Where to ride the horses??

Joe · 01-12-2008, 05:38 PM

My wife put me in charge of finding a new place to ride somewhere over on the east side of the Mts. We've been into the Three Sisters Wilderness and the Diamond Peak Wilderness. Both were great but not a lot of critters in either so I'm thinking we need to go farther east.

Any ideas? I'm thinking of mainly day rides not a pack in deal.

traks44 · 01-12-2008, 06:00 PM

Moss springs out of cove is a great place into the eagle caps and you can drive in along ways before you unload so it doesnt take long to get some incridible views. There are good trails marked fairly well.

I like riding in the Mt emily unit as well. We try and get as much shed hunting in as we can. The USFS office in pendleton would be a great place to go and get a map and get a good idea of what the Blue mountain have to offer.

huntercgr · 01-12-2008, 06:00 PM

Black Canyon wilderness in the Ochoco's. I'd love to be able to ride in there. Spring would be an awesome time with all the greenery and flowers blooming.

HOGGEMIN · 01-12-2008, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by huntercgr

Black Canyon wilderness in the Ochoco's. I'd love to be able to ride in there. Spring would be an awesome time with all the greenery and flowers blooming.

I would second this ride. makes me wish I had a few horses.

sliverpicker · 01-13-2008, 08:19 AM

You could go up the South Fork Walla Walla River trail and hit the road at Deduct Spring, go to the top, ride north past the Milk Shakes until you hit the Indian trailhead. Then turn south down the Shoofly or Trapper Ridge trails until you hit the South Fork Wenaha and ride all the way to Troy where the Wenaha dumps in to the Grande Ronde.

You could probably ride for a week or more and maybe not see another person! Good chance of seeing deer, elk, bear, turkeys, and bighorns. There's also a small herd of Mtn Goats in the lower Wenaha.

skein · 01-13-2008, 09:12 AM

Joe,

When you say day rides are you talking about trailering over, riding, and returning the same day? Or are you talking about setting up a camp and taking day rides from there?

And what are you wanting to see in the way of animals?

Just curious.

BTW, Sliverpicker, that sounds like a glorious ride. Maybe one of these days I'll have the expertise to tackle something like that. I may decide not to come back though. :grin:

Skein

k9jeff · 01-13-2008, 11:19 AM

www.oregonequestriantrails.org

This should get you started.

Ghost hunter · 01-13-2008, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by traks44

Moss springs out of cove is a great place into the eagle caps and you can drive in along ways before you unload so it doesnt take long to get some incridible views.

I hate riding horses but i've hunted the edge of this wilderness for many years from moss spring to prominace point.And when i finally got the chance to hop on a horse and ride further into the minam it was well worth it.

Joe · 01-13-2008, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skein

Joe,

When you say day rides are you talking about trailering over, riding, and returning the same day? Or are you talking about setting up a camp and taking day rides from there?

And what are you wanting to see in the way of animals?

Just curious.

Skein

I mean setting up camp on the road system somewhere and riding from there as opposed to packing camp in. Mainly interested in Big game type animals but scenery is nice too.

Thanks for the ideas everybody! That gives me a lot of options to look into.

traks44 · 01-13-2008, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sliverpicker

You could go up the South Fork Walla Walla River trail and hit the road at Deduct Spring, go to the top, ride north past the Milk Shakes until you hit the Indian trailhead. Then turn south down the Shoofly or Trapper Ridge trails until you hit the South Fork Wenaha and ride all the way to Troy where the Wenaha dumps in to the Grande Ronde.

You could probably ride for a week or more and maybe not see another person! Good chance of seeing deer, elk, bear, turkeys, and bighorns. There's also a small herd of Mtn Goats in the lower Wenaha.

This has me very interested

Can you say shed hunting ounce most the snow is gone

Gun Rod Bow · 01-13-2008, 07:29 PM

The Moss Springs Trail head if you go down country has some cliffs, not bad, but my wife didn't like them. Up country isn't bad. Until you get way in.

I might recommend up around Mt Hood. A lot closer. We have trailered over for a day ride and back. Can't remember the name, but it was on the N side, drove up along The Dalles watershed.

I finally bought my own triler because I got tired of my wife being gone with ours when I wanted to go. I may check some of that Walla Walla/Wenaha area out this summer.

Last time I was in there, it was just to pack meat.

traks44 · 01-13-2008, 07:42 PM

Agreed!

Also a word to the wise, with as much snow as we have over here this year it might be early summer before some of these trails are safe. Down into the minam is not a trip I like making when its muddy and slippery with snow, actually quite dangerous in some spots. I would say that goes for must upper elevation NEO area this year. If we have a good year and the snow does NOT all come off at ounce snow will hang around for quite a while and trails could be very tough until early summer.

baltz526 · 01-13-2008, 08:04 PM

beatys butte unit has some neat desert country on the east side, wide open views to the pueblos, steens, i can think of months of rides. how practical they are

Gun Rod Bow · 01-13-2008, 08:10 PM

I wouldn't mind going back to Hart Mtn and riding more of that.

Good facility at Post Meadows. Lots of critters to see. Up on top there is lots of water and green. Some really unique country.

motcha · 01-13-2008, 08:17 PM

There are some nice area in the wenaha areas, camp at the tops of trail head around Elk Flats or timothy Springs, I am sure there are some animals around there. Good trails, steep in some spots, but awesome areas

Nuf · 01-13-2008, 08:54 PM

In Willamette Natl. Forest horseback trails include:

Betty Lk trail (easy), Bobby Lk trail ( Easy), Chucksney Mtn trail (more difficult), Goodman Ck trail (moderate), King-Castle trail (moderate to difficult), Larison Ck trail (easy), Lost Ck trail (moderate), Maiden Peak trail (difficult), Middle Fork trail (easy to moderate), Rebel Loop trail (more difficult).

baltz526 · 01-14-2008, 06:33 AM

any trail in the timber will be difficult this next year, till they get trail crews through.

Nuf · 01-14-2008, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baltz526

any trail in the timber will be difficult this next year, till they get trail crews through.

Just a nice option when it gets hot and need a forest ride for a cooler change of pace.

uhmw · 01-14-2008, 02:03 PM

ukia wilderness area between heppner and ukia lots of horse camps. John day wilderness further east and ollolie lake area along the warm springs reservation for summer bow hunting.

Joe · 01-14-2008, 08:44 PM

Thanks again for the ideas! I am really interested in the Mt. Emily, Walla Walla and Wenaha areas due to the fact I will be hunting one of those units for Elk very soon. Time to do some more research.

East Beatys Butte will be one of the next long trips we take. I hunted sheep down there and have been on 3 antelope hunts so I have some good ideas for rides. I love it down there! It should be very practical just to ride on the so called roads there. I'm thinking spring or fall would be easier on the horses but this past antelope season wasn't all that hot. I was disappointed we didn't take the horses for that hunt but my wife was worried they would get too hot. I think they could handle about as much heat as me though.