Oregon Desert Guide: 70 Hikes
Alas, so far, just a few of the areas covered in Oregon Desert Guide have achieved wilderness and/or special area protection, including large parts of Steens Mountain (Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area, Steens Mountain Wilderness); the Soda Mountain, Spring Basin, and Badlands Wildernesses; the Donner und Blitzen Wild and Scenic River additions and Wildhorse & Kiger Creeks, and Jenny Creek Wild and Scenic Rivers.
Download the entire book in two parts (~20 MB each). This version is compressed from the original pdf, and you will notice a slight degradation of the images and text. Still quite usable.
From the back cover:
Including Steens Mountain; Alvord Basin; Owyhee Canyonlands; Malheur, Crooked, and John Day Basins; Lake Abert Rim; Hart Mountain; and Fort Rock Country.
It is some of the wildest and Owyhee Uplands Ecoregion remote land left in Oregon—and the object of a 40-year love affair Basin and Range Ecoregion for conservationist Andy Kerr. In 70 hikes through snow-capped mountain ranges, deep river canyons, sagebrush-covered flats, dry lake playas, moonlike lava fields, and juniper-covered hillsides, he will seduce you, too, with the spare and mysterious beauty of the desert. And, he hopes, inspire you to action. Each of these wild areas, vital to survival of native plants and animals, is threatened. Kerr explains how you can help protect these lands forever.
Table of Contents (hikes are numbered)
Front Matter
Dedication
In Memorium
Robert Service Verse
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
THE BASICS
How to Use This Guide
Information Blocks
Getting to the Embarkation Point
After the Embarkation Point
Government Jurisdictions
Ecological Classifications
The Oregon Biodiversity Project
A Word on Words
The Right Maps
Getting Around and Back Well
Driving
Killer Cows
Wildlife on the Road
Ambulation
To Backpack! Or Not to Backpack?
Navigation
Hydration
Thermoregulation
Preparation
Lightning
Ticks
Rattlesnakes
Fences
Perilous Plants
Private Land
Proposed Wilderness Boundaries
Cultural Resources
Campcraft and Backcountry Ethics
The Best of Times and the Worst of Times
Hunting and Hunting Seasons
Hot Springs
Deviation
Other Than Walking
Fecal Matters
Leave No Trace
Settlement Services
NATURAL HISTORY
Geology
Climate
Vegetation
A Desert Without Cactus?
Western Juniper: Loved and Loathed
A Desert Without Crusts Is a Desert Without a Skin
Fish and Wildlife
Northern Kit Fox
The Wily Coyote
Welcome Back the Wolf!
Desert Elk
Bring Back the Bighorn
Faster Than a Speeding Pronghorn Not!
Bring Back the Beaver
Sage Grouse: The Spotted Owl of the Desert
Fish
Wilderness, Natural, and Recreational Values
UNNATURAL HISTORY
Domestic Livestock: Scourge of the West
The Top Twenty Threats to Ecological Integrity
POLITICAL FUTURE
Inviting Nature Back: The Big Vision Requires Big Wilderness
A Solution: The Oregon Desert Conservation Act
A New Mission and Name for the Bureau of Land Management
Why Special Designations Are Necessary
A New and Better Economic Future
Ending Public Land Grazing Fair and Square
BASIN AND RANGE ECOREGION
Abert Rim Wilderness (Proposed)
The largest continuous fault scarp in North America.
1. Colvin Timbers
2. Poison Creek
Alvord Wilderness (Proposed)
Huge desert plays, unique flora and fauna in the rain shadow of Steens Mountain.
3. Alvord Desert
4. Coyote Lake
Bighorn Wilderness (Proposed)
The largest concentration of bighorn sheep in Oregon.
5. Warner Peak and DeGarmo Canyon (Warner Peak Unit)
6. Orejana Canyon (Orejana Canyon Unit)
7. Poker Jim Ridge (Poker Jim Ridge Unit)
Buzzard Creek Wilderness (Proposed)
Recreation by and for those at risk.
