Carry While Hiking? Legal?

[jarhead]

Hello guys and gals. Quick question. I was planning on going hiking in the Columbian River Gorge this coming weekend with a friend of mine. Planned on making it a 3 day trip on Eagle Crest Trail near the Bridge of the God's area. I do not yet have my CWL (I know, I'm slacking). I was wondering if it was ok to open carry my XD .45 service model. As far as I can find Oregon law allows open carry except in certain cities and on private property that prohibits firearms. As far as I can find there is nothing posted stating no firearms allowed where we are going. Any advice?

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[chemist]

OFF, the complete guide:
http://www.oregonfirearms.org/

 

[CEF1959]

You'll be in the Mt. Hood National Forest and likely crossing into designated wilderness area if you are going out for 3 days. There's no general prohibition on open carry in either national forests or wilderness areas. But there are local regulations in any given national forest or wilderness area, and often firearms are regulated on a local basis by the NFS. For example, here is the current Mt. Hood list of forest orders. http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mthood/ForestOrders.shtml

I'm 90% sure open carry is permitting in that whole area. But you can check with the Mt. Hood National Forest Ranger Station just to be sure, and they'll have info about wilderness areas in that region too. Contact info is here: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mthood/

It's a beautiful place to hike, but you'll see a LOT of people on Memorial Day weekend. Many will not be gun friendly, just so you know.

Hope this helps.

 

[jarhead]

Big help. Thanks alot for all the info. I was also wondering to anyone out there if they had any suggestions of places to hike that are not highly populated and semi local to gresham (within 1.5 hours). I'm looking for a hike around 30 miles spanning 2 (possibly 3) days. Ability to camp/carry would be appreciated If you don't want to openly post your favorite places I'm open to PMs. I promise not to share your places with the masses. Thanks again everyone.

 

[CEF1959]

There are tons of good places, and once you're 5 miles up the trail, the people dissipate (they're almost all day-hikers). That's true of Eagle Creek. On a weekend, it's like a freeway for about 5 miles, then it's fine, because the dayhikers have to turn back. So don't give up on that idea. It's gorgeous. The Bull of the Woods Wilderness Area, Badger Creek Wilderness Area and Hatfield Wilderness Area are all excellent too, and very accessible from Gresham. Indian Heaven Wilderness Area in Southern Washington is spectacular, as is Mt. Baker.

My suggestion would be to get one of William Sullivan's books. He's got a whole series of books about hiking/backpacking in various parts of Oregon with tons of useful info. One of them is dedicated to the Northern Cascades, which includes Mt. Hood NF, Badger Creek and Bull of the Woods.

 

[jarhead]

Thank you CEF1959. I appreciate all the info. I'll have to check all those places out. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.

 

[raftman]

... I was wondering if it was ok to open carry my XD .45 service model...

Nope, you can't. There's a sign at every trailhead that says "your gun must be THIS cool to be allowed in" and the XD .45 just isn't up to snuff. Sorry.

 

[jarhead]

My bad. I was unaware of this new regulation. Maybe a .44 Mag "Dirty Harry" or perhaps duel 1911 "Punisher" pistols would be acceptable

 

[pokerace]

My bad. I was unaware of this new regulation. Maybe a .44 Mag "Dirty Harry" or perhaps duel 1911 "Punisher" pistols would be acceptable

Those guns are allowed.

 

[drew]

My bad. I was unaware of this new regulation. Maybe a .44 Mag "Dirty Harry" or perhaps duel 1911 "Punisher" pistols would be acceptable

I would recommend the 1911 from Cobra with the cobra grips. Either that or the .475 Wildey that was in Death Wish 3. At least then you could be confident that you have the coolest gun on the trail.