Bullards Beach Horse Camp, and Devil's Kitchen, Oregon

I started 2014 with a trip to the beach and so it was only fitting that I end my camping season the same way. My non horsie friend Andrea agreed to meet me there with her RV. I pulled into camp and noticed a couple other rigs parked there, but otherwise it was empty. Got tacked up and away we went to gallop along the length of the beach.

Northern end of the beach, there is a golf course, Bandon Dunes, above.

Cool rocks.

Riding back into the sunset.

I passed a couple of ladies on horseback at one point, waved at them and kept going. Once I got back to camp the same ladies were there, turned out to be the owners of the other rigs, and we chatted for awhile. It turns out they are "homeless" choosing to live in their LQ trailers traveling from state to state with their horses.
Karen has been on the road for over eight years and Donna joined her a year and a half ago.
They invited me to ride with them the following day.


Bullards Beach Horse Camp which is just a few miles outside of Bandon OR has eight sites, some with four horse corrals and some with two. It is open year round and well maintained. There is potable water out of spigots, a manure bin with a wheelbarrow, garbage cans, and a bathroom. At this time of year it was $15.00 a night, which is lower than the summer rate. I did not get a reservation but as most people around here know, you cannot get away with that in the peak season. Booking way ahead is the only way to get a site in the summer.

Bullards Beach Horse Camp.

Site 6.

That evening I rushed to get my tent set up before dark then decided to meander over to the RV campground where Andrea was staying....a half an hour's walk in the dark later, I arrived. The horse camp is located really close to the beach, but the RV park is closer to the highway, so Andrea was a little bummed about the distance between our camps, and the fact that she had no other vehicle to get around in.

The next day, I met up with the horse ladies and we decided to ride on some of the inland trails.

The Cut Creek Trail.

There are several small loops that meet up with other small loops. The Cut Creek trail leaves from camp. The sand is very deep on these trails and gives your horse quite the workout. Eventually we got back onto the beach for awhile and then did the last inland loop on the way back.

Picnic area.

Karen and Donna.

Karen and Donna. Karen's horse is also half Peruvian like mine.

That evening Andrea invited me for dinner at the RV park, so this time I drove over stopping at the beach for a view of the setting sun. Could have been romantic, except it was just me and a seagull.

The sunset.

Sunset.

Since Andrea was camped there I could have the rare luxury of a shower, and then she spoiled me with a full course salmon dinner. It was definitely nice to be inside instead of sitting at the campsite in the dark.

Although it was supposed to be five days in a row of sun and warmth, the following day got cloudy and was forecast to rain in the afternoon briefly, so I rode in the morning doing a big loop, out to the lighthouse, along the beach again and then back inland.

The lighthouse. There is a hitching post here.

The loop trails are clearly marked.

I dismounted from my horse and seconds later it started to rain. I drove over and picked up Andrea and we spent the afternoon messing around in the little shops in Old Town Bandon, where she managed to get some Xmas shopping done. I sampled a few too many chocolates and got a sugar high. Later on as we perused our phones, we noticed a shift in weather back home in Bend, crazy low temps were coming so timing wise the trip couldn't have worked out better.

That night a drunk guy and his teenage son stumbled into camp, I got a little concerned so I watched to see what they were up to. It appeared they were lost, there was a lot of swearing and bickering about not having a phone. I followed them in the dark to see if they were leaving and I could hear them yelling "Sorry ma'am" over and over. Turns out they had stopped at Karen's rig and asked to use her phone, she told them to move along, that she had a gun and was not afraid to use it!

I had met a woman a couple years earlier that lives in Bandon and I had contacted her about finding some other areas to ride and she suggested I go south to another beach, so in the morning I packed up early and drove over and parked at Devil's Kitchen. Riding north on this beach is quite the treat, there are numerous rock formations. You definitely have to be there at low tide. You can also ride south, presumably forever, but I had to do the long drive home so called it quits after a few hours.

Rocks at the beach accessed from Devil's Kitchen.

