NEW BOOK ENCOURAGES CAMPERS TO JOIN THE FIVE PERCENT CLUB

TAKING IT EASY: Janice Straub of Clackamas enjoys the quiet of Bird Track Springs Campground Monday afternoon. Straub was at the campground with her twin sister, Joyce Steiner, and her husband, Eldon Steiner, also of Clackamas. They were preparing for a Carlton family reunion at the campground this weekend. More than 100 people are expected from throughout the United States. (Dick MasonThe Observer).

DICK MASON

The Observer

They are the best known bird tracks in Union County — tracks imprinted about 45 years ago with the help of a La Grande Lions Club Boy Scout troop.

The Boy Scouts were at what is now called Bird Track Springs, six miles south of Hilgard Junction State Park. The scouts were installing a concrete box with a pipe around a natural spring. The scouts wanted to preserve the spring and protect its water from contamination.

A wooden frame was installed and then filled with concrete.

Next came an imprint that made local history.

A bird landed on the concrete before it dried and then flew away, leaving a pair of footprints that still remain.

Thus was born the name Bird Track Springs, according to Loren Hughes of La Grande.

Readers of the latest edition of Tom Stienstra's book "Oregon Camping: The Complete Guide To Tent and RV Camping" will learn the rest of the story about Bird Track Springs Campground. The book tells its elevation, 3,100 feet; the number of sites available for tents and RVs up to 22-feet long, 16; and its scenic rating, 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Bird Track Springs is one of about 30 campgrounds in Union and Wallowa counties that Stienstra recommends to readers. In addition to basic information, some trivia is included. For example, Stienstra writes that Spool Cart campground, about 10 miles southwest of Starkey, is so named because of large cable spools that were left there for years.

Of the Union and Wallowa campgrounds listed Anthony Lakes gets the highest mark for beauty with a scenic rating of 10. The campground, though, is not perfect.

"Alas, mosquitoes are often in particular abundance,'' wrote Stienstra, an outdoor columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Other Union and Wallowa county sites covered in "Oregon Camping" include:

• Minam State Park

• Moss Springs near Eagle Cap Wilderness

• North Fork Catherine Creek Campground

• Shady Campground on the Lostine River

• Two Pan Campground on the Lostine River

• Hurricane Creek Campground near the Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

• Mountain View Motel and RV Park near Wallowa Lake

• Wallowa Lake State Park

• Grande Ronde Lake near the Anthony Lakes area

Stienstra list 107 Northeast Oregon campgrounds. The author believes that Northeast Oregon is a jewel for campers because it has many areas undiscovered by the masses.

"It might be difficult to believe that there are many places left in America that are little known and little traveled. Yet that is how it is in Northeastern Oregon,'' Stienstra writes. "Even longtime residents often overlook this area of Oregon.''

Stienstra lists 48 campgrounds for Southeast Oregon. He says that Southeast Oregon is underrated as a camping area.

"Some people think that Southeastern Oregon is one big chunk of nothing.They are only half right. True, this high-desert region is dry and foreboding, with many miles between camps in several areas. However, this part of Oregon is so undervisited, often you'll have vast areas of great land all to yourself.''

The Owyhee Canyon is one of Stienstra's favorite parts of Southeast Oregon. He describes it as a "miniature Grand Canyon.''

Stienstra encourages campers to become 5 percenters. It is estimated that 95 percent of the United States' vacationers use only 5 percent of the country's available recreation areas. Stienstra encourages people to "leave the herd,'' explore areas that are overlooked and join The Five Percent Club.

"Oregon Camping" (440 pages, Avalon Travel Publishing, $19.95) will be available soon at area bookstores including Sunflower Books in La Grande.