South Hwy 395: Lake Abert & Lakeview, OR

When I started this Blog, it was my intention to take you places off the beaten track on the backroads of the Pacific Northwest. While I prefer 2 wheeled modes of transportation either by Motorcycle or Scooter it is often not practical to cover the great distances that we seem to accumulate on various types of roads, nor is it possible to carry the cameras and other electronic equipment, laptop, battery chargers that make this possible. Often I have professional equipment with me for those large prints that I am known for. This trip we had planned to cover a lot of ground. From Hell's Canyon to the Oregon Outback Scenic Byway and our return through White Pass, Rainier National Park to Chinook Pass and back home to Vancouver, BC. Please be patient as there will be more 2 wheeled adventures coming shortly. We plan on attending the Feed a Bear Rally in Kelowna and I plan on riding my new Kymco X500Ri to the Okanagan. Since summer has finally arrived it has affected my frequency of posts as I would rather be riding than typing . . .

We knew that today was going to be a long day. We left John Day, OR early in the morning and headed south along Hwy 395. I must say that the scenery is just spectacular . The first hour or so brought us through the Maleur National Forest. We were climbing and snaking through the mountains and finally got to the arid desert area. This section is just south of the Junction of Hwy 20/395



There is hardly any vegetation, unless you count sand and sage brush. Also we noticed that Oregon roads are sort of elevated with a high embankment which does not allow you to pull off the road, but as the traffic is nearly non-existant we tried to pull over the best we could at the end of straight stretches where our vehicle could easily be seen from both directions. We often pass on photo ops where we consider stopping too great of a hazard.

Here is a view of North Alkali Lake, looks like a dried out lakebed with white crystals. The road is like a causeway.


and who would have known about these Sand Dunes in the middle of nowhere.


Lake Abert is a remnant of an inland sea. We stopped at the ranger station in Paisley, OR and the ranger told us that Summer Lake and Lake Abert were originally joined as ONE large inland sea.


We didn't notice them at first, but after we stopped to take this picture, we noticed the cows grazing down there. Doesn't look like that salt is causing any problems for them at all


Also forgot to mention that Paisley, OR is the "Mosquito Capital of the world", but we were lucky today, as we didn't see any.

I just had to get a scooter picture in here somehow. This is a scooter dealer in Lakeview, OR. Combination ATV and Lawnmower dealer.


South end of the Oregon Scenic Outback Byway, north of Paisley, OR


That's Summer Lake in the background, and the terrain is changing:


Fort Rock, it has that Monument Valley feel. It is actually an extinct volcano, hollow in the middle.


From the side view you will notice that the wall had "exploded" away during the eruption allowing you to see inside.

Community of Fort Rock which has been restored. Visitors are welcome but since we arrived before tourist season it is only open limited hours for viewing.


It was a fabulous day. We travelled a great distance and marvelled at the sights along the way.

Our favourite place of the day was Lake Abert. And we found a lizard friend basking in the sun



abertlakelizard.wmv

We hope you enjoyed travelling with us