First stop was Lakeview for some fuel, and then it was on to the Alvord to make a base camp. We got camp set up on the south end of the playa, and by then it was about lunch time... time to head to Fields Station for burgers and shakes. We landed on the highway and had a great lunch there as always, and then it was time to head to Denio Junction for to top off the tanks so we could go exploring.
We got in Denio Junction and taxied up to the fuel pumps, only to find out they where in the process of getting new fuel tanks, well shit, no gas! Luckily the bar tender there was cool, and he ran home and grabbed me five gallons of MoGas. Enough to play around for a bit, and again lucky for me I can put regular unleaded in a pinch so I knew we could get more gas at Fields later on. Next stop was Bog Hot Springs...
A short five minute flight brought us to Bog where an easy landing on the road and a short taxi brought us too the hot springs, unfortunately it was about 90 degrees out and the water was 100 degrees, so it was a littler counter-intuitive and we never got in. Bog is really cool though its more of a hot creek. We walked up the creek and ran into some guys camping out on a little rock hounding expedition, we chatted with them for a bit, then the afternoon thunderstorms started to roll in so we decided to bail back to camp and call it a day.
With a couple hours of daylight left, the emptying of beer can or two began, then the shooting of said beer cans and some gourmet cooking of a Salmon I caught down on the Rogue last Sunday took place. Very nice warm nights allowed me to sleep in a fleece sleeping bag comfortably, that being a big plus in my book. After a little digital distraction on my net book I was sound a sleep only to be awoken a few hours later by Craig firing up his engine.
I rushed out of my tent, got my shit together as quickly as possible, then joined Craig in the air for a little fun flying. I flew right up against the Steens looking for winter climbing potential, then caught up with Craig over at Mickey Hot Springs. I decided to land on the dry lake bed, there was about 2,000' there so Craig was easily able to set down there as well. I also landed on the road closer to the hot springs as well to make sure it was doable. But never got out to look at the springs, having camped there with my truck about a month ago, and knowing it would just be too damn hot again there was no point. After an hour of flying around and filming each other and taking pictures it was breakfast time. We headed back to camp, then both hopped in the Savannah and headed to Fields Station for omelettes, giant pancakes and some regular unleaded.
On the way there we decided to land in another dry lake bed near Borax Hot Springs... it wound up being not quite as dry as the others so we got kinda close to getting stuck, but kept enough power in to get to the edge where there was a little grass helping the ground firm up enough to easily get off the ground. Not one of my finest moments but you live and learn...
After breakfast it was time to go fishing at Mann Lake. We landed back at camp to grab the fishing gear then headed off to Mann, and enjoyed another uneventful landing on the road. We taxied through the cattle guard (just barely) and headed down to the lake and got set up. As I was stringing my rod up I managed to snap the tip. Oh well we brought four rods.... but we managed to leave the other two back at camp. Since I had wanted to fish Mann forever I left Craig there as per his request, and flew back to camp to grab another rod. A quick trip back to camp and back to Mann, lead to some fishing during the middle of the day, where the trout decided it was too hot to eat and hid out somewhere else in the lake. After an hour or two of no luck it was time to move on.
We got in the air and couldn't decide what to do, so we tossed around some ideas, and agreed to go check out Whitehorse Ranch and Willow Creek Hot Springs. After a little guerrilla touch and go at Whitehorse, we bumped over Willow Creek to land on the road and check it out. This was by far the trickiest landing of the trip as the road is only about 8'-10' wide and we had a little crosswind going on. My first attempt to land, we caught a nice gust right at touch down, so I blasted in some power got up to 50' and had enough straight road ahead of me to try it again, this time touching down right on my "center line". The road was a bit rough so we parked about a 1/4 mile from the hot springs and walked over there.
Now Willow Creek Hot Springs are great choice if ya wanna go to a hot springs on a warmer day as there is a "cool" pool that's probably about 80 degrees and really pleasant. Now we could finally was the dust off. We bumped into another really nice older couple camping there from the Mollala area. I really wish I could have gotten a picture of this guy... apparently they are big fans of hot springs and had been to em all, but anyways, the guy walked up to us wearing nothing but his dark leathery skin, a cowboy hat and a leopard print man thong. Nothin' better than a cowboy in a leopard print man thong!!! We chatted with them while we soaked for a bit and decided to call it a day a little earlier than the previous day so we could have more time to shoot bullets into the desert.
Back at camp we ate steaks, sighted in my new 17HMR, shot at all the cans and extra water bottles we had... why dump out the water when you can shot at it? Craig went to bed early so I watched a movie in my tent and dozed off after a pudding cup and some cookies and milk. It was a rough life out there in the desert.
We awoke to another perfect morning, and decided to pack up and head home as some weather was supposed to move in the next day. Doughnuts and Red Bull got me charged up and we took off and headed over the Steens to Burns for fuel, then it was on to Sunriver for a hot lunch date.
After drinking a couple cups of coffee in Burns and a Mountain Dew in the plane, I realized I wasn't going to make it to Sunriver. I had noticed a while back in my gazetteer there was a strip at the Fort Rock BLM Station that was basically along our route. It not on the sectional, listed on airnav or wasn't able to find any mention of it with google search. Was pretty interesting tho as it was paved, but with quite a few surface cracks, I imagine its used for fires and that's about it. Nice place to stop for a bathroom break though, and you could walk 3-4 miles down the road to Derrick Cave if you wanted to do more than just land. I took off right behind Craig and headed straight over Paulina Peak to Sunriver.
Got some bikes and headed to the lodge for one of those $100 burgers, some $100 mac & cheese and $100 french onion soup. Always good food there. We tossed around the idea of some mini golf but by this point we where pretty fried from all the action, and my caffeine buzz was starting to fade. So time to head home. We flew by Mount Bachelor, then headed to Wolf Rock (near McKenzie Bridge) to go fly by some of my friends climbing on it, I buzzed them a couple times, then headed a little north to show Craig the Menagerie Wilderness, which is my absolute favorite place in the entire world. After that we followed the South Santiam drainage out of the Cascades, crossed the valley and we where back in Corvallis in the early afternoon. Got my cooler and guns out of Craig's plane, he took off for Scappoose, and I hopped in my truck and drove home.
This was my first real back country trip in the Savannah and it couldn't have gone any better, and I don't think I could possibly every have more fun as I did... its been an interesting past year for me, loosing the option of getting my second class medical, I lost my dream of becoming a commercial pilot... After dwelling on that for months, this trip was just what I needed to clear my mind and get back into a better head space. After all commercial pilots don't have this much fun do they? Life is good and I'm just lucky to still be flying.