8. Iron Mountain Summit (Iron Mountain Unit)
Diablo Mountain Wilderness (Proposed)
The wild shore of a relic Pleistocene lake, steep escarpments, unique volcanic flows, and a species "hotspot."
9. Diablo Peak (Summer Lake Unit)
10. Sand Dunes Traverse (Summer Lake Unit)
Diamond Craters National Monument (Proposed)
"A museum of basaltic volcanism."
Fish Creek Rim Wilderness (Proposed)
Great views of the Warner Valley, Warner Mountains, and Hart Mountain with a good chance to see bighorn sheep.
11. Fish Creek Rim
Fort Rock Lava Beds National Monument (Proposed)
Thick forests to open sage with a wide variety of volcanic features in between.
Fort Rock Lava Beds Wilderness (Proposed)
The collision of lava, forest and sage.
12. Crack in the Ground (Four Craters Lava Field Unit)
13. Little Garden (Devils Garden Unit)
Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Additions (Proposed)
A "hotspot" of species endemism and complete protection of the entire range of the Hart Mountain pronghorn herd.
14. Buck Pasture (Warner Peak Unit, Bighorn Wilderness)
15. Campbell Lake (Poker Jim Ridge Unit, Bighorn Wilderness)
Lake Abert National Wildlife Refuge (Proposed)
Oregon's Mono Lake.
Lonesome Lakes Wilderness (Proposed)
The wild does not reach and grab you, but is nonetheless tere for the taking.
16. Benjamin Lake and Benjamin Cave
17. Elk Butte
Lost Forest-Shifting Sand Dunes National Monument (Proposed)
Ancient pines and junipers, antediluvian fossils, and venerable dunes.
18. Fossil Lake
Malheur Lake Wilderness (Proposed)
Sporadically Oregon's largest lake.
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Additions (Proposed)
Expansion would help wildlife, ranchers, local government and federal taxpayers.
Oregon Grasslands Wilderness (Proposed)
Gentle rolling wide open spaces covered with bunchgrass and with other wonders, big and small.
19. Beatys Butte Summit (Beatys Butte Unit)
20. Lone Mountain (Hawk MountainCatlow Rim Unit)
21. The Potholes (Beatys Butte Unit)
Pronghorn Wilderness (Proposed)
One of the largest concentrations of pronghorn in Oregon.
22. Guano Creek
Pueblo Mountains Wilderness (Proposed)
A fascinating mix of scenery, geology, vegetation, and wildlife.
23. Pueblo Peak
Oregon Grasslands Wilderness (Proposed)
Gentle rolling wide open spaces covered with bunchgrass and with other wonders, big and small.
19. Beatys Butte Summit (Beatys Butte Unit)
20. Lone Mountain (Hawk MountainCatlow Rim Unit)
21. The Potholes (Beatys Butte Unit)
Pronghorn Wilderness (Proposed)
One of the largest concentrations of pronghorn in Oregon.
22. Guano Creek
Pueblo Mountains Wilderness (Proposed)
A fascinating mix of scenery, geology, vegetation, and wildlife.
23. Pueblo Peak
heepshead Mountains Wilderness (Proposed)
Many more people know of them than have been too them.
24. Mickey Basin and Mickey Butte
Shifting Sand Dunes Wilderness (Proposed)
The most unique addition possible to Oregon's Wilderness System.
25. Nothing But Sand
Steens Mountain National Conservation Area (Proposed)
An ecological island in the sky.
26. Whorehouse Meadows
Steens Mountain Wilderness (Proposed)
The most diverse wildland in the Oregon Desert.
27. Alvord Peak Summit (Alvord Peak Unit)
28. Bridge Creek (High Steens Unit)
29. Home Creek Butte (High Steens Unit)
30. Little Blitzen River (Little Blitzen Unit)
31. Pike Creek (High Steens Unit)
Trout Creek Mountains Wilderness (Proposed)
Two ranges of desert mountains with deeply incised canyons and stands of aspen and willow among sagebrush and plentiful water.
