Even though this is 2 years old, I’m hoping it’s enjoyable. It took a while for me to be able to write about it, and then it just got stuffed away for a while. I still cringe when thinking about some of the adventures we had on this one!
A much-needed healing start to the trip...
We enjoy Crystal Crane Hot Springs
Our most recent trip, a trailer camping excursion to
Eastern Oregon complete with our 17-year-old cat Shoppie, included an overnight and soaking at
Crytstal Crane Hot Springs while snow fell on us in late April/early May—just a
couple of months before this venture. That was so enjoyable, Chris booked us a
room at the springs where we had our own private hot tub on this trip, a nice
way of starting out our antelope scouting trip near Rome. It was a good idea as
it turned out, because this time of year the hot springs were packed full of
families. We were rather surprised as it was HOT and didn't seem like much of a
draw for folks—hot springs in June in the desert—but there you have it! So we
wound up escaping the throngs into our private hot springs tub, enclosed out
our back door under the puffy clouds and blue sky, later giving way to the moon
and stars.
And it was a nice healing way to soothe
ourselves as we
mourned the loss of Shoppie. She succumbed rather quickly a little over a week
prior following some kind of seizure/stroke. We struggled with the letting go
part but finally realized she was not going to get better and was no longer
enjoying her life. She had been a huge part of our lives for 17 years and as
most any pet owner can relate, our furry loved ones sure do leave a void when
they're gone. We reminisced, cried, and soaked, and began distracting ourselves
with our scouting plans.
1st Day of Scouting – What
appeared to be a great start...
For those of you who don't understand how we intended
to drive to Rome from Crane, Oregon, here's some clarification: we're talking
Rome, Oregon—a little town of say 29 people in the middle of nowhere. It also
happens to be in the middle of the country where the antelope are supposed to
roam (yes, that's roam in Rome) and famous for its amazing “Pillars of Rome”
rock formations which are astounding.
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| Beautiful desert surrounded us |
After a good night's sleep following all of the soaking, we left Crystal Crane Hot Springs to look for breakfast, but the single cafe in Crane was closed due to lack of staff (Covid was to blame). We went to our handy-dandy breakfast back-up plan—jerky, pastry and coffee—and started our trek towards Rome, where our reserved cabin waited for us. We had decided to do some exploring before arriving in Rome by first venturing up Crowley Road to scout some side roads before getting to our destination.
Old dogs with new tricks...
We were very pleased with ourselves and our preparatory
work before leaving Salem. Chris had identified all kinds of points on the map
of Chris’ assigned unit that we wanted to hit using the satellite views on our
home computer, and I had entered them into the GPS unit for guidance as we
drove. Since most roads are not signed around those parts, it really helped to
verify with the GPS points. For example, thanks to our GPS mark, we knew we
were on the correct CR-1 point which was Crowley Road and Hwy 78. We patted our
geezer backs as we congratulated our technological skills.
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| One grave of a 3-year-old who we discovered died in a fire |
Crowley Road proved prosperous to begin with. We took
our time and enjoyed whatever we ran into. We investigated a small family
pioneer cemetery, saw a cool spot for Chris to perhaps hunt in August (good
water hole, higher viewing ground) and marked it on the GPS, saw 8 antelope, 8
deer, 2 cranes, and watched a badger pop his head up and down in up/down
periscope action—cute.
It was when we began looking for our next GPS point,
named T-4 for “Tub Springs Road” that there was a change in the force that
brought us our good fortune thus far. According to our map and GPS research,
this road started near the highway (T-1) and ended on Crowley Corral, the road
we were currently on. We figured that travelling from T-4 to T-1 would take us
back to Rome in time to check in, eat, and get settled in our cabin. It was
about noon by this time and we felt confident about getting through this 25-mile
stretch of road within 4 or 5 hours.
Sometimes the roads leading to Rome aren't
even roads...
Due to lack of signage and intimidating “No
Trespassing” signs, we missed what turned out to be “Tub Springs Road” and
traveled a ways on Crowley Road until we realized our mistake and headed back.
