This is a post about a road, OR31, something the Oregon Department of Transportation and its counterpart the Department of Tourism have designated as a scenic byway. This 150 mile stretch of road runs between La Pine and Lakeview and travels through some very rugged and beautiful high desert.
We really weren’t drawn to this road because of its destination, but because we could take a 350 mile 2-day road trip and take photos of 8 more Oregon Post offices. Sunday we headed east towards our first stop, Bly and then through Lakeview, the biggest town we’d see all trip, with about 2,500 people and onto the town of Adel whose population is defined as sparse. Then back to Lakeview where we had some lunch at Burger Queen, so named because, I guess, Burger King was already taken. Three post offices down we finally got on OR31 and headed north and west. The fourth and last post office of the day was in the town of Paisley home of the annual Mosquito Festival that raises funds for vector control.
Our stopover for the night was the Lodge at Summer Lake in the “town” of the aptly name of Summer Lake, population 80. The lake itself is nothing but a wildlife refuge with some sporadic marshy areas. I think the small pond behind the Lodge has more water in it than what’s in the refuge. Because it too has a post office we were going to get a photo, but the light was wrong, so we aimed to get it in the morning on our way north.
Monday, after a very good breakfast at the Lodge, we snapped that Summer Lake post office before heading to Christmas Valley. Christmas Valley is the largest town in this part of Oregon and was named after another dried up lake. The biggest attraction in Christmas Valley are their sand dunes east of town. We were going to drive over and look at them, but following our Delorme atlas, the road that was supposed to be paved turned out to be not, so we turned around we headed for our next post office in Fort Rock. After quickly visiting the state park day use area, by looking at what is left of a extinct volcano that was in a prehistoric lake which is no longer there. Our last post office of the trip was off OR31 in the town of Silver Lake that is once again named for a lake that no longer exists. Done with the photo taking we headed home from there on a meandering 50-mile road over to US97 where we turned south to get to Klamath Falls.
Somewhere in the town of Lakeview while driving around pondering our dining options, Mini #2 surpassed the 41,000 mile mark.
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- Bly – An unincorporated community of about 200 that is about 50 miles east of Klamath Falls. (9/17/2023)
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- Lakeview – This is the biggest post office in the biggest town, 2,500 souls, we’d see on this weekend trip. (9/17/2023)
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- Adel – This post office was a 60 mile out and back because the road it is on leads into northern Nevada. (9/17/2023)
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- Paisley – Home of the annual Mosquito Festival that raises funds for Vector Control which is a method to limit or eradicate the insects which transmit diseases. (9/17/23)
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- Summer Lake – The lake itself is nothing but a wildlife refuge with some sporadic marshy areas. I think the small pond behind the Lodge has more water in it than what’s in the refuge. (9/18/2023)
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- Christmas Valley – This is the largest town in this part of Oregon and was named after another dried up lake. (9/18/2023)
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- Fort Rock – Took this after quickly visiting the state park day use area to look at what is left of an extinct volcano that was in a prehistoric lake that is extinct as the volcano. (9/18/2023)
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- Silver Lake – Once again named for a lake that no longer exists like a lot of these towns in the “Oregon Outback.” (9/18/23)
