Bronco Finds Lost History In The Oregon Desert!

[B Miller]

Thanks to another YouTube channel that does a lot of Oregon Desert videos I had my eyes opened as far as how truly dry the Oregon desert is. I known for a long time the whole of Oregon wasn’t Willamet Valley, but I pictured sage brush and pinion/juniper desert, not the kind of desert that is indistinguishable from my backyard. Now your video is more of what I expected from Oregon Desert, being that far north. Elevation makes a difference, I’m sure. Loved the “Sparta Well” and cow camp. Glad you got some sleep. My hunting partner is retired fire and the shift work disorder is wrecking him.

Thank you for the kind words. If you are ever up this way, let me know. I'd be happy to meet your you and show you what's out there!

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[Tex]

Good thoughts there. The funny thing is, I forgot to pack my metal detector! I also had the thought that it could just be a kids fort. Who knows. I'll have to check out that mining claim. I'll be out there again next week.

Possibly so, seems like a pretty remote place for a kid's fort unless it was reasonably close to a homestead or mining camp? I knew some people that raised a baby javelina as a pet, and it turned out to be illegal to have, so instead of just dumping the poor thing in the middle of nowhere without a chance of surviving, they gave it as much of a chance as they could by building it a shelter near a source of food and water. It was still using the shelter years later, so I guess it worked out. Might be a pet bear with a green tie and hat wandering around out there for all we know LOL

Go get that shiny! Texas is a trash state to look for gold and it's all private land anyway, but out there you're pretty much free to cruise around and look for it just about anywhere. Still can't get over just how much public land is available to explore west of the Rockies, I'd be out there in my Bronco getting crusty and growing a beard if I could. Seems like the perfect place for an overlanding setup, just cruise around until you find something interesting, whether it's historical or geological, and set up camp to explore it further.

I enjoy checking out old and current claims on the diggings anywhere I go, it gives you a good idea of what might be in the area or what was, some keywords to search for whatever history it might have, potential new places to check out, and of course, to make sure you're not claim jumping by panning/metal detecting/rockhounding an active claim.
https://thediggings.com/usa/map

Mindat is another good resource, though the layout is a little inconvenient to use:
https://www.mindat.org/loc-24391.html
https://www.mindat.org/loc-24085.html

And one of my favorites, macrostrat, which gives me an idea of the geology of the area and how old the formations are:
https://macrostrat.org/map/#x=-120.489&y=43.6229&z=12.3

 

[NVCowboy]

Here’s my Bronco in the Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon.

Still can't get used to the fact I can drive a day and a half north or more and find desert as dry as SONV. I'd expect sage/pinion/juniper desert. I guess the reality of Mountains sucking up all the rain doesn't end just because you changed latitude.

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