The ears match!

We rode through this little cave.

Rocks, rocks and more rocks.

I couldn't figure out what this was from far away so I zoomed in just before the wave hit.

Rina, a sweaty mess the entire trip.

Plenty of seals.

A fun trip was had by all.
Home again to the blast of winter weather....sigh....


GPS COORDINATES TO BULLARDS

GPS COORDINATES TO DEVIL'S KITCHEN

Muddy Meadows, Walupt Horse Camp, and Killen Creek, Washington

WOW!...is all I can say about Goat Rocks, it is a stunning place, but you have to be prepared to ride long days and have a surefooted trusty steed, to see the real beauty.

Goat Rocks from afar.

Having camped close by this area before, I knew it would be a long drive over gravel forest service roads. I stopped at Keenes Horse Camp to do a ride I had done two years before, but wasn't able to get very far, due to snow. The Muddy Meadows Trail climbs up towards Mt. Adams and then meets the Highline Trail. I had no trouble this time with snow, but it started getting cloudy and a little chilly and I realized there was no point in riding any higher, so I met up with the PCT and looped back down. It was raining as I got back to the truck.

Mt. Adams from the Muddy Meadows trail.

I then drove onward to Walupt Lake Horse Camp. This is in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the closest town is Randle, WA. There are nine sites, several of which are doubles with plenty of room for parking. There are two bathrooms, garbage, manure bins, and a hand pump for water, but although the websites all said the water is potable, it is NOT. However there is some potable water 3/4 of a mile away, at the lake where the road ends. Like most WA camps, there is high lining, with no corrals, and it was $16.00 per night.
There is a mapboard of the trail system, as well as some paper maps you can take of the trails for both Keenes and Cody, which are camps nearby, but not for Walupt....oddly. I had several hiking books about the area so I used them to plan my routes.

A double site at Walupt Horse Camp.

Walupt Horse Camp.

It rained all night and in the morning it was still misting and cloudy, but I tacked up and rode the Coleman Weedpatch Trail which climbs up quite high and then meets the PCT. I did a loop returning on the Walupt Lake Trail. I am certain there were probably some good views along the way, but I wasn't seeing much that day with all the cloud cover and fog.

In the middle of the night the wind picked up, and so did the temps. By morning it was blue sky and sun which made me pretty ecstatic. I had a plan, and it involved doing a loop along Goat Ridge to Goat Lake, then a side trip to Snowgrass Flats and then down the Snowgrass Trail. You can ride there from the horse camp, but it's just a lot of extra needless miles and time, so I drove over to the Berry Patch Trailhead, getting there just in the nick of time to snag a parking spot. Even on a Thursday it was pretty busy, with three other horse trailers and lots of cars, half of those being bow hunters. Tis the season. Apparently on the weekends there can be as many as 100 people on this trail.
Most horse people just go straight to Snowgrass Flats and back, but the Goat Ridge Trail is much more beautiful, although not for the faint of heart especially when you reach the Lily Basin Trail, which has some sketchy sections.
There is also a side trail that takes you to an old lookout site, and then meets up with the main trail again, which is worth it for the view of Rainier.

Mt. Rainier.

The Goat Ridge Trail.

The Goat Ridge Trail.

The Goat Ridge Trail, with Mt. St. Helens in the background.

The Goat Ridge Trail.

My horse is surefooted, luckily, but she appears to have zero fear of heights, as I was leading her over certain "not so great" sections she thought it was a grand idea to walk on the very edge of a precipice with a sheer drop off inches away, or up the side of the cliff instead of down the middle of the trail, giving me some heart palpitations, and making me wonder about her sanity. There were plenty of hikers out and about, but I only saw one other person who was riding, and he was on a mule.

The Goat Ridge Trail.

Views of Mt. Adams where the Goat Ridge Trail meets the Lily Basin Trail.

Arriving at Goat Lake, I decided that would be a good lunch spot. And the place lived up to it's name, with actual mountain goats way up on the ridge above me.

