{"id":4125,"date":"2018-05-15T20:15:04","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T03:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christofteuscher.com\/aagaa\/?page_id=4125"},"modified":"2023-11-12T17:04:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T01:04:02","slug":"this-is-hart","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/christofteuscher.com\/aagaa\/this-is-hart\/","title":{"rendered":"This is Hart"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m pretty sure your regular runs do not give you a chance to enjoy hot springs<\/a>, a glass house<\/a>, petroglyphs<\/a>, gravesites from the 19th<\/sup> century<\/a>, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, wild horses, bears, sage-grouse, rattlesnakes, majestic views, wide open prairies, endless sage brush oceans, and trillions of mosquitoes\u2014potentially all during the same day. I present you three route variants (TIH1, TIH2, and TIH3) in the pretty fantastic\u00a0Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge<\/a>, which quietly resides in a remote corner of the Oregon Outback (not your Subrau).\u00a0The routes are long enough to be worth the long drive to the refuge. Make it a long weekend and enjoy a part of Oregon that most people have never even heard of, let alone visited. \"\"<\/a> And no, the routes are not as hard as the name suggests. Nevertheless, completing any of the three will pretty much require an entire day.\u00a0If you are from the Portland area, driving out on Friday, perhaps staying at the Hart Mountain cabin<\/a>\u00a0or camping, completing one of the routes on Saturday, and driving home on Sunday is a pretty realistic plan.\u00a0If you are driving through Prineville on the way (= shortest route), don’t forget to check out\u00a0Ochoco Brewing Company<\/del><\/a> [CLOSED]. The Pioneer Saloon in Paisley<\/a> is also worth a stop if you are interested to get a feel of a\u00a0remote ranching community in the middle of the Oregon Outback.<\/p>\r\n

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\r\n A word of caution<\/strong>: The three routes are not<\/em> for you if you cannot (or do not want to handle) some navigation (GPS recommended), unmarked routes, some cross-country sections, steep, rocky, and potentially exposed terrain (for routes TIH2 and TIH3), the desert sun and heat, and carrying your water needs for 10-15mi (depending on the season).\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

Routes<\/h3>\r\n

All three routes start from the northeast corner of Hart Lake, 6.6 miles from Plush, OR. Start coordinates:\u00a042.44026,-119.82168<\/a>. There is parking for a bunch of cars. If your car merits a bigger and more official parking lot with restrooms, there’s one pretty much across the street, as part of the Warner Wetlands<\/a>. The recommended direction for all routes is counter-clockwise. You get to do the easy and flat part first and you will either end in the hot springs (TIH1) or with a gnarly descent from the rim (TIH2 and TIH3), followed by a 3mi road section back to the start for TIH3. It’s not, however, impossible to do these routes clockwise as well. Your call. All three routes partly follow the Oregon Desert Trail<\/a> (ODT). Section 10, maps 1-8 cover parts of the routes above. See ODT maps and guidebook<\/a> for more info. The ODT maps also contain important water availability info. The idea of route TIH1<\/strong> is that you directly end up in the Hart Hot Springs. Ideally, have someone drop you off at the start in the early morning and have them meet you at the hot springs. They can set up camp, get a fire going, cool a few beers in the creek, and prepare dinner. Good luck finding someone willing to do that. That’s why there is TIH3, which gets you back to the start. Route TIH2<\/strong> traverses the Hart Mountain rim and spits you out\u2014possibly a little beaten up\u2014on the Hart Mountain Road (County Highway 3-12). Unless you want to do the 3mi road section back to your car (route TIH3<\/strong>), you’d have to arrange for a ride. That’s not obvious in these days if you don’t have cell phone reception. Smoke signals are not recommended. TIH2 and TIH3 follow a ridgeline that leads you from the top of the rim to the road. The line is pretty obvious from the top, but there are details on the way you’ll have to work out. Apart for one (TIH1) and two (TIH2 and 3) cross-country sections, the routes follows 4×4 dirt roads. Some of them are used, others are abandoned, most are unmarked. Some sections are very rocky, others not so much. You’ll get a bit of everything. At the exception of the cross-country sections, pretty much everything is runnable. The traverse over the Hart Mountain rim for TIH2 and TIH3 is steep and gnarly on the descent to the Hart Mountain Road (County Highway 3-12). You only want to do this if you are comfortable in such terrain. Be warned that you cannot simply and blindly follow the GPS track. TIH2 and TIH3 will involve finding your own line to some extent. If you realize this is not for you, go back and divert to the Hart Hot Springs (route TIH1). Route TIH3 involves a 3mi road section. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Perhaps a great opportunity to finish strong and fast if you have something left in your tank. If you are an overachiever, you could first head to the hot springs on route TIH1 to take a break and a cleansing soak, then head back up to where TIH2\/3 turns off and cross over the rim on these routes. That would add roughly 4mi to your day, plus some elevation gain. All for a good purpose. Or something along these lines. Or, last but not least, you could camp at the hot springs, and then do the TIH3 route as a lollypop, following TIH1 first up to where TIH2\/3 turns off. I’d still recommend to do it counter-clockwise.<\/p>\r\n

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Overview of the three routes. Click to enlarge or use interactive map<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\r\n