Here's a super scary abandoned ranch where we took some photos!

Over the weekend I worked on a photo shoot that took place in various abandoned buildings around central Oregon, a part of the state to which I’d never been. Therefore, when I looked at the info for Know Your City‘s two-day bus tour of the area’s ghost towns last week, I thought, “Oh that sounds really cool.” Now I see it and I’m like, “That’s gonna be fuckin’ AWESOME!!” But it’s coming up fast! This weekend fast.

Guided by Keith May, the author of Ghosts of Times Past: A Road Trip of Eastern Oregon Ghost Towns, the tour includes stops in creepily abandoned places like Boyd, Dufur, Friend, Shaniko and Antelope, plus a short walk through the gorgeous Painted Hills, and—maybe best of all—you’ll spend the night in Mitchell, which is where we stayed too! Moreover you’ll probably be staying at the Oregon Hotel, because I’m pretty sure there is only one hotel in town. Look for: a complete lack of cell phone service, a big cage behind the town gas pumps where this one guy’s pet bear used to hang out (apparently he’s too old to be down with daily transporting and now just hangs out back home at the farm?), and a surprisingly tolerant, almost lawless atmosphere in which people are constantly traveling through, especially on motorcycles or with hunting dogs, and there seems to be daily BBQ-ing and live music happening in the small park where you can camp up to three days for free. It’s freaking delightful.

Heres a super scary abandoned ranch where we took some photos!

  • Here’s a super scary abandoned ranch where we took some photos!

Anyway, if I had that much fun without the complete dose of fascinating history lessons being offered (the trip is Saturday to Sunday, and you can still get tickets here), you’re going to have a blast.

Marjorie Skinner is the Portland Mercury's Managing Editor, author of the weekly Sold Out column chronicling the area's independent fashion and retail industry, and a frequent contributor to the film and...

9 replies on “Ghosts of Times Past: Touring Central Oregon with Know Your City”

  1. it was canceled- they just emailed everyone yesterday… only five of us signed up, and they needed at least 30. they hope to reschedule the trip for late September. please promote it again when they reschedule everything!!! I really wanna go!!!!

  2. Or you could just drive out to John Day and see all this shit yourself, which is probably cheaper than $95 (multiplied by your number of passengers). The Painted Hills are a goddamn wonder.

  4. ^^^ That’s because it’s a hell of a drive in the summer with no A/C, especially if you get motion sickness driving through all those miles and miles of curvy hills. Worth it though.

    Don’t forget to stop at Fossil High and do some digging behind the football field. And fill up that gas tank whenever you see a pump.

  6. thanks for writing the story marjorie. we are indeed postponing the trip until september. one of our guest speakers had a conflict in their schedule so we had to delay the trip.

    @cat &break we hope that bringing in several guest experts is worth the money invested in the trip. its awesome to drive aimlessly through eastern oregon. its also awesome to get a lecture in the field by the guy who authored the classic ghost town book on the area. and get a lecture from a scientist about the paleo lands. and access to a museum that is most often closed to the public. we hope that provides added value that is well worth $75.

  7. @ graham check out http://rideoregonride.com/ lots of great bike routes going out in the area, also cycle oregon has gone out there in previous years. its great but you’re in for a haul and you’ll need a shit ton of water (stores are few and far between). i’ve done a ride to painted hills from prineville (in lizzie dunningan’s road biking oregon book). definitely challenging but amazing ride

  8. The only place I haven’t been is Friend. I was a ghost town freak going way back, and actually blackmailed my parents into taking me on a tour of central Oregon ghost towns as payment (of sorts) for making me go to OMSI’s Camp Hancock in the summer before fifth grade.
    Camp Hancock turned out to be awesome anyway, but oh shit those towns. Especially Antelope, which in those days had a bunch of red-clad cultists living in it (Googoo it).
    The main thing is now: I probably don’t feel like reliving these memories on a bus. But that’s not an argument against it.

Comments are closed.