A8 The SpokeSman • TueSday, auguST 16, 2022
Sports+Outdoors
mark morical/The Bulletin
Steens Mountain from the East Rim Overlook, with the
Alvord Desert below.
Explore
Steens Mountain Wilderness
BY MARK MORICAL
CO MEDIA GROUP
S
OUTH STEENS CAMPGROUND — In 1999, I took a trip with
some college friends to Steens Mountain. Nearly a quarter-century
later, memories of that trip were beginning to fade.
But, what I did remember was plung-
ing up and down an impossibly deep
gorge and being awestruck by alpine
beauty that had no business existing in
the middle of a vast desert of sagebrush.
It was time to return to Steens Moun-
tain to refresh those memories. So I
planned a three-night camping trip to
the remote area about four hours south-
east of Bend with friend Jeremy Dick-
man, who was with me on that trip so
many years ago when we were carefree
college students.
Now well into middle age and deal-
ing with the stresses of work, family,
mortgages, etc., we needed an escape
to Steens. If one is looking to get off the
grid and submerse themselves in natu-
ral beauty, Steens is the place.
Steens Mountain is a 30-mile-long,
1-mile-high fault block that is often
mistaken for a chain of mountains, but
is actually one contiguous monolith, ac-
cording to the Bend-based Oregon Nat-
ural Desert Association, which works
to preserve and maintain the Steens
Mountain Wilderness. It rises above the
Alvord Desert to the east and sagebrush
plains to the west and features numer-
ous deep gorges.
Due in large part to the efforts of
ONDA, the Steens Mountain Wilder-
ness was designated in 2000 and is now
more than 170,000 acres, according to
the Bureau of Land Management.
We decided to plan our tour of Steens
Mountain via two approaches, from the
bottom and from the top. From the bot-
tom, hiking along the floor of the Big
Indian Gorge, was a 17-mile bugs-in-
your-face, burs-in-your-socks immer-
sion in nature.
From the top, along the highest road
in Oregon at nearly 10,000 feet, was a
daydream of a trip to the jewel of the
Steens — Wildhorse Lake — and the
area around the 9,734-foot summit that
features sensational scenery of craggy
gray peaks and steep green canyons
lined with aspen trees.
Popular campgrounds at Steens
Mountain include Fish Lake on the
north end, where we camped 23 years
ago, and South Steens on the south end.
This time we chose South Steens for
something different, and because the
trailhead for Big Indian Gorge starts
from South Steens Campground.
From Bend, we drove through Burns,
then turned south toward Frenchglen.
Those who are going to the north end
and to Fish Lake can turn onto the
Steens Mountain Loop Road at French-
glen. We continued 10 miles down the
highway to turn onto the loop road at
its south end and drove for 20 miles
along the gravel road to South Steens
Campground.
We chose a campsite shaded by juni-
per trees with a view of the west side of
Steens just a few steps from our tents.
In the morning, we headed out
along the Big Indian Trail, thinking we
would hike maybe 10 to 12 miles total.
The 8.5-mile trail (17 miles roundtrip)
ends just below the Steens summit. Af-
ter three creek crossings that required
careful negotiation from rock to rock,
the trail took us east into the mouth of
the gorge. Walking along sagebrush,
aspen trees and juniper trees, we gazed
up onto the steep walls of the canyon.
Aspen trees grew in green lines up and
down the walls. A thin waterfall cas-
caded down the rocky ledges.
The bird and bug life was rampant as
we trekked among yellow and red wild-
flowers. At the 6-mile point, we made
the decision to hike the entire 8.5 miles.
We still had energy as the route is rela-
tively flat with about 2,000 feet of eleva-
tion gain.
At the end of the trait at a headwall,
we looked out across the gorge toward
the summit and took in the view be-
fore heading back. We arrived back at
the campsite about 17 miles and eight
hours after we started, having seen just
two other hikers the entire time.
A WALL OF SWITCHBACKS
The next day would be easier, as we
planned to drive the Steens Mountain
Loop Road to near the summit and
Wildhorse Lake. Topping out just below
the summit, the road is the highest in
Oregon.
From the campground we drove
up to the Big Indian Overlook, gazing
out across the green valley that we had
plodded through the day before. From
there we continued several more miles
to a parking area near the summit.
The trail to Wildhorse Lake is 1.3
miles straight down a rock wall of
switchbacks. We were leery of the hike
back up, but we were too engrossed in
the scenery before us to worry much.
Carpets of yellow and red wildflow-
ers lined the way to the lake, which sat
like an infinity pool in a basin lined by
rocky peaks and crags. On the far side
of the lake, Wildhorse creek plunged
down through an emerald valley to-
ward the Alvord Desert.
After relaxing by the lake for an hour
or so and viewing trout in the clear water,
we made our way back up, encountering
about 10 other hikers. Back at the top,
we realized we still had some energy, so
we turned onto a trail along an exposed
ridgeline that has to be one of the most
memorable trails I have ever hiked.
To the south, Wildhorse Lake
gleamed in the sun, the desert in the
distance. To the north, Big Indian
Gorge took up the horizon, and we
looked out at where we had hiked and
turned around the day before.
After nearly 6 miles of hiking, we ar-
rived back at the car and drove a couple
miles to the East Rim Overlook. This
spot includes more dramatic alpine
scenery and shows just how sharply the
Steens fault block rises up from the Al-
vord Desert.
After another night under the stars,
we were ready to head back to Central
Oregon and back to our families. Our
memories of that college trip long ago
were refreshed after experiencing Steens
Mountain from the bottom and from
the top.
█
Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@
bendbulletin.com
mark morical/The Bulletin
Wildhorse Lake in the Steens Mountain Wilderness.
mark morical/The Bulletin
Jeremy Dickman of Sisters, walks along the Big Indian Trail in the Steens Mountain
Wilderness.
mark morical/The Bulletin
Wildhorse Creek flows out of Wildhorse Lake on Steens Mountain.