We still weren't exactly sure that the GPS was accurate when we approached T-4
but luckily ran into a rancher with his 2 boys who was all smiles until Chris
asked if this road was indeed “Tub Springs Road”. His reaction was not lost on
either of us, later comparing notes: he said, “Oh yeah, that's it,” then blew
out some air indicating some trouble ahead, as if wondering why anyone would
travel on Tub Springs Road. We were still working with some level of
confidence.
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| One of the nicer roads this trip |
So confident were we, that when it came to a left/right
choice (our rancher buddy had indicated to “stay left”) at a place where the
road to the right looked better, we...went right. How wrong can a right be. We
passed through really bad stretches—climbing over individual boulders and
banging back down even at incredibly slow speeds—followed by some good
stretches, making us believe the worst was behind us. Onward we went
because...who wanted to go BACK over the bad stretches we’d just driven over?
And we kept on and on because we knew this road
eventually had to lead us out. The roughness only got worse in parts...but we
knew we were close to the end of the road.
Sometimes the end means the END...
After some harrowing bouncing around and banging up and
down in the truck (my chiropractor got more business out of me after this
trip!), we did indeed reach the end of the road with a locked gate barring
further travel. Seeing a house down at the end of the gated road, Chris decided
to venture down on foot and see about getting some help or maybe get
permissions to access a way out. I stayed around the truck and kept my eye out
for him as best as I could—scenes from “Deliverance” flashed through my mind
and I worried that someone might try to shoot him for trespassing on their
property or some such.
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| This badger probably even thought we were crazy! |
But as luck would or would not have it, the house was
abandoned and...the road did not continue in any fashion after the house...just
stopped right in the front yard.
When Chris got back to the truck, we contemplated
trying other side roads on the way back that might be better but realized that
we were running out of time and at least, as awful as it had been, the road we
came in on had a known way out for us at the other (T-4) end. We had spent at
least 3 hours getting to the locked gate and suspected 3 hours back which might
put us too late to check into our cabin in Rome. Of course there was no signal
to be had, so we couldn't call ahead and explain our predicament.
Back we went, on that almost impassable road. I kept
having visions of blowing out a tire or two and being stranded in the desert
heat, so when we finally made our way to the end and back onto Crowley Road, we
congratulated the truck on managing to climb over all of those boulders and get
us out of there.
Time keeps on ticking...
I kept my eye on the cell phone and as soon as I got a
couple of bars, we stopped and got a hold of Rome. Since Rome is on Mountain
Time, their closing was even closer than we’d thought and they were sure we
wouldn't make it in time, but told us where to find the key and get in our
cabin when we arrived.
We were starving for some non-snack food, and Chris put
the pedal to the metal—no stopping to gawk at anything on the way back!--and we
managed to get back to Rome “the long way around” just in time to still get a
burger. We had driven through some pounding rain on the highway to Rome and
then, while we ate our burgers, heard the locals exclaiming about the awful
storm. Evidently, the wind kicked up so much dust that an emergency alert
message went out to everyone to stay in their cars and stop driving on the
highway—pull over and wait out the blinding periods. We were glad we missed
that before getting to our burgers.
The things you overlook when you're
tired...
When we put our stuff into our cabin before going back
to the cafe to eat, a quick glance told us it would do just fine—had a bed, an
AC unit, running water, towels. And we were tired, so...it was just fine.
One of the staff introduced himself to us, Keith, and
explained that due to Covid and lack of staff, he was the resident handyman and
mechanic as well as the maid. He was incredibly friendly, as were the owners.
When he shook hands with Chris, Chris noticed Keith's evident mechanic's
hands—cleanliness not being a huge priority—and wondered how his “maid-work”
fared. Keith wanted us to make sure we let him know if anything wasn't right in
the room, and he'd take care of it, but we didn't pursue that even after
noticing some, well, below par cleanliness in the room. It had what we needed
and pickings were slim in these parts so we sucked it up...and we slept well.
Chris was joking when he came across this toilet in the
desert, but our accommodations weren't
much better!
2nd Day of Scouting...the “R”
route...
After a good breakfast at the Rome cafe, we headed
south out of Rome on our “R” route we had mapped out with GPS points.
