Backroads of Oregon - Day 4

On Tuesday, August 31, my son, Christopher, daughter, Catherine and I had breakfast at BW. We traveled from Enterprise to La Grande, Baker City, Sumpter, Huntington, Weiser, Payette and Ontario.

As we left the BW I took several photos of the nearby gutted US Forest Service Building. Fire engulfed the US Forest Service Building located at 88401 HWY 82 in Enterprise, Oregon late afternoon on Sunday July 11, 2010. The investigation has identified the probable cause of the fire to have been spontaneous ignition of materials (cloths) used in the application of sealant to the exterior of the building. We purchased sandwiches at Albertson’s in Baker City for lunch. We had lunch at a picnic area at Phillips Lake. We had delicious ice cream in Sumpter at the Scoop-N-Steamer Full-Service Restaurant. We stayed in Room 215 at the Sleep Inn at 1221 S.E. 1st Avenue in Ontario. We ate dinner at Denny’s.

The highlights of the day were delicious ice cream at The Scoop N Steamer Station in Sumpter; the Chinese Cemetery in Baker City; the Oregon Trail Wagon Ruts at Birch Creek (The area was first named "Riviere aux Bouleaux" (River with the Birches) by French-Canadian fur trappers however emigrants found Willows and not Birch trees); and seeing the Snake River. The Snake is a major river in the greater Pacific Northwest region. It is the largest and longest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. We found 11 caches and 1 benchmark.