On October 2, 2026 we drove north into the northeast corner of Oregon. We spent two nights at the Minam State Recreation Area.
On October 4, 2026 we made our way north to Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston, Idaho. We were there for two nights. It’s a nice park, right along the Snake River. There is a paved path that goes for quite a ways and many other trails right from the park. We did a nice bike ride on the path.
We left the state park on October 6th and headed south. We stopped at Fields Spring State Park for a hike. This park has trails for cross-country skiing and even has a sled hill! Along our drive we travelled on some winding roads and had some beautiful views!
We found a spot along the Grande Ronde River and spent 4 nights there. This was our first real boondocking (camping without any utility hookups (water, electricity, or sewer) and outside of traditional, developed campgrounds - generally on BLM, Forest Service, or other public land). While there, we did a couple bike rides and I fished in the river.
On our last day at this spot, it was quite windy!
On October 10, 2026 we headed further south to a boondocking spot called Sled Springs Trailhead. We saw some nice views on our drive there. Then, once we were settled in our camp spot we walked around to check out the area. We found a really nice spot to camp (across the highway from where we settled), but your vehicle would need to be only 8 feet tall or so (we are about 12.5) due to low hanging branches.
We woke up to light snow flurries in the morning. It did not stick at all though.
From October 11-18 we were at Wallowa Lake State Park. During this time Greg went on a motorcycle trip with friends and I stayed at the park in the camper. I spent my time walking around the campground, going on a bike ride, visiting with neighboring campers, and doing projects in the camper. The first night there was snow not too far up the hills from the campground! It was quite cold overnight, but since we were plugged in I kept a portable heater running most of the nights. Unfortunately, that got me into trouble since the campground lost power during the night. Yep, I drained the batteries! Luckily they were not damaged, but it did take me 3 hours of troubleshooting to get power going again (once the campground power came back on in the morning). The Wallowa River runs next to the campground. Kokanee were spawning and it was cool to watch so many fish flapping around!
