Despite the rain in Portland, most of Oregon is dry desert. This beautiful landscape is worth visiting, but the temps can be extreme with very cold winters and scalding hot summers. However, for a few weeks each spring, the opportunity for camping is perfect.

We headed out to Cottonwood Canyon for a few nights. There is a campground, but we opted to instead ride out along the “Lost Corral” trail and camp among the sage brush.

The trail is an old gravel road and only about 4 miles out from the parking lot. However, it offers a lot of isolated area to explore. On saturday, I took off for an off-road ride that climbed 1000′ to the ridge and bombed directly back down to the canyon floor. It offered a good challenge and some lovely views.