A Visit to Ponderosa Place

Our fall adventure begins with a friend. Our first stop as we travel to New Mexico is in central Oregon with a college friend. He has a hunting and camping property near the Deschutes National Forest. The last couple of miles are on the roughest road the R-Pod has ever navigated, but it did well and we had no damage, but we went super slow, picking our way around the larger rocks.

This isn't the road, but the road wasn't much better.

This first section of the road was great compared to what came later.

This is an amazing place. I find myself breathing deeply whenever we return to the high desert. The dust, juniper, pine and sagebrush combine into an irresistible fragrance. His land is basically a ponderosa pine forest that he is managing as a conservation area. We spent time sitting around and visiting with him and his mom, who was visiting from Alaska. We drank whiskey and hot chocolate, and stared at the sky. The dark is real here; this night sky is a wonder that has disappeared from our modern lives.

More whiskey please!

R-Pod parking. The road (lol) is between the trailer and truck.

Painted trees mark the property boundaries.

Touring the property.

The drive there took us through the Cove Palisades State Park. What a hidden treat! I wouldn't want to drive this with anything larger than what we have. The road twists up and down the basalt canyon walls. The columnar basalt was some of the finest of it's type that I've seen.

The road.

Canyon view from the road.

One lane suspension bridge.

We made it out safely and drove to Ontario, OR to spend the night. What a long day! Our next few days are planned for maximum travel. We have promises to keep.

Sunset as we enter Ontario, OR.