Goat Lake.

Goats at Goat Lake!

Goat Lake from afar.

I would have liked to have stayed up there all day, but I dragged myself away, and got to the intersection where you can ride up to Snowgrass Flats and to the PCT. My original plan had been to summit the mountain just above, called Old Snowy, but I ran out of time. Looping back down, I rounded a corner and encountered a llama. A couple of hikers were standing still watching him/her. They looked relieved when they saw me, and asked if it was my llama, I said no, effectively dashing their hopes. There wasn't much we could do as far as catching him/her, since he/she was not wearing a halter and looked uninterested in human companionship. I assumed it was a pack llama that had escaped from someone camping in the area. I hope someone eventually got reunited with their animal.

Rina napping above Snowgrass Flats.

Heading back down to the trailhead I was thrilled to have seen such a beautiful place, thinking that was to be the best scenery of the trip. Luckily for me, it was going to get even better.

On Friday my pony got the day off, and so I hiked over to Walupt Lake. As I lay sunning myself on the beach several people wandered by wearing sweaters and pants. One couple told me I was a hardy person. I guess it wasn't all that hot out, the breeze was a bit stiff, but I hopped in the lake anyway (desperation from camping a long time with no shower) and then called it a day.

Walupt Lake.

Walupt Lake, hoof prints to lead the way.

The next day I rode the Nannie Ridge Trail, which also eventually meets the PCT (as all the uphill trails do there). I rode north on the PCT and to my surprise found some even more stunning scenery. A hiker and I arrived at Gilbert Peak at the exact same time, and we both just stood there gaping at it. Even jaded PCT thru hikers rave about this section.

I continued on to Cispus Pass, and the beauty continued. A couple of section hikers and I had a nice chat at the top, before I had to reluctantly turn around and go back.
There were such a lot of nice people hiking and camping, I was never really alone for long, maybe 20 minutes max. before running into someone else. Everyone was so delirious from the views, that we all just grinned stupidly at one another.

Gilbert Peak on the Yakama Indian Reservation.

Gilbert Peak on the Yakama Indian Reservation.

On the PCT, Cispus Pass.

On the PCT, Cispus Pass

On the PCT, Cispus Pass

On the PCT, Cispus Pass, the washed out area of the trail.

On the PCT, heading south back to camp.

On my last day I got ready early, drove back over past Keenes Horse Camp and did the Killen Creek Trail, another one I had tried to do on a previous trip, but couldn't get past the snowdrifts. This is a short trail with great views of Mt. Adams, and you can continue briefly up the High Camp Trail along the slopes of the mountain, until it eventually becomes impassable to horses.

On the High Camp trail. Time to turn around.

What a great trip, I am so blessed to be able to do what I love.


GPS COORDINATES TO KEENES HORSE CAMP


GPS COORDINATES TO WALUPT HORSE CAMP

East Fork Canyon Creek, and Slide Horse Camp, Oregon

Knowing my August was going to be busy, because I was selling one property and moving to another, and feeling bummed about having to cancel two camping trips with other people, I wanted to get in a quick getaway before things got crazy.

Strawberry Mountain.

The Strawberry Mountains had been on my radar for awhile and so I set off on July 31st for the John Day Oregon area. First I took a detour over to the East Fork Canyon Creek Trailhead which is also an undeveloped horse camp, with a rickety manger and a couple hitching posts, but no other amenities. This trail apparently does not get much use. It is rated "most difficult" but not at the section where I was, which was just following the creek with no major elevation gain. I had planned to ride to a certain spot and turn around, but did not manage to get more than about 4.5 miles in, before having to give up. The brush was very thick and a machete would have come in handy. I rode up another side trail for a little while, and then headed back.

East Fork Canyon Creek Trailhead.

I then drove back to John Day and continued east to Prairie City and up into the mountains to
Slide Horse Camp.

Driving towards the Strawberry Mountains.

