Oregon Outings – May 2022
Between family events on the west coast of the US, we included a few adventures in Oregon.
Prairie City, with a population of just under 1,000 residents and a lot of historical charm, is one of our repeat springtime destinations in eastern part of the state. The town was established in 1891 when miners discovered gold nearby. Now its economy is based on cattle ranching, timber, and tourism.
Over time the building was used as a boarding house, then an indoor garage sale, and later doctors’ offices
Refurbished back into a hotel in the early 2000s
We did a bit of exploring on lower elevation trails in the Strawberry Mountains, just outside of Prairie City. Fortunately the amount of snow was less than during some of our previous adventures in the area.
May is a great time to see yellow spring flowers added to the color palette in the Painted Hills Unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument!
gray coloration = mudstone, siltstone, and shale
black stripes = lignite that used to be plant life
Our drive along the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway included views of beautiful mountain peaks and a layer of snow covering one of our favorite canoeing lakes.
Sadly, we didn’t reach the 1,370 meter summit of Patterson Mountain because of too much snow on the trail. We missed out on the panoramic view of Lookout Point Reservoir and the Cascades in the distance.
