curiosity?

Edit: somehow missed the c in Deschutes. Can't really expect people to believe I worked there if I can't even spell it!

A.Paris

That road was actually a power line road, not a FS rd We got a little turned around on the maze of dirt roads out there (out by the lava cast forest near Sunriver) but knew that if we drove the power line road we would eventually run into civilization. We also stumbled upon an epic paintball battlefield out there