Above: Hole-in-the-Ground, August, 1969
Above: July, 2020
Back in 1969 I took a few days off work and explored Central Oregon, visiting Hole-in–the-Ground and Fort Rock. Crack-in-the-ground was on my list but the effects of the five miles of extremely rocky and dusty dirt roads leading to it deterred me. The 8 miles it would have taken to get to Crack-in–the-Ground would have been horrible. (1950’s cars didn’t have very good weather sealing!) Thus, a return trip has been in order for over 50 years and last weekend the stars aligned just right so off we went. (Hager Mt. and Yamsay Mt. were also on the list for this past weekend but we had to scratch both – more on that later.)
Hole in the ground is much easier to find now with the advent of GPS, I don’t remember how long it took to find in ’69 but I remember it wasn’t easy given the maze of dirt roads in the area and the total lack of signage.
The road into the Hole:
A few pics:
A different road back out:
It was 93 degrees when we started our hike and the dust down there is the consistency of talc and anywhere from a couple inches to over six inches deep. We both needed a complete change of clothes after the hike!
The real adventure started on the way back to the highway when I got a flat. Boy, is that a miserable job in 93 degree heat and in inches of dust! I’d never had a flat in this car so was very happy to find everything I needed was there and the spare had air in it. Note to self – don’t take a car with low profile tires on rocky roads.
Picture of wussy spare.
The next morning, the spare was flat. Bummer! That took care of our plans for Yamsay Mt. and Hager Mt. as I didn’t dare tackle any more back roads with my almost-a-tire excuse for a spare.
The lone tire shop guy in Christmas Valley came to the motel and aired up the spare enough to drive to their shop. He only wanted $12.50 for the service truck call and fixing the spare and advised me not to drive to Crack-in-the-Ground on such a tire. When I gave the guy a 50 and said keep the change he offered me his brand new ATV to make the trip!! What a deal!
A few photos of Crack in the Ground.
All-in-all we only managed 7.5 miles of hiking on the trip but it was a trip to remember forever.
dn
PS: A real treat was the sunrise view from the motel the day we started back:
