September 2015 -- Blue Mountains

Wayne and I have been traveling on I-84 through the Blue Mountains in Oregon for about 25 years.  Almost every time, Wayne would talk about how he wishes we could stop and throw a bike out and ride in the Blue Mountains. When we were trail riding only we never knew of any single track trails in the area, but now that we are dual sporting, every road is an opportunity to ride.       

This year I planned in 3 nights camping and 2 days riding on our way to Idaho.                    

 Andy is ready to go

 Following Wayne down I-84 toward Exit 248, located between Emigrant Springs State park and La Grande OR in the Blue Mountains. By checking out Google Earth I found a place to camp located about a mile south of the interstate.

 Camp was a large meadow, not quite as flat as it looked. It took us over an hour to find a level spot...

 The first day's ride was to the north of I-84. We went out on the Mt Emily road, through an area that is open to motorized recreation, when the fire danger is not as high as it was this year. WE might come back here with the dirt bikes sometime. 

Eventually we joined the Skyline Road.

 From the Skyline Road we could see down into the La Grande Valley

 Skyline Rd eventually joins State Route 204, which took us to the small town of Tollgate, and then to Weston. From there we took dirt roads through the Indian Reservation over to the original Emigrant Road. This road is a great motorcycle road, winding its way up the pass.and then it parallels 84 back to where we started. 

 On day 2 we went south on Forest Road 21

 We stopped at Indian Lake

 It would be a great place to camp, but it's 25 miles down a dirt road, not taking my motorhome in there!

 Our track took us by what is left of the McClellan cabin Site 

From the cabin we continued on to SR 244.  We checked out the Fraizer ORV park.  Looks like some of the trails are motorcycle only and others are open to quads.  As it is right off the pavement, we may come here with the motorhome. Then we headed back to camp on the highway, as the dirt routes all had locked gates. 

The next day we headed to the South Fork of the Boise River, and Baumgartner Campground to meet friends.