goldtooth
Member
We took this trip at the end of May so it is in the past a bit. We have taken several trips since and they are all on our site at:
I don't need to tell everyone how difficult and stressful the past few months have been dealing with Covid-19. Millions are out of work and thousands of people have died from this pandemic. We are some of the lucky ones and have been relatively unaffected so far but work is slow so money a bit tighter but we have all been healthy. After all that has been going on, we needed to get away for a bit.
We rarely camp over Memorial Day weekend as it draws out the fair weather campers and the highways are a zoo as well as the state parks. But this weekend we decided to head out to dispersed camp at the Hole in the Ground south east of Bend with a coworker and his family. Since Descend on Bend was cancelled this year due to Covid, this would be our chance to visit this stunning area and show our friends what the area had to offer.
What made the weekend even better was our 15 year old twins agreed to come along as they have been cooped up in the house due to school being shut down. We packed up and left around 11:00am on Friday and headed south on I5 to Eugene and then east on highway 58. It rained a bit over the pass but you could see the clear skies that waited for us on the other side of the mountains.
We arrived at the Hole around 3:30 and parked on the south side waiting for our friends to arrive. They soon drove up the road on the west side and we both scouted out potential sites and met up on the high side of the Hole with a view of both Fort Rock to the east and Hole in the Ground to the west. The winds were still brisk but it didn't stop us from enjoying the afternoon.
The view from our campsite was hard to beat.
We spent some time exploring the area before the sun went down and we lost what little heat it was giving.
Huddling by the fire for warmth worked for a while but the winds kept at it and it was a bit too much for us. We jumped in the van were we had our heater running and it was a comfortable 60 degrees.
Our plans the next morning were to head to Fort Rock to hike a bit and we wanted to take as many dirt roads to get there as we could.
Our hike was pretty short as it was getting pretty crowed and we had a goal to get to the Arnold Ice cave today. Saying goodbye to our friends, we headed north on China Hat road which starts off easy enough with the signature red dirt of eastern Oregon. After about 7 miles, the road surface changed from red rock to grey rock and the unrelenting washboards started. At first we thought they would come and go as most gravel roads do. Not this road. It was 45 miles of some of the worst washboards we have been on. We were limited to 20 mph for 2 1/2 hours until we made it to the ice cave. Brutal.
A quick break and snack was much needed before the short hike to the entrance. As you walk down the path into the cave opening, you are presented with an auditorium like setting with pathways and large pines surrounding you. The cave itself is rather small but there is a crawl space that opens up to the other side of the cave into a large depression in the desert.
The view from inside the cave is even better.
Continued below
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I don't need to tell everyone how difficult and stressful the past few months have been dealing with Covid-19. Millions are out of work and thousands of people have died from this pandemic. We are some of the lucky ones and have been relatively unaffected so far but work is slow so money a bit tighter but we have all been healthy. After all that has been going on, we needed to get away for a bit.
We rarely camp over Memorial Day weekend as it draws out the fair weather campers and the highways are a zoo as well as the state parks. But this weekend we decided to head out to dispersed camp at the Hole in the Ground south east of Bend with a coworker and his family. Since Descend on Bend was cancelled this year due to Covid, this would be our chance to visit this stunning area and show our friends what the area had to offer.
What made the weekend even better was our 15 year old twins agreed to come along as they have been cooped up in the house due to school being shut down. We packed up and left around 11:00am on Friday and headed south on I5 to Eugene and then east on highway 58. It rained a bit over the pass but you could see the clear skies that waited for us on the other side of the mountains.
We arrived at the Hole around 3:30 and parked on the south side waiting for our friends to arrive. They soon drove up the road on the west side and we both scouted out potential sites and met up on the high side of the Hole with a view of both Fort Rock to the east and Hole in the Ground to the west. The winds were still brisk but it didn't stop us from enjoying the afternoon.
The view from our campsite was hard to beat.
We spent some time exploring the area before the sun went down and we lost what little heat it was giving.
Huddling by the fire for warmth worked for a while but the winds kept at it and it was a bit too much for us. We jumped in the van were we had our heater running and it was a comfortable 60 degrees.
Our plans the next morning were to head to Fort Rock to hike a bit and we wanted to take as many dirt roads to get there as we could.
Our hike was pretty short as it was getting pretty crowed and we had a goal to get to the Arnold Ice cave today. Saying goodbye to our friends, we headed north on China Hat road which starts off easy enough with the signature red dirt of eastern Oregon. After about 7 miles, the road surface changed from red rock to grey rock and the unrelenting washboards started. At first we thought they would come and go as most gravel roads do. Not this road. It was 45 miles of some of the worst washboards we have been on. We were limited to 20 mph for 2 1/2 hours until we made it to the ice cave. Brutal.
A quick break and snack was much needed before the short hike to the entrance. As you walk down the path into the cave opening, you are presented with an auditorium like setting with pathways and large pines surrounding you. The cave itself is rather small but there is a crawl space that opens up to the other side of the cave into a large depression in the desert.
The view from inside the cave is even better.
Continued below
