We finally made it to the Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon! We have heard a lot about it and have been itching to go. We took our new 4Runner with our new tent and awning instead of our Jeep. After exploring the Steens Mountain, we went to Fields, Oregon (population-9), got gas and a famous milkshake. Then we we headed a few miles to the Alvord desert. It was amazing....totally different than anything I have ever experienced! Unfortunately the day we were there it was extremely windy (30-40mph), but we still enjoyed it. It’s a 12mile by 7 mile-ish dry lake bed that you can drive on, camp on and just enjoy! Our daughter and her friend loved it. Camping on the desert was pretty awesome! We ended up watching a crazy lightning storm across the desert..... In the morning we watched the sun rise from our tent door........it was gorgeous! So we definitely want to go back.....it was a great time, except very windy and dusty.

We live in the Coos Bay/North Bend area and the North Spit is one of our favorite areas to adventure to. Dune roads, beach roads, bay roads and some of the best day and overnight dispersed camping in Oregon in our opinion. If you haven’t been to the North Spit, add it to your list. We go there often, at least a few times a month and it’s mainly locals that frequent this area. We enjoy sharing this gem with others who would appreciate it as much as we do.....you just need a capable vehicle, flag and OHV permit and it’s yours to explore.

in July we went out to try and find the recently discovered Mammoth Trackway Site near Christmas Valley, OR. The site is on BLM land but the exact location wasn’t publicly shared so it took a bit of investigating to find out the approximate location. I did just that and narrowed the possible location down, so we headed out to search! Once we got to a good parking location we walked on foot. There were signs that said no vehicles pass this point but of course, sadly, we still saw lots of tire tracks. We ended up splitting up to search. We finally found the tracks! These are from mammoths from approximately 43,000 years ago. In fact, they determined it was a family of mammoths, with one adult limping. It’s amazing they can figure that out! We were very careful to not walk on the site itself. It was really cool to find and see in person. 😄 So if anyone is really into this kind of stuff, with investigating online, a little on foot, you can find the site. The Christmas Vally area is full of great overland trips and things to see......it’s one of our favorite areas to explore. -Julie https://youtu.be/NQD8hfJAG04

Just wanted to share our trip to the desert east of Christmas Valley, OR In July. We were on a mission to find an old A-6 plane wreckage site, after failing last year. The turn off from the highway east of Christmas Valley is marked with an old boot on a post, where you have to open a cattle gate. Then it’s about 8 miles off road driving to get where you park to start walking to the site. There is a very steep and rugged “road” that goes up the side of the bluff, which Cory drove the Jeep up, but my parents had to park at the bottom (see the left of the following photo). Definitely need a high clearance 4WD vehicle. At this point it’s about a mile hike to where the plane wreckage debris is.....which is spread out over about a half mile or maybe more. Be careful, on our way back we did find a rattlesnake hiding in a brush (it was in the evening when it was cooling down). It was sad and exciting to be here, since 2 young men lost their lives. We ended up camping about a mile away from the A-6 parking area and it ended up being a beautiful spot! The sunset was amazing...... In the morning I took a photo of where we camped......I actually really enjoyed this campsite. It was really a fun trip and we are so glad we went back to try again! I have coordinates and even routes to share if anyone wants them. We we also made a little YouTube video about the adventure. This is just a hobby so it’s not a professional video by any means....... https://youtu.be/8eVdfb9iJ_4 -Cory and Julie

last Sept we did the OBCDR 6 and 2....I already shared our route 6 experience, so thought I’d share route 2 also! We started in Oakridge, Oregon and ended up curting throught the Three Trails System off road park to get to the start of our route. The Three Trails was pretty cool and we definitely want to go back and check it out more! In th next photo we couldnt fit through the cut log so we took a route to the left of it... On the official route 2 is an optional side trip up Walker Mountain which we definitely recommend. Great views! Theres even a cabin at the top...... Cory found a geocache..... Continuing on the route we found a great place for lunch! it was a huge camp area. I loved the different terrain and roads on this route. We hit Summer Lake and then drove south to stay at the Summer Lake Hot Springs. It was fun and we definitely enjoyed it, however it was $20 a night per person to camp. the hot spring we soaked in at night...... Finished our day with a nice bottle of wine...... We really enjoyed this route and are planning on doing it again this summer. If anyone is interested in it, we have a pretty detailed video on youtube...... https://youtu.be/EBrUz0mXxGU Adventure On, Julie

Last September Cory and I took our first official overland trip through a few OBCD routes. Oregon Back Country Discovery Route 6 goes from the coast (where we live just north of Coos Bay) to Crescent Lake, Oregon area. It is 234 miles. The route is a mix of paved and gravel roads. It goes through the Elliott State Forest and the Umpqua State Forest. We stopped for lunch at a random water hole in the Elliott. Unfortunately it was not the best weather so our views included a lot of clouds and fog...... We ended up camping our first night east of Sutherlin up in the Umpqua Forest. It turned out to be a great spot but unfortunately it started raining on us when we were setting up camp. This was our first overland trip so we were still learning.....we had brought our backpacking gear, meaning thin sleeping pads and our very smell tent. We discovered we could actually easily fit a slightly bigger tent and bring along an air mattress. Luckily Cory threw in a tarp at the last second...... Hopefully in the next year we will purchase an adventure trailer! The route was really cool........ Our elevation would increase, then decrease, then increase, etc. This was heading up to the Bohemia Mine area.....which was a slight route off the ”main”route. We had heard about the Bohemia Mining District and had to stop and check it out. First we came to another optional off route adventure....a lookout tower, which unfortunately we couldnt go up. This was my favorite section, a narrow and rocky trail to the mine. It was probably only half a mile..... The mining district......apparently evey July they have a big celebration up here with off road vehicles going up the noonday trail, called Miners’ Breakfast during Bohemia Mining Days. I am not sure on details, so google it if you want more info. We had researched the OBCDR 6 but couldnt find much info on it, so we did create a youtube video for anyone else interested in the route. We really enjoyed it, however we LOVE forest routes. Anyone else experienced the OBCDR 6? We are actually going to do the route again this summer with our kids and my parents. -Julie (and Cory)

Hi everyone! We have slowly started getting into the overland hobby this last year. We sold our old cj5 and bought a stock 2dr rubicon which we’ve slowly been modifying. Our first overland trip was last September, when we did the OBCDR 6 and 2, along with navigating through the desert south of Christmas Valley. We have a few trips planned this year....OBCDR 6, 2, 4, 5-2, the NWOR in June and a Utah trip in Nov. We are also starting to research off road trailers.....as the sleeping in a tent on the ground habit isn’t out preference. We live in Coos Bay on the Oregon coast, have 3 busy teens/tween and both work in cardiology. We are excited to be part of the overland community and looking forward to joining in for events.... Adventure on! -Cory and Julie