VACATIONING
The High Country
Exploring Crook County's High Country will offer you more than your fair share of sight-seeing and photography opportunities. This driving day trip loops through farmland, high desert, pine forests, prairie, and ranching country. This trip offers photo ops capturing varied images of nature, traces of early homesteads, unique geologic formations, showy wildflowers, and wildlife. The majority of these opportunities can be seen from the road that provides prime locales for photographing the landscapes of the High Country.
You will visit the rural, ranching communities of Paulina and Post. Stopping at the general stores in both of these communities is a must, as they both serve as stores, general information offices, post offices and gathering places for locals and visitors.
Go prepared! There are no services until you reach Paulina. Be sure you are dressed appropriately and have plenty of gas, food and water before you start out.
Be Alert! You will be in open range areas. An open range district is an area where livestock are allowed to openly graze, thus they may be crossing or on the road. The primary grazing season is May to October.
THE TOUR
The tour starts at the Intersection of 3rd and Main. Head east on Highway 126.
Ochoco Reservoir and State Park. 7.4 miles.
Fifteen miles out of town, turn right on county road #123. The sign says 9 miles to Ochoco Ranger Station. You will now start climbing into the "High Country."
You will pass the White Howard School on the left. Look for the cemetery on the right.
The Ochoco Ranger Station started about 1911 and was further developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. For information, call the Ochoco National Forest at 541-416-6500.
Veer to the right. Take USFS Road 42. As you enter the Ochoco National Forest, you will be entering the Herd Management Area for several bands of wild, free-roaming horses. In 1971, the Ochoco National Forest was charged with managing about 60 horses under the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burrow Act. The act prohibits harassment and unauthorized capture of the horses. It also provides for adoption of excess animals. Contact the Ochoco Ranger Station for more information at 541-416-6500.
Mother Load & Independent Mines offer nice hikes if you have the time. Independent Mine Trail #808 is an 8-mile loop, whose main trail initially skirts a meadow. On Independent Mine Trail you will see the remnants of the mill, log shop, generator house and residence. At the end of the Independent Mine Trail is the Mother Load Mine. Hike up another 4 miles, and reach the top of Lookout Mountain.
If you would like to take a shorter hike, consider starting out on the Independent Mine Trail. Once on the trail, choose trail #812, the Baneberry Trail nature hike, which is a quarter mile loop trail, it is actually a spur off the main trail. The trail has interpretive signs to guide your photo ops.
Stay on USFS Road 42 and take the road to Paulina.
Big Summit Prairie is a "hot spot" as it bursts with color from late April through August of each year as the wildflowers burst into bloom. Big Summit Prairie is often referred to as the Butterfly Byway. Use your telephoto to see some of the homesteads that settled this area in the 1880s. Big Summit Prairie is private land.
Back on USFS #42, you will see the remains of the Blue Ridge and Amity Mines as you leave the Big Summit Prairie. The Blue Ridge was an old Cinnabar mine that operated at its peak from the 1920s through the 1950s, when mercury was needed during World Wars I and II. Remnants of the mine are scattered around the site. The processing mill, the wooden tin hopper and the pits can all be seen and easily photographed. The original, two-story bunkhouse was for the miners. The cross on the tree commemorates Frank O. Reed, one of the last active claimants of the mine. Amity Mine is on your left within the next few miles.
You will find nice campgrounds to picnic along the way. Most have tables and grills or fire rings. Handicapped-accessible restrooms are provided.
You will now be following the North Fork of the Crooked River as it flows into the main stem of the Crooked River. There are numerous pullout areas on the side of the road to stop for pictures of the river.
Deep Creek Campground is on the River.
USFS Road 42 is paved for 10 miles, then the road turns into a well-graded, well-maintained gravel road that is easily traveled.
Begin the descent into the Paulina Valley, on a one-lane road with pullouts. Notice how the geography starts changing dramatically.
Wolf Creek Campground is an inviting area in the pine forest.
You are now entering Oregon's premier ranching country. Much of this land has been in the care of pioneer families for generations.
As you drive through this ranching country, note the 8' fencing. The fencing is designed to keep the elk from grazing the hay fields.
At the stop sign go right. Cross the south fork of the Crooked River and enter the unincorporated community of Paulina.
Paulina General Merchandise Store and Post Office. Paulina is an unincorporated town with lots of Crook County spirit in it. The store opened in 1911 and offers a little bit of everything, including unleaded and diesel gas, ice, propane, food staples, film, and a pay phone. The store has beautiful handmade quilts for sale.
As you leave town, look at the rock-faced bottoms and wood tops of the structures. These were originally icehouses.
As you drive from Paulina to Post, keep your eyes peeled in the distance for Bald Eagles on telephone posts, treetops and rock outcroppings.
Post General Store and Tavern. You have arrived at Post, Oregon, the geographic center of Oregon. The general store has western flavor with rein rings on the porch that were used to tie up horses. The store takes you back in time with its wooden floors, old phone, and meat counter. Hunting trophies line the walls. Attached to the store is the tavern with a beautiful agate bar built and placed in the 1950s by a local craftsman. Zeb, the owner, will ask you to sign the guest book and invite you to have lunch or a cold drink out back on the large green lawn, listening to nature as you sit by the river.
The road back to Prineville is restful. The highway (now Highway 380), turns into Combs Flat Road and will take you back into Prineville. Follow Highway 380/Combs Flat Road past the turn to the Prineville Reservoir. The road will curve to the right and the first stoplight is Combs Flat Rd. and 3rd Street. Turn left and follow 3rd Street back to Main Street to the original starting place.
