The Washington Family Ranch

The main entrance to the Washington Family Ranch

This weekend I went to the Washington Family Ranch near Antelope, Oregon.  If you have never heard of the Washington Family Ranch, I am not surprised.  I had never heard of it until recently either.  It used to be called the Big Muddy ranch and back in the 80's was taken over by a cult that also took over the town of Antelope for a while. In June 1999 it was turned into a Young Life youth camp.  As a fundraiser for the camp, there is an event here in June every year called the Wild Canyon Games.  Part of the Wild Canyon Games is a geocaching event and that is why I am here.  A friend of mine got involved in setting up the geocache part of the event last year and invited me to help him this year.  It was a hard decision for me.  Go to central Oregon for a weekend with free lodging and food, and hike around the hills and mountains checking on geocaches hidden for the event.  It may not sound like fun to you, but other than going out to a place like this with my family, this is a dream weekend for me! Here are some pictures of the terrain I got to hike around on.  The weather was not cooperating for having a camera out, so I did not get to take as many pictures as I would have liked.  But, I will be going back!

Some rugged terrain and some un-Eastern Oregon like bad weather.

An indoor sports facility.

More fun landscape to hike around in and hide geocaches.

The John Day river.

The sun peaked though the clouds for a few minutes.

The sun hitting some of the big bluffs.

I was surprised that the ranch is down at 1500 feet elevation.

Looking west up the valley towards Antelope, OR from the front of the main ranch house.

I am greatly blessed that I was able to go out here.  Not only am I getting to do stuff I love to do in an area I love to be in, but it is for a good cause as well.  I am looking forward to more trips out here in the future.