We continued
on up the road to the highly anticipated Alvord Desert. According to Wikipedia,
the Alvord Desert is a 12 by 7 mile dry lake bed that averages 7 inches of rain
a year at an elevation of 4,000 feet. Kerrie and I headed north on a gravel
road, slowly climbing up to the view point overlooking the desert with the
Steens Mountains towering a long side. We had planned to soak in the Alvord
Desert Hot Springs, but due to a temperature of around 80 degrees, we opted out
and drove back to find an entrance down into the lake bed. The playa, as the
locals call it, was occupied by numerous camps of RVs, land yachts, airplanes
and gliders. Heading onto the playa was a surreal experience with miles and
miles of flat open lake bed. I pushed the pedal to the floor and aimed for the
middle of the lake, windows down, music up.
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| Playa |
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| Cooking dinner |
We ended up camping about 2 or 3
miles into the middle of the playa. We threw out our chairs, cracked some
beers, read our books and cooked dinner before nightfall finally overtook the
area. We climbed into our Polar knapsacks and pointed our attention to the wondrous
display of stars spread out before us. There was supposed to be a large meteor
shower that night, but we must have missed it by a day because the only
movements we saw were a few satellites. Before crawling into bed, I set my
alarm clock for O’dark:30 in order to try and catch the sunrise spilling onto
the mountains.
The next
morning we lounged around taking in the view before loading up and heading back
into Fields for burgers and fuel before pointing the car North once more.
Driving into the Steens Mountain Refuge is a cool experience for anyone that
likes views or long expanses of dirt/gravel roads. We were also lucky enough to
stop and watch some wild horses playing and feeding beside the road.
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| The Steens |
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| South Steens Campsite |
We were
happy to see that South Steens Campground wasn’t that full for a holiday.
However, we took longer than necessary picking out a campsite, but finally settled
on a shady spot besides a few junipers. I opted to go for a short run while
Kerrie relaxed in the hammock. Unfortunately, my run was cut short by two
rather full rivers. When I got back, I was finally able to setup my solar
shower and even convinced Kerrie to indulge in a lukewarm shower.
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| Swollen river crossing |
That night
we cooked over Foil Bombs/Hobo Dinners over the fire and played Banagrams.
Kerrie was disappointed it took so long to have a fire on this trip so we
stayed up late chatting around the campfire and looking at the stars.
While we had
planned to stay two nights at this campground, with the rivers too swollen to
cross, we decided to pack up and head towards Bend. Before leaving, we ventured
up the road to a viewpoint that our camping neighbors informed us of. We were
both super glad that we followed their advice as the drive up was pretty fun
and the views were outstanding.
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| Big Indian Gorge |
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| Little Blitzen Gorge |
On the way
towards Bend, we visited the Riddle Ranch, had lunch at Frenchglen Hotel, explored the Pete French Round
Barn, visited the Diamond Craters and drove through the Malheur wildlife
refuge. Finally arriving in Burns, Oregon, I pulled over and filled the tank
with our reserve gasoline cans then headed west toward Bend, Oregon with
thoughts of microbrews filling our heads.
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| Riddle Brothers Ranch House |
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| Pete French Round Barn |
A few hours
later we were pulling into the parking lot of Good Life Brewing covered in dirt
and smelling to high heaven. One giant pile of nachos and two beers later,
Kerrie still hadn’t had enough fire pit action so we drove back down the street
to 10 Barrel brewing to have our last rounds of beers before heading up the
road to camp at the trailhead of Dillon Falls.
The next
morning we had no real plans and had no rush to get back to Portland so I fished
for a while on the Deschutes while Kerrie finished her book. We decided to take
the long way home, but wanted to get some exercise so we made the call to hike
to the top of Black Butte since neither of us had ever made the short trek.
The views
were amazing although slightly obscured by the clouds. There before us stood
Mt. Bachelor, Tumalo Mountain, the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, Olallie
Butte, Three Finger Jack, and Mt. Jefferson. Mt. Hood remained lost in the
clouds.
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| Dillon Falls Trailhead |
 |
| Roll cast! |
 |
| Success! |
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| Climbing up Black Butte |
The last leg
of our journey had us travelling through the Mt. Hood National Forest via NF-46
and Hwy 224. Finally squirting us out in Estacada, Oregon where were continued
to I-205, Hwy 84, and I-405 to come to a safe landing in NW Portland. 1,215
miles later, we were home safe and sound. Road trip complete.
UNT
Bryan
