Oregon Mine Campground, Malheur National Forest, Oregon

A couple of years ago me and my then boyfriend, rented a guard station out in the Malheur National Forest, and when we were there I drove through Oregon Mine Campground to check it out. It has been on my list as a place to return to with my horse ever since. When we were at the guard station we spent three days hiking around, and not once did we see a wild horse, but this time my luck had changed and I saw quite a few of the Murderers Creek Mustangs that roam this forest!

John Young Meadows.

Oregon Mine is 15 miles from Hwy 26, near Mt. Vernon, Oregon, but the roads are paved the entire way. When I got there several of the bigger spots had tents in them, so I decided to disperse camp nearby instead. There is a junction where you turn right from Rd. 21 onto Rd. 2170 and in the following mile before you get to the camp there are several large dispersed spots on the left hand side of the road. I picked the last one, nearest to Oregon Mine. 

The junction, camp is a mile straight ahead.

My dispersed camping spot.

I got tacked up right away for my first ride, and decided to head over in the general direction of a big meadow I remembered seeing on my previous visit. The first part of the ride was along the pavement, it's a quiet area, traffic is scarce, and I passed by the Murderers Creek Guard Station (not the one we stayed at, but you can rent this one as well )

Murderers Creek Guard Station.

The only slightly annoying thing about this area is the amount of fenced off parcels of land, cattle guards, and creeks that also have fences on either side of them. It's all public land, and there are a lot of  ways to get around, or in and out of some of the parcels, but it does require regularly dismounting and fiddling with a plethora of wire gates.

There are no designated trails right nearby, but one of the fun things about this area is the amount of trails that the cows and horses have made, they are everywhere, and so if you feel like it you can follow some of those for awhile. 

Wild horses make some very solid well used trails.

I was almost to the meadow and as I was doing a shortcut down a hill, through some grazing cows, I smelled the unmistakable aroma of death, and came across the carcasses of two wild horses. That seemed strange to me, one would be a possibility, but not two in the same place. I got an answer to this puzzle quite soon. I was about to get off my horse at yet another cattle guard, when a forest service guy drove by and I stopped him to ask if he knew about the dead horses. It turns out that not only did he know about them, he had been the one to place them there. The story, sadly, is that these two young bachelor studs had gotten caught up in the very cattle guard I was right next to, and had broken their legs. This had happened about a month previously, and the forest service guy had found them entangled, and had to euthanize them. 

Lots of cows with the exact same color scheme as my pony.

After visiting the meadow area, and finding no mustangs there, I took a different route back, mostly on old unused roads. At one point the road I was on dead ended, but I found another one of those awesome horse made trails to follow from there. Wild horses aren't sissies, they don't make switchbacks like us humans, so if there is a hill involved, they just go straight up it. So as I was making my way down a very steep slope, I suddenly heard a horse sneeze. I had found some of the mustangs!

Zoomed in on a nearby fire lookout.

Finding a plethora of stallion piles in the meadows.

There were four bachelors below me, and I didn't want to ride right into their midst, so I popped up onto a hill and spied on them from above. They were all congregating in one spot, pawing at the dirt, so I figured they had found themselves some of what I call "mineral mud". I watched for awhile, took some photos and then snuck down the opposite side of the hill. A couple more bachelors came out of the forest and joined them, but none of them spotted me and my pony.

Spying on a bachelor band.

They are digging in the mineral mud.

After that I headed back over to my nifty spot, with just the right amount of shade, located right by the creek. There were a few mosquito's and a few ticks to watch out for, but otherwise a perfect camping area.

Murderers Creek, right beside my camp spot.

