Steens Mountain is a prime spot I visited many years ago and have always wanted to go back to. The problem with the Steens is that it is way out there, even for Oregon locals. Another place in the general vicinity worth visiting is Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge - a lesser known spot that I have also been wanting to revisit for quite some time. My little science buddy Alex and his parental units were in on the plan so here we go!
Some basic info: Steens Mountain is one of the largest fault block mountains in the West (I think that only the Grand Tetons is larger). Fault block mountains are unique in that they rise on one side gradually over a great distance and then fall dramatically on the other side in the form of a series of cliffs with thousands of feet of abrupt elevation change. Looking at fault block mountains from the gentle side they don't look like much at all. Looking at Steens Mountain as you approach it from the west it's easy to wonder what all the hubub is about. Don't let your eyes fool you though as what you are looking at is a gentle slope that culminates in over 5,000 feet of elevation gain over many miles. One of the more interesting features of giant fault block mountains is that they produce a large amount of land area at high altitude. The result is that they get and hold a lot of snow. Steens Mountain was heavily glaciated during the ice age evidence of those glaciers endures as giant glacial valleys. Driving hours through the desert to a mountain with glacial valleys is a very unique experience. Anyway, Steens rocks and I'll prove it with some photos.
We arrived at French Glen at the base of Steens and drove approximately 19 miles to our meeting place at Fish Lake campground. Fish Lake was pretty full and Alex's parental unit 3956-i (aka Ryan) had found a spot on a small lake just a half a mile up the road from Fish Lake so we were good to go:
Some basic info: Steens Mountain is one of the largest fault block mountains in the West (I think that only the Grand Tetons is larger). Fault block mountains are unique in that they rise on one side gradually over a great distance and then fall dramatically on the other side in the form of a series of cliffs with thousands of feet of abrupt elevation change. Looking at fault block mountains from the gentle side they don't look like much at all. Looking at Steens Mountain as you approach it from the west it's easy to wonder what all the hubub is about. Don't let your eyes fool you though as what you are looking at is a gentle slope that culminates in over 5,000 feet of elevation gain over many miles. One of the more interesting features of giant fault block mountains is that they produce a large amount of land area at high altitude. The result is that they get and hold a lot of snow. Steens Mountain was heavily glaciated during the ice age evidence of those glaciers endures as giant glacial valleys. Driving hours through the desert to a mountain with glacial valleys is a very unique experience. Anyway, Steens rocks and I'll prove it with some photos.
We arrived at French Glen at the base of Steens and drove approximately 19 miles to our meeting place at Fish Lake campground. Fish Lake was pretty full and Alex's parental unit 3956-i (aka Ryan) had found a spot on a small lake just a half a mile up the road from Fish Lake so we were good to go:
