Our plans were to head eat on I-84 out of Portland and head up into the Blue Mountains to the Emmigrants Springs State Heritage Area for a while. Since this was early March we thought we would call to confirm they were open. Yep, no problem. This was about 2 hours to the west of Pendleton when we called and the weather was ideal. We forged ahead. By the time we started climbing the pass along I-84 a blizzard started. Within less than 5 miles it was almost a white-out. At this point there was no turning around cause traffic was crawling and the truck stops were packed full with semi’s. Trucks were stopped on the side of the road cause they couldn’t get to the truck stops, cars were skidding, and it looked like no fun. Exits? None around there until you get up the pass. By the time we got to an exit we had a white-out, no road lights, and no idea where the road was. Just flat pure snow everywhere. You could not tell a ditch from a road from a fence. Now what? Head back down the mountain to the first place we can find and wait out the storm. Hence, the Pendleton KOA. It was all we could do to see/find the road to cross over the interstate to get back on it. Wind was howling, snow was blowing, and ice was forming. All in all, a fun drive!
RV Park: Pendleton KOA
Location: Pendleton, Oregon along I-84
Site: 32
Cost: $33.47
Services: FHU
Comments: Good for a nice night stopover, especially if you are dodging a terrible snowstorm along Deadman Pass on Cabbage Hill (which we were).
Link to Map in “Where We’ve Been”
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