Slide is a small camp, just a half circle off the main road, with three camping spots.
Numbers 1 and 3 have plenty of room for bigger rigs, but they are back in spots. The corrals are in good shape, there is a bathroom, and stock water from Strawberry Creek, which although close by, is not that easy to drag water from, so unless you need a bicep workout... bring your own! There is no manure bin, no potable water, and it is $8.00 per night.

Spot number 1 at Slide Horse Camp.

Riding nice and early the next morning, I had a plan to do a specific large loop. I did indeed do a large loop, but it was slightly different than originally intended. I followed the Slide Connector Trail out of camp assuming it would connect me to the trail going to Strawberry Lake. The main road you drive in on, continues past Slide Camp to the Strawberry Lake Trailhead which is where I wanted to go, but instead of riding on the road, I took the trail.....which took me the LONG way up a huge mountain with drop off cliffs and a lot of elevation gain. That is when I realized that I had to readjust my plan for the day. Do not do this trail if you do not like heights and/or very narrow trails where you could fall to your death. After dropping half way back down again in elevation, I did eventually make my way to Strawberry Lake.

Strawberry Lake.

I then rode over to Strawberry Falls and Little Strawberry Lake.

Strawberry Falls.

Little Strawberry Lake.

Little Strawberry Lake.

Continuing on, I rode towards Strawberry Mountain, and found myself amongst some spectacular scenery.

Strawberry Lake from above.

Rabbit Ears in the background.

Strawberry Mountain.

There is a trail junction at Strawberry Mountain where you can continue to High Lake which was the original loop I had wanted to do, or instead, ride along the side of Strawberry Mountain on the Onion Creek Trail which then drops way back down and comes out near camp. You can also summit the mountain on a short .04 mile steep trail, but I figured Rina (my horse) had done enough climbing for one day.

Onion Creek Trail that goes along the side of Strawberry Mountain.

Onion Creek Trail that goes along the side of Strawberry Mountain.

The Onion Creek Trail does not have any major cliffy parts but there are some steep areas, and since I was going downhill, I dismounted for a few of the worst parts. This is mountain goat country but although I saw signs of them, I did not actually spot any. Some backpackers I ran into later who were  from Bend had mentioned seeing some goats on another trail.

Looking down on Prairie City.

Onion Creek Trail.

The last few miles of this trail are through an old burn, and although I had had no trouble with fallen logs on any trail thus far, I started to get a little worried through here, and sure enough I came across the first huge wide log blocking the trail. I managed to get Rina to jump it, but then I came to a second one which was too big. How I got her around that one I will never know, through thick manzanita and millions of downed trees, but we made it. I was pretty motivated, since it was now raining with thunder and lightning, and I had been in the saddle all day. I had no more trouble from that point on, other than the pea sized hail that started up when I finally hit the road that goes back to camp, arriving at 6:15 pm, making it a nine hour ride.

That night a raging storm hit. At 5am I was awakened by a huge cracking crashing noise. I rocket launched myself out of my tent, quickly realizing my horse was fine. It was a tree that had broken in half and fallen over which reminded me of the whole "if a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear" thing. Yes, is the answer. Since I was up anyway, I got my stuff packed, and then tacked up my horse and rode up the road this time, the much easier way to the Strawberry Trailhead. You could drive to it as well, although there is a sign that says "narrow road not suitable for trailers". However when you arrive, there is a separate large parking area specifically for trailers, with a hitching post. Go figure.

My goal for the day was to see Slide Lake. On the way there were some more narrow trails, and then a lovely vista with a waterfall in the distance.

On the way to Slide Lake.

On the way to Slide Lake.

On the way to Slide Lake, a waterfall in the distance.

Slide Lake.

Relaxing at Slide Lake.

I hung out at the lake for awhile and then headed back to camp. With more time, and adding an extra six miles I could have kept going to High Lake from there, but I still had to drive home.
The drive home is always so much longer than the drive there!


GPS COORDINATES TO EAST FORK CANYON CREEK TH

GPS COORDINATES TO SLIDE