In this episode, Gary and I slowly make our way east to the Oregon border while snagging some National Forest campgrounds and heading through some crazy amazing scenic drives on the way. Come join us as we see the untamed part of Oregon.
Where We Stayed⛺🗺️📌
We’re sharing our camping and other locations on iOverlander (boondocking, etc.) and Campendium (established campsites).
Spring Creek Campground (LaGrande, Oregon) – FREE (iOverlander)(Campendium)
We had originally planned on staying at a rest area for the night, but I found this campground on iOverlander and thought we’d give it a try. And I’m glad we did! We actually stayed on one of the dispersed camping sites just shy of the campground. There were a few cars driving on the road and it went to nothing towards dusk.
Gary met a hunter who was in the area who had just spotted a huge elk, but we didn’t see it. The hunter also said to be wary for grizzlies since they frequent the area. We didn’t spot much wildlife except the angry squirrel but it was so much better than an overnight parking area.
Wallowa Lake State Park – (Joseph, Oregon)(Booked-didn’t stay)
We tried to stay here, but it was booked solid. It was a pretty state park on the lake – you could rent kayaks, canoes and small boats but we didn’t really see many folks out there, even with a full campground. This park was pretty with the lake being in the middle of several mountains. But, we had to continue on to find a place to stay.
Hurricane Creek Campground – (Joseph, Oregon) – FREE (iOverlander) (Campendium)
This was one heck of a find after striking out at Wallowa Lake State Park. The drive in is a bit long and does go down to one lane during the last mile or so. There are multiple campsites located here and most are located on the creek side. The site we had included a picnic table and firepit.
This is a gorgeous area with tall mountains as the backdrop to the creek. Hurricane Creek Trailhead is also located here – we looked at the trails and they were long and difficult so we decided to enjoy the creek instead. 🙂
We only stayed one night, but we were surprised by the amount of traffic on this road. We didn’t really hear anything beyond the vehicle noise though.
No cell service (AT&T or Verizon).
Fields Spring State Park (Anatone, Washington) – $50 (Didn’t Stay)
We stopped by here to see if we could snag an overnight stay but after getting massive price shock, we quickly headed out. We were in the shoulder times, so the campsite itself was $25. But add an $8 reservation fee and another $17 out-of-state fee would make a $50 overnight stay at a campsite without any hookups. That in my opinion was simply ridiculous
Hell’s Gate State Park (Lewiston, Idaho) – $40 (Campendium)
We’re pretty glad we found this campground after our third try in a day to find a decent place to stay the night. The campground was fairly full and there were a lot of fisherman there (lots of boats) so it looked like this place was quite popular. Even with that, we were able to find a campsite (without hookups).
The site we stayed in had quite a bit of shade so it may have been challenging if we stayed more than a day or two. Our portable solar panel came to the rescue and we were fine. We ended up staying 2 nights so we could check out the trails, which were a bit more challenging than expected. Great views of the river there too. There was a dump station with potable water, places to get rid of your trash, AND we had good cell service to plan our next location. It’s a nice park but still a bit pricey for us.
And you must check in after 2pm.
Where We Hiked 🥾🗺️📌
🥾Snake River Trail (Technically Snake + Rollers + Devils Slide + Powerline)(Link to AllTrails)
I honestly had little expectations for this trail. I thought it was going to be a typical paved campground trail. Boy was I wrong. We took this trail counter-clockwise, and the first portion lulls you into thinking it’s going to be easy. It’s not. This hike combines several more challenging trails into one and the view of the river is pretty spectacular. I’d recommend good shoes and extra water – we started early and were facing the sun for the first portion, which wore me out. But so glad we got to do this one!
Our Journey Map⛺🥾🗺️📌
We also have a currently free map on Google with all of the places we’ve stayed along with the related video and links to more detailed reviews on iOverlander , Campendium and Google Maps.
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