The first hill was skeptical, climbing steeply uphill
on a pretty treacherous road, but after that the road seemed to get better and
we were breathing sighs of relief after our experience the previous day. We
even stopped near a huge crater that looked to be about ½-mile away on the map and
decided to hike into it. It was more like 2 miles, a lot further than it
looked—one of the deceptions of wide open spaces we've discovered. But we
managed to get to the crater and back in the heat and felt good about getting a
hike in.
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| We did manage to find places to walk and scout, in spite of treacherous driving conditions. |
P.S. No antelope spotted.
Deja Vu all over...
Not long after we left the crater, we began climbing
over rocks, threatening to drive off sides of hills, and going through that
dilemma—do we keep going and get out of here or do we go back? Right when we
contemplated going back, the road would get better, teasing us along until the
next hell...uh, hill.
Finally, we hit one of our GPS points that indicated we
were close to the way out. Once again, GPS and reality did not agree. We headed
around a water hole (clear on the map, clear by GPS point indicators), lumped
our way around boulders, then headed toward the end of the road. Which was indeed
the END OF THE ROAD at an old pump station.
Once again, we had to go back and retrace our steps
only this time accidentally went a different way out—that led to us
“sight-seeing” another part of the territory and finally emerging in time to
explore some another “K” route we had mapped.
Again, no antelope to be seen.
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| Just some of the spectacular Rome Pillars |
The K route wound up including our ticket into the famous Pillars of Rome and we thoroughly enjoyed those spectacular visions, even as the wind kicked up, blowing us sideways as we tried to film.
We made our way back to the Rome café for our second
evening and learned over dinner that they were planning a family reunion the
next day, so we wouldn't be extending our stay there which we were considering
doing.
3rd Day of Scouting...Let's
right some wrongs...maybe NOT
We bid our hosts goodbye at Rome and started out with
our “K” route to hook up to the “T” route hoping to do it correctly this time.
We learned nothing, saw nothing, and realized we couldn't pull the trailer on
these roads or even want to go back with the truck. Again, really bad places
and really bad roads. At one point I was in tears with back pain and didn't
think I could go on—whew!! Rested, had a cold Mike's, some Advil, and good as
“new”...onward!
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| Even with all the mayhem, Chris manages to have some fun in the desert. |
We again managed to get turned around, even with our
handy-dandy GPS points, and wound up in what felt like some rancher's
yard...but we got back to Crowley and headed on up towards Harper...lots of
beauty in between, and Crowley itself was not a bad road, so...yay.
We managed to see antelope (2 or 4—we're not sure if it
was the same 2 or not, but looking at our footage it seems that it may have
been 2 separate pairs) and that was exciting after all of the scout-drought we
had had so far. We also scoped out a possible camping spot and then enjoyed the
countryside as we made our way to Harper and the highway.
The town of Harper was kind of depressing and we didn't
spend much time scouring anything there, then decided to drive west and get a
room in Burns for the night.
4th Day of Scouting...Home to
Ponder...
After spending a night in what felt like the last place
to get a room in Burns, we wanted to go back and re-visit Crowley Road and the
potentials we saw there.
Behind the cemetery was a great camping spot complete
with shade. Since the good water-hole spot Chris had found previously was just
a hop up the road, this might be perfect. We felt pretty chipper after the
campsite find.
We then hiked the road into the watering hole and found
maybe one set of antelope tracks...not really hopeful.
At this point in time, we were planning on doing Chris'
antelope hunt together. We had ruled out bringing the trailer at the other end
of the road towards Harper where we spotted the 2 or 4 antelope, but felt the
need to re-consider.
None of the facts seemed to add up to anything more
than bleak: the weather would be hot, camping would be challenging, and we'd
barely seen any antelope. But he had waited 14 years for this chance and it
seemed a shame to just blow it off, so we kept at the various scenarios.
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| An antelope buck bids us adieu and good luck! |
Other than the disappointments, it was a memorable trip and one for the books for sure. It's always a mystery what we'll find when we venture out, and that makes it worth the effort.
We went back home to ponder.