Oregon Mine is a free camp and has five spots, #1 and #5 are the easiest to get a bigger rig into. The camp road is a loop and #1 and #2 have their own little offshoot loop. There is a bathroom, picnic tables and fire rings, and although the forest service website says there is a corral, there is not. This is one of many campgrounds in Oregon, that back in the day were built as horse camps but once horse people stopped using them, they became regular campgrounds. The creek is nearby, but I am glad I picked my dispersed spot because access to the creek from the camp is quite boggy. In fact I checked all of the other dispersed spots on that road, and out of all of them the one that I had inadvertently parked at had the best and easiest access to water. Ironically, I had brought my own water and didn't actually need it.

Oregon Mine Campground.

A forest service tent in site #5.

The following day I decided to try and ride to, or at least near Fields Peak. The actual trailhead is back quite a few miles towards the highway, but there was a dirt road heading in that direction, so I thought I would try it. It didn't actually get me there, but I climbed up quite a ways and had some nice views of the peak, and the ride started off following Tex Creek, which was very pretty. Not everybody likes to ride on roads, but in lieu of trails, or in areas where trails are not cleared, at least I know that in most cases I can actually get somewhere on roads.

The junction where I started the second ride. There is a pullout and a hitching rail.

Shady forest, on an old road.

Riding beside Tex Creek.

Views of Fields Peak.

At least I know roads will be cleared.

Once I reached a saddle and the road was heading back down the other side, I turned around, but on the way back I decided to cross Tex Creek and follow some more wild horse trails. As I was doing so I stumbled across a big meadow and spotted another herd of horses. This was a typical large band with mares and quite a few foals that were having afternoon naps. So I went back into stealth mode, left my pony behind a tree and walked a little closer to take photos ( I use a camera, with a zoom, so I was trying to get a better angle through the trees) 

Rina staying incognito while I try to photograph the herd.

Napping foals!

I wasn't getting great shots, but I also didn't want to alert them and disturb their day, so I went back to my pony and we tried to sneak away. Unfortunately once I was back on the road, they spotted us and after a moment of hesitation to check us out, they all galloped off like the wind.

On day three I decided to see where road 2170 continued on to, past the camp. There is yet another gate and cattle guard right at the camp, and as I was struggling to close it, (it was missing the rather important wire loop) I heard a whinny. A little bachelor had spotted my horse and was greeting her, but seemed rather confused as to why he was not getting an answer, and trying to figure out what kind of contraptions she had on her body. I finally finished with the gate and walked over to where he could see me, at which point he took off like a rocket.

The lone bachelor took off when he saw me.

The road stays paved for quite a while, then splits, and eventually becomes gravel. I was surprised to come across a rather large piece of private property. Kind of a fancy place with an airstrip, not the rustic shacks you usually find off grid, in the middle of nowhere. I looked it up when I got home and it sold for 1.5 million, and encompasses 160 acres, a little piece of paradise.

I took a side road and saw many fresh stallion piles and hoof prints, and then eventually came across an old dwelling.

Flowers are blooming! 

Large Flowered Clarkia.

Came across this old dwelling.

 After stopping for lunch, I decided to try to cut straight across, over the mountain to get back to camp, instead of going back the same way. I always like to make a loop if I can, even if it requires just winging it. I knew I would run into a fence line, but I figured I would risk it. I hadn't gone far, before I heard some more horses. I stopped my pony and two bachelors came down the hill through some trees not very far from me. They did not see me, so I just watched them for awhile. Eventually I had to move along, at which point I got surprised looks from them, but they weren't as flighty as all the others had been.

The road I was following dead ended at a water trough, so from there I rode cross country until I hit the inevitable fence line. I had no choice but to follow along beside it for awhile, and then lo and behold, I found a random gate, bush whacked down a hill on the other side, and found another road that led me straight back to camp.

Lunch time.

Taking a side road as a shortcut over the mountain.

A couple more bachelors in the trees.

Up on the hill.

Arriving back at camp meant taking a quick break and then getting on the road to drive back home. 

I'm going to assume this forest would be a busy place during hunting season, but other than a more than usual amount of forest service people driving around, (I learned they were having a meeting in the area), it's a pretty non populated and serene place to be.

GPS COORDINATES TO OREGON MINE