JOURNEY
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
3
Ghosts
Continued from Page 2
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
The front of the old schoolhouse in Fox on Thursday, July 14,
2022. Like the general store, the school hasn’t been in use for a
number of years.
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
The Fox General Store on Thursday, July 14, 2022. The store ceased operations in the 1980s.
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
The inside of the Fox School. The school looks as though classes
could be held there today even though the building has not been
used for a number of years.
Enjoy John Day Valley’s mild climate and
clear skies. Play all year round on great
fairways and greens.
• Car
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27631 Golf Club Rd., One Mile West of John Day
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
A pasture full of cows that sits adjacent to the town of Austin on Thursday, July 14, 2022.
Lake
Sun rays peek
through conifer
branches near
Strawberry
Falls.
Continued from Page 1
Headquarters
Bennett Hall
Blue Mountain
Eagle
No Matter What
Your Game Is,
We’ve Got You Covered!
Come Play with us!
GRANT COUNTY
• 500 Miles of
Groomed Trails!
m’
• John Day Country
s
Snowballers
da
The lake radiates expan-
sive and blue and is fl anked
on both sides by rugged
mountain peaks while glassy
creeks feed the body of water.
The stocked lake off ers
brook and rainbow trout for
those interested in fi shing.
The shortest and easiest
way to enjoy the full beauty
of this scenic high coun-
try lake is a 4-mile loop that
takes you all the way around
the shoreline before head-
ing back to the trailhead. This
hike features 550 feet of ele-
vation gain and is open from
July to November.
If you’re up for a lon-
ger trek, you can keep going
for another 0.9 mile from the
head of the lake to 60-foot
Strawberry Falls. From the
top of the falls, a 0.4-mile
spur will take you to Little
Strawberry Lake.
Fit and adventurous hikers
may want to tackle 9,038-fot
Strawberry Peak, the highest
point in the range. That hike,
generally open from August
through October, makes for a
13-mile round trip with 3,300
feet of elevation gain.
According to the Forest
Service, water from springs,
lakes, ponds, and streams
should have proper treatment
before drinking. No matter
how pure it may look, sur-
face water should be consid-
ered unsafe to drink until ade-
quately treated. The Forest
Service recommends boiling
the water.
OUTDOOR
Ny
you see today. A long-aban-
doned community school,
general store and church are
all very visible to visitors of
Fox.
The Fox store ceased
operations in the ‘80s. His-
toric Fox Church was built
by settlers in 1889 and has
remained unused for years.
The small community has
worked to restore the church
in recent years. The post
offi ce was established in
1883 and went out of service
in 2002.
U.S. Route 395 runs right
through the middle of the
community, with the town’s
historic buildings set along
both sides of the highway.
A small number of ranches
that have been in opera-
tion since the late 1800s and
early 1900s are still present
in Fox. The community has
four full-time residents and
a small number of part-time
residents.
Fox is somewhat of a time
capsule, with the communi-
ty’s historic buildings giv-
ing visitors a sense of what
life was like as an early pio-
neer in Eastern Oregon. If
you have the time, both Fox
and Austin’s few residents
are more than willing to give
you a history lesson about
the rise and fall of the popu-
lation and industries in each
town.
The drive to both loca-
tions is scenic, with a mix of
wide-open grazing lands and
picturesque mountain views.
While there isn’t necessar-
ily much to do in both com-
munities, there is still a lot to
take in.
Being in both locations
really gives you a sense of
why the few remaining res-
idents in the communities
choose to remain there.
It’s private, quiet and
remote. Both communities
are the blueprint for descrip-
tions of life in rural Eastern
Oregon.
grantcountysnowballers.com
The helpful place.
Garrett Carniglia: 541-792-1014 or
Tim Nodine: 541-792-0677
652 W. Main, John Day • 541-575-0549
SERVING EASTERN OREGON SINCE 1979
160 E. MAIN • JOHN DAY
541-575-2121
Jerry Franklin
GRI (ABR)/SRES
Principal Broker/Owner
541-820-3721
Wherever your 4 wheels
take you in Grant County,
we are there for you.
Traci Frazier
Pete Teague
Principal Broker
541-620-0925
Broker
541-620-0841
www.easternoregonrealty.net • www.eastoregonrealestate.com
www.farmseller.com • www.rmls.com
MOBILE GLASS
OF OREGON, INC.
The most valuable and
respected source of
local news, advertising
and information for
our communities.
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INSURANCE CLAIMS ACCEPTED
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27825 Wilderness Rd.,
John Day
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551 W Main • John Day • 541-575-1346
127799