We departed Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry on Thursday, June 13th around 12:45 pm and drove a little over 2 hours to Ontario, OR where we had lunch and bought groceries before arriving at Farewell Bend State Park in Huntington, Orgeon. We were eating up time because all the reviews we had read said that Farewell Bend is very strict about their check in time of 2 pm. And we had gained an hour when we crossed into the Pacific Time Zone. Even for all our delaying we still had to stop at a travel plaza 1 mile from the park to wait 10 minutes so we did not arrive before 2 pm.
All for naught.
There was no staff at the gatehouse when we arrived to check us in, so we went directly to our site. We kept thinking a host or ranger would come by the site to check us in, but that never happened either.
High Water Pressure
Our site was a pull-thru on a bend in the road and was not quite level but better than our previous stop. We had water and electric but the water pressure was way too high. No problem; I have a water pressure regulator because I don’t want some park’s high water pressure blowing out my water lines in Nomad. BUT, the water faucet was placed SO close to the power pedestal that there was literally no room to attach my regulator. If I had a short length of hose I could have attached the regulator farther down the line away from the pedestal, but at the time I did not have one. All I could do was turn the water flow down to reduce the pressure and hope there would be no damage. (I have since purchased a 3-foot length hose so that if this happens again I will be prepared.)
This park (and the surrounding area) was under a no burn notice so we could not have a campfire. It was just as well because it started getting windy around 10 pm and continued through to the next morning with sustained winds of 17 mph and gusts up to 31 mph.
Friday morning we hiked down to the banks of the Snake River and then walked around the campground. We saw a ranger and asked about checking in. “Oh,” he said, “just be sure your printed out reservation is on the dashboard of your vehicle and that’s all we need.” So we didn’t REALLY have to wait until 2 pm to check in, smh.
Farewell Bend
Of course this is the same Snake River we had camped on the banks of at Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry the previous 5 days that was 150 miles away. It’s a pretty long river and it’s the river that settlers were following as they trekked from the midwest to Oregon back in the mid-1800’s. This location was the last stop on the Oregon Trail along the Snake River where travelers could rest and water/graze their livestock before turning north, so they named it “Farewell Bend” as they said “farewell” to the Snake River.
There is an information kiosk at the park detailing the history of their stop here and a few items from the travelers like a wagon and other relics near the entrance to the park. They also had a fenced in dog park, but Bella had not been feeling like running.
The campground was busy and crowded over the weekend, but most people were quiet and there was no loud partying going on all night.
When we left Monday morning for our next stop it was very, very windy. So much so that we left an hour earlier than we needed to in order to give ourselves extra time in driving through the crosswinds on our route.
Wildfire!
Sadly, less than a month later on July 10th, wildfires raged through the area and destroyed 70% of Farewell Bend State Park. Thankfully, everyone was evacuated safely and no human lives were lost. The park and campground are currently closed while workers clean up the destruction and make repairs.
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