Russell Travel Adventures: Steens Mountains, Malheur Wildlife Refuge & Alvord Desert, Eastern Oregon

The Steens Mountains

Hooray! I just marked off number 100 in my book of “1,000 Places To See Before You Die – US and Canada”

I visited the area April 3-5 during the 28th Annual John Scharff Migratory Bird Festival in Burns, Oregon. The tour was limited to 30 people and we had a BLM geologist with us who helped explain what we would be seeing.

The title in the book for this area reads – High, Wide and Lonesome – and it most certainly was – put spectacular in its own right.

Here is a quote from the book that sums up the area. “In Oregon’s southeast corner, on the edge of the Great Basin Desert, is a dramatic land of extremes. Rising above this austere landscape is spectacular Steens Mountains, a 30-mile-long uplifted fault block nearly 10,000 feet high at its peak. Its broad west flank, marked by huge glacier-cut valleys, rises gradually through aspen groves and alpine meadows, whereas the east face drops precipitously to the alkali flats of the Alvord Desert nearly a mile below.”

Because of snow, I was only able to skirt around its base, but I plan to go back in September or October to the lookout point, which you can drive to while the aspens are in all their fall glory.

I was also able to go through the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. “A major stop for migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway and a birding mecca of the Northwest. Nearly 300 species visit the refugee, waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, and raptors most drawn by the oasis of lakes streams and marshes in the otherwise parched region, remnants of the Ice Age lakes,” according to the book.

And we saw lots of birds. My best shot though is of the great horned owls. I went on the trip for the scenery, but if you’re into birds, this is the place.

We also took a 7-mile diversion on a dirt road to Mickey Hot Springs. This was well worth the side trip as we saw active fumaroles, mud pots, steam vents and a dormant geyser all with the Steens Mountains in the background. It’s a very active geothermal area and the water temperatures reach over 200 degrees.

As we kept driving, we dropped down into the Alvord Desert Playa. This is a Pleistocene glacial melt lake that is approximately 8 miles wide and 12 miles long. The strong winds are well known in the area as glider enthusiasts and wind sailors often frequent the region. Also of note, the women’s land speed record was set here by Kitty O’Neal in the 1970’s.

The area is rife with wildlife. We saw bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, deer, blue herons, cranes, ducks, geese, pheasants, and a ton of lesser-known birds that I didn’t know, but my new birding friends pointed out to me.

The area is also home to lots of wild horses and we saw a herd during our drive through the area. I checked the BLM website to learn more and it said, “there are a 1,000 wild horses roaming within the eight Herd Management Areas in the Burns District. These horses are feral horses meaning their domestic ancestors turned wild. Once excess wild horses in Oregon and Washington are gathered from the range, they are brought to Oregon’s Wild Horse Corral Facility for preparation for the BLM’s Adopt-A-Horse Program.”

We filled our day from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and there was so much to see. I ended the evening by going to a hot springs in the town of Crane, which we had passed earlier on our route. I started my soak in the privately owned Crystal Crane Hot Springs, which is a natural outdoor spring reservoir, just as the sun was setting. The 101 degree water was a nice welcome to the 38 degree, clear cool day.

As chance would have it, I had the reservoir all to myself. It was awesome to watch the moon and stars fill the dark night sky and to be able to see stars as far as I could see. When my hour was up I hopped in my car with the “moon roof” wide open, music playing from the CD, totally relaxed and thought to myself, “Life Is Good!”

Check out these websites about the area.

www.cranehotsprings.com
www.fws.gov/malheur

www.malheurfieldstation.org

http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns/index.php