32. Little Whitehorse Creek (Oregon Canyon Mountains Unit)
33. Mud Spring Base Camp (Oregon Canyon Mountains Unit)
34. Oregon Canyon (Oregon Canyon Mountains Unit)
35. Little Trout Creek (Trout Creek Unit)
BLUE MOUNTAINS ECOREGION
Homestead Addition (Proposed) to the Hells Canyon Wilderness
Ten miles of very rugged and knifelike ridge descending from forest to desert.
36. McLain Gulch
Sheep Mountain Wilderness (Proposed)
A wildlife wonderland known by few and visited by fewer.
37. Black Canyon Headwaters
South Fork John Day Wilderness (Proposed)
Stark natural beauty with a great divesity of vegetation from large conifers to tiny flowers.
38. Smokey Creek (Murderers Creek Unit)
COLUMBIA BASIN ECOREGION
Boardman Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge (Proposed)
The Navy is abandoning its bombing range, which contains one of the best remaining blocks of native grasslands on the Columbia plateau.
KLAMATH MOUNTAINS ECOREGION
Soda Mountain Wilderness (Proposed)
Multiple collisions at an ecological crossroads.
39. Pacific Crest Trail: Soda Mountain-Pilot Rock (Pilot Rock Unit)
40. Boccard Point (Pilot Rock Unit)
41. Dutch Oven and Camp Creeks (Pilot Rock Unit)
LAVA PLAINS ECOREGION
Badlands Wilderness (Proposed)
Striking volcanic outcrops covered by juniper and a dry river canyon with polished lavas.
42. Badlands Rock
43. Dry River Canyon
Crooked River Wilderness (Proposed)
Seven jewels representative of the ecological diversity of the Crooked River Basin.
44. Chimney Rock (Chimney Rock Unit)
45. Crooked River Overlook (Rocky Canyon Unit)
46. Gerry Mountain Summit (Gerry Mountain Unit)
47. Pickett Canyon (South Fork Unit)
48. River Mile 14 Island (North Fork Unit)
Deschutes Canyon Wilderness (Proposed)
The meeting of the Cascade and desert ecosystems provides and unusually rich natural diversity.
49. Steelhead Falls (Steelhead Falls Unit)
John Day River Wilderness (Proposed)
A spectacular river, linking equally spectacular cliffs, canyons, habitats and scenery.
50. Clarno to Cottonwood (Lower Canyon Unit)
51. Eagle Canyon (Spring Basin Unit)
52. Sutton Mountain Summit (Sutton Mountain Unit)
OWYHEE UPLANDS ECOREGION
Jordan Craters National Monument (Proposed)
A stark expanse of bare lava, some less than a century old.
53. West Peninsula (Jordan Craters Unit, Owyhee Wilderness)
Lower Owyhee National Conservation Area (Proposed)
A forgotten wild wonderland.
Malheur Canyons Wilderness (Proposed)
Eighteen wild refugia, each worth of wilderness designation on its own.
54. Beaver Dam Creek (Beaver Dam Creek Unit)
55. Bluebucket Creek (Upper River Unit)
56. Castle Rock Circumnavigation (Castle Rock Unit)
57. Coleman Creek Canyon (Coleman Creek Unit)
58. Cottonwood Creek (Cottonwood Unit)
59. Ironside Mountain Summit (Ironside Mountain Unit)
60. Star Mountain Summit (Star Mountain Unit)
61. Upton Mountain (Middle River Unit)
62. Westfall Butte (Westfall Highlands Unit)
Owyhee Wilderness (Proposed)
A magnificent wild river flowing through some of the wildest country in the Lower Forty-Eight.
63. Anderson Crossing (Upper West Little Owyhee and Owyhee Canyonlands Units)
64. Batch Lake (Jordan Craters Unit)
65. Bowden Hills Summit (Bowden Hills Unit)
66. Chalk Basin (Owyhee Breaks Unit)
67. Honeycombs (Honeycombs Unit)
68. Lambert Rocks (Owyhee Breaