Family Travel

The Wild, Wild East
Family Travel in Eastern Oregon

By Rosanne D. Parry

If your little cowboys and rodeo princesses are longing for a real western vacation with horses, sagebrush and lots of wide open spaces, Eastern Oregon is the destination of your dreams. The road less traveled that crosses the Cascades leads to what many would call the better half of Oregon. You won’t find crowded beaches or muddy forests here. The terrain has more in common with Nevada than the Willamette Valley. It’s home to ranches and rodeos, dinosaur bones, pronghorn antelope and mountain lions. It’s a region of rare depth containing both the deepest canyon and the deepest lake in the United States.

Here are some kid-friendly highlights of the many wonders of Eastern Oregon.

Dinosaur Digs

For kids who are deep in the dinosaur phase, nothing is more thrilling than a visit to some of the richest fossil beds in North America. They are spread over several sites along highway 26 between Prineville and Canyon City. The Painted Hills unit is spectacular for its vistas of vividly striped hillsides. There are a number of interpreted trails to hike, some as short as a quarter mile. The indoor interpretive center at the Sheep Rock Unit has a large building where you can watch archaeologists engaged in uncovering fossils and learn about the prehistoric past of Oregon. The displays are designed with older children in mind, but a preschool-aged dinosaur lover will find plenty of interesting material including 40,000 specimens from 2,000 different prehistoric species. (The interpretive center, the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center, holds the grand opening of its exhibit halls on August 13. Visit www.nps.gov/joda for more information.)

If nothing short of digging up dinosaurs will do, you need to visit Fossil, about 20 miles south of Condon on highway 19. Pull up to the public fossil bed behind the high school, and for a mere $3 per person you can cart off three rocks containing fossils. Nearly all of these fossils will be impressions of prehistoric plant material.

Baker County Beckons

Baker County is a history buff’s paradise. There are nearly a dozen ghost towns in the area which stand as a reminder of Oregon’s gold rush which began in the 1860s and was over by the turn of the century. One of the most accessible ghost towns is Sumpter, 22 miles from Baker, where you can still see the dredge machine that brought millions of dollars of gold out of the ground. Sumpter also hosts a historic steam engine excursion train. The narrow guage railway was built in 1890 and runs hour and a half trips in a variety of beautifully restored railway cars.
The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is just five miles east of Baker, and has a wealth of hands -on exhibits that help visitors understand the decisions and dangers pioneers faced on the Trail. The grounds of the center have real covered wagons to climb in and actual ruts from wagon trains that passed through more than 150 years ago.

The Wallowas – and More

Oregon’s answer to the Alps is the stunningly beautiful Wallowa Lake and Eagle Cap Wilderness region in the northeastern corner of the state. One hour in this rugged paradise and you can see why Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians were so tenacious in holding on to this land. Wallowa Lake and the neighboring town of Joseph are two of the most popular destinations in Eastern Oregon. Wallowa State Park is a large and well developed campground with a swimming area, boat slips, playground and campfire programs. There are several motels and cabins nearby. The lake has a variety boats for rent and a parasailing operation for the stout of heart.

Many people use Joseph as a jumping off place for back country hikes. If that sounds ambitious to a family accustomed to car camping, pack horses are available. You can arrange to ride horses up into the mountains or hike and have a pack train do your heavy lifting. For an even more exotic trip, you can rent llamas and enjoy their gentle dispositions and sure-footed carrying capacity. (Be prepared to explain why you’re not going to be able to keep one of these beautiful creatures as a pet.)

Oregon hosts dozens of rodeos every summer and one of the most family-oriented is in Joseph during the Chief Joseph Days celebration on the last weekend in July each year. The event begins with a wild horse race down the main street of town when all the horses used in the rodeo are given a chance to run from one side of town to the rodeo ground on the other. The sight of 30 or 40 horses running past only a few feet away is enough to thrill even us grown up horse lovers. In addition to the usual rodeo events, young spectators can get into the act with “mutton busting.” Children under the age of 10 can test their cowboy skills on a bucking sheep. (It’s a soft ride and helmets are provided.)

Hell’s Canyon

Hell’s Canyon on the Oregon-Idaho border, is what the Grand Canyon would be without all the tourists. There are a number of viewpoints into this deepest gorge in North America. All of them are at the end of small winding roads and have no amenities beyond bathrooms, so carry food and water with you. If you want to get down to the Snake River, there are whitewater rafting and jet boat trips available from Hells Canyon Adventures, 80 miles east of Baker. They offer both half-day and overnight tours of the gorge. In addition to wildlife and jaw-dropping scenery you’ll see an abandoned prospector cabin, an Indian pit house and many rare pictographs.

Bird Watching Near Burns

If you’re a bird watching family, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge about 20 miles south of Burns is the place to look for migrating species. It’s also home to the rare pronghorn antelope and big horn sheep. Accommodations and even campgrounds are few and far between in the southeastern corner of our state. One option in the area is the historic French Glen Hotel which dates form 1916. It has a wonderful boarding house feel complete with community dining and bathrooms down the hall.

America’s Deepest Lake

Crater Lake is a fitting climax to your loop around the eastern side of the state. It’s Oregon’s only National Park, and although it’s busy, the spectacular blue of the water, the historic park lodges and mountain wildflowers make it worth the whole trip. At 1932 feet, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and the seventh deepest in the entire world. An added bonus for kids: there is usually snow in the park even in July and August. (I can still remember throwing snowballs at my brother in shorts and sandals nearly 30 years after my first trip to the park.)

A final plug for taking a family trip to Eastern Oregon: While trekking around the globe with your kids may be your fantasy vacation, giving them a sense of home is just as important. If your “sense of home” includes an Oregon broader than the metro area and the Willamette Valley – as mine does – then heading to the Wild, Wild East may be just the ticket.

Helpful Web sites for Eastern Oregon Trip Planning

• Eastern Oregon Visitors Association – www.eova.com
• Oregon State Parks – www.oregonstateparks.org
• Oregon Rodeos – www.all-oregon.com/rodeo
• Wallowa Lake – www.wallowalake.net
• Baker County Visitor and Convention Bureau – www.visitbaker.com
• Back country travel – www.eaglecapwildernesspackstation.com
  And www.wallowallamas.com
• Whitewater rafting and jet boat rides – www.hellscanyonadventures.com
• Crater Lake National Park – www.nps.gov/crla/home
• High Desert Museum – www.highdesertmuseum.org
• Warm Springs Reservation – www.warmsprings.com
• Travel in Oregon generally – www.traveloregon.com. Oregon’s official tourism Web site.

Getting There: Gems Along the Way

Sometimes the journey is half the fun. Such is the case with a trip to Eastern Oregon. Starting in Portland, the major routes east go along I-84 in the Columbia River Gorge or Highway 26 over Mt. Hood. With adventurous teenagers, the gorge route may be best, to take advantage of wind surfing at Hood River and white water rafting on the Deschutes River.

With younger children, the ride over Mount Hood offers an opportunity to stop at Frog Lake. In summer, this shallow lake is teeming with thousands of tiny frogs. Just east of the mountain is the Warm Springs Reservation. The resort at Kah-Nee-Tah has something for everyone, including golf and tennis for parents, hike and bike trails, teepees to camp in and an enormous swimming pool warmed to a bathtub-like temperature by the local hot spring. The tribe also maintains a museum and art gallery with plenty of child-friendly exhibits.

Continuing on Highway 26 brings you to a campers’ and water skiers’ paradise, Lake Billy Chinook. There are cabins and campsites available, a number of beaches with swimming areas and possibly the tamest wild deer in the state.

The High Desert Museum, home to all creatures that scamper, soar and slither in the desert, is 40 miles from Lake Billy Chinook and 10 minutes south of Bend. In addition to animals, the museum has a working sawmill, a prospectors cabin and Conestoga wagons.

Hot Weather and Desert Travel Tips for Families

• 1. Carry water.
• 2. Wear hats.
• 3. Use sunscreen and bug repellant
• 4. In bear and cougar territory, hike in a group and avoid the predator hours at dusk and dawn.
• 5. Watch where you put your hands and feet. Scorpions and snakes like to hide in crevices.
• 6. Don’t rely on a cell phone to save you. Mountainous and remote terrain makes cell phone coverage sporadic.
• 7. Know the signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration. Treat them promptly.

Rosanne D. Parry is a Portland freelancer writer and mother.

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