This is the one and only OSP Group Photo where OSP's long-time Group photographer, Bruce Johnson, joined the picture-- he is in the yellow top just to the left of the OSP billboard (held all askew as a disgusted joke--- OSP 1991 was our second year in a row of fighting bad thunderstorms and rain. 1990 was so bad that no group photo was even attempted, thus making 1990 the only year missing a group photo in the OSP's long history (up to and including OSP 2007)...
The site used in 1991 was the highest site
ever used for the OSP, at just under 7,600 feet... The glacial
U-shape of famous Kiger Gorge is on the skyline center of the
picture, and those flattish-appearing bumps up there are about
9,000 feet elevation!.... 80 brave souls grace this, our last
Group Photo at Steens Mountain.
Chuck and Judy Dethloff are seated on the far left of the picture
above..... In the close-up to the left, you'll see Candace P on
the right in a red jacket-- she is later to become the OSP's long-time
Door Prize Director. Jim Girard in the tan brimmed hat is next
to her. Carolyn and Gary Strong (white sweatshirt), have their
famous poddle Tycho between them--- the Strongs are the folks
who will find our new OSP site in the Ochoco Mountains, where
we will hold OSP 1992 (this new site is about 140 miles NW of
the Steens and very much closer to the major population centers
of the West Coast. (click
here for the story of their finding of our Ochocos site).
Below is a familiar sight to those of us who went to the Steens during the four years that it was home to OSP. It's the tiny hamlet of FRENCHGLEN, lying in a fertile ranchland 3,000 feet lower than our site near Fish Lake. At Frenchglen we could find the nearest (and only) grocery store, restaurant and gas. However, the road between our site and Frenchglen was horrendously slow and rough, and none of us ever thought lightly about just "running into town" for anything! The move to the Ochoco Mountains in 1992 brought us to an area where roads were much better, and nowadays participants at Indian Trail OSP fairly routinely run into town (either Ochoco Reservoir or all the way into Prineville) when needed..... In the picture, Candace Pratt and myself (Bruce Johnson) sit on the friendly porch of the Frenchglen Store/Post Office. Adjacent to the store is the historic Frenchglen Hotel, an official State Parks Heritage site, ".... a historic 8-room hotel with dining area, open mid-March to mid-November. For reservations call (541)493-2825 or for information call (800) 551-6949."...
