USFS Oak Grove Work Center/ Abandoned

[forestkeeper]

Hey everyone. Hope you all are enjoying the great outdoors and staying safe. Yesterday (Tuesday) I took my 15 yr old son out driving. Driving east on Hwy 224, Isaiah asked me if he could check out the PGE community up the Three Lynx Road. After looking at all the nice houses and an apartment complex that the PGE personnel live in up there, we continued driving on 4630, following the old Lake Harriet Pipeline. We passed the Cripple Creek Trail, then Frog Lake which looked to be man-made. Then after a few miles we came upon a bunch of abandoned houses. So we parked at the road blockade and walked down the short spur road to the buildings below.

My photos say USFS Mule Skinner Camp because of a huge abandoned barn we discovered down there also, prior to learning that this is the old Oak Grove Work Center.

Here's one of the 1st abandoned houses we encountered.

At one time, this looks like it was a pretty house to live in. I love that outside trim around the windows.

Look at this fireplace. Beautiful. And the wood on the walls. The floors and walls were hardwood.

The next house.

It's fireplace wasn't as big as in the 1st house, but still nice and rustic looking.

Some other buildings.

We found one of two shops. Here's inside of one of them.

And we came across a very huge, two story barn. Here's a pic of one of the bottom level rooms. There were some old fertilizer bags on the floor and this room had a chemical odor to it.

Also on the bottom floor were about 10 open horse stalls. Wood was still intact, not rotted. Almost looked like it was just built.

Then we found a wood ladder to the 2nd story, where they kept the hay.

As you can see, there is still some old hay stacked up there, about 6 bales. Very large area. My son and I imagined having a hay maze up there or having a swing tied to the rafters. Not quite sure why my camera picked up water molecules in the photo. All the other photos came out fine, just while up in the dark upper quarters of the barn did I encounter the molecules everywhere.

Here's the pipeline that ran on the edge of the camp.

I looked up Oak Grove Work Center on the internet and here's the only thread I found:
http://www.deq.state.or.us/Webdocs/Form ... eldType=12

which states that the DEQ and EPA discovered that soils in the immediate area became contaminated with "Misc gas" and the beginning cleanup date was April 17, 1990. The cleanup end date was 08/19/1993.

Not quite sure of the age of those houses, shops and barn. The houses were falling apart and appeared to have been abandoned for quite some time. But why would there be such a large barn up there? With inside horse or mule stalls, and old hay still in the upper level?

The area is a Must See. Be extra careful! Some of the flooring is caving in and very unstable.

[retired jerry]

I've walked up there. Up from Ripplebrook. Up that huge pipe to Frog Lake. I assume it's man made. Back down the road by those buildings but figured they were occupied. Maybe 1990 or 1995? Cool area to explore.

[pablo]

Trail Advocates can give you some details. I've been there and from the photos I took these buildings were posted so take care, you might get pinched.

The older maps call this the Oak Grove Ranger station (later maps have it as the Oak Grove Work Center) and it pre-dates Ripplebrook. In the snippet of the 1946 map below you can see trail going north from the RS and part of that trail still exists and is known locally as the MP3 trail. The 1938 map does not have Ripplebrook RS.

[pablo]

Here's the 1938 snippet, no Ripplebrook and no highway 224 (apart from someone scribbling on the map). Anyway, it is neat to see the insides of the houses and buildings thx for posting.

[forestkeeper]

Awesome info Pablo! Thank you! Being a Forest Service (the USFS of the 1980's and prior) buff, I was telling my son that the stalls were most likely for horses and pack mules that the Forest Service used for transporting gear and materials prior to the 1990's. With the exception of the hay, the barn and shops were in clean shape. The houses were ransacked by idiots. But I did noticed two green metal garbage cans at the houses. They're the same type of green garbage cans I use up at the Olallie Lake campgrounds, so I was figuring this camp to be prior Forest Service. Now with your info, I'm gonna head back for more exploring.

[forester]

Interesting. If it were a group of teenagers instead of you and your son, it would be a good start to a cheesy horror movie!

Also, the camera picking up the water is the flash.

[Lydiavmars]

Interestingly enough I stumbled across this yesterday when heading up to Harriet for a little Sunday drive. The weather WAS not really in our favor, but it added to the trip.



My friend and I went through almost all of the buildings but the barn. I found a decent thread on Trail Advocates about the area, and one man knew a lot. But definitely a cool stop to see. The houses were all built in the 1950s.




A little ways up the road is the old Mining Cabin mentioned on Google Earth:

























I also went down to Three Lynx and walked through the schoolhouse which they will be demolishing soon. Nifty area if you ever get a chance to head up there.

[BrianEdwards]

Demolishing the three lynx schoolhouse? News to me, sad news at that

[Lumpy]

It's dust in the photo, not water. All too common for folks that have ever had hay storage, and hay fever! Little bits of hay floating around from you guys walking around up there. Yes, that's all it takes.

[Lydiavmars]

Demolishing the three lynx schoolhouse? News to me, sad news at that

Yes, the Estacada School District owns the building and tried to find someone to take it over. No such luck, so they've started demolitions. That's technically how I got in, there was a giant hole in a wall where a window was supposed to be. I slipped in, took some photos and left.