2 school houses near Tygh Valley

These school houses are conveniently within a couple miles of each other on a rarely traveled old road. Both of the schoolhouses sit quitely in fields. When we were walking up to the first schoolhouse and a deer burst from underneath the front porch and scared us pretty good. We enjoyed the sunshine here for most of the day and then retired for a fire and some coffee at the cabin.

A note on photo's

All of the photographs are original and have been taken by a member of some size or shape.

Farmhouse with a giant barn and windmill.

Farmhouse complete with a giant barn and windmill. It is only a few miles from the house in Tygh Valley to this spot which makes it a favorite. It is about a 1/2 mile down Juniper Flat Rd. The house sits in the middle of a farmers field and is secluded enough that nobody noticed us and we hung out here for hours.

TERRIBLE NEWS: Dan went to this Homestead TODAY and the entire house, field, barn, water tower, everything has burned to the ground. everything is completely gone except the windmill. He wasn't sure if Jimmy Duncan (land owner) burned it for liability reasons or if it was a natural fire, either way, Extremely sad. History goes up in smoke.

Kent

Kent! With only 23 residents in a large area the town is all but abandoned. One of the locals told us a funny story about the yellow houses (pictured below) history as a brothel. Supposedly the truckers would all pull in off the highway and pay the house a visit. It's etirely abandoned which is the case with most of the buildings through town.

The Hunters Continued

The posse.

The Valley Tygh.

Located East of Mt. Hood just shy of the cascade foothills, Tygh Valley is really where a man can get away from it all, relax, kick off his shoes and kick up some dust.

The Cabin in Tygh is quite possibly the best thing that ever happened to the Jewelhunters. Being centrally located to many of the ghost towns of the central Oregon plains, It is a key player in many Jewelhunts.

It is owned and operated by Jerry Deppa (pictured with chainsaw) the Father of one of the founding members Chris Deppa. It is secluded, discreet and an all around refuge from the reality that is Portland. If it is raining and shitty in portland, chances are it is dry and awesome in Tygh Valley. The Deppa family is gracious enough to let all of us creatures enjoy their stately manor in The Valley, Tygh.

The Purpose:

First and foremost, the whole point to all of this is to have fun. Second, to take photographs. We like to explore and photograph all things man made and natural. Every jewel hunt is very photo oriented and much of the decision making regarding where to go and what to see is based upon what there is to take pictures of. We hike just as much if not more than going around to abandoned buildings. Many jewels have been found along hiking trails. Sometimes the hunt involves a hike to an abandoned something, so its a twofer.

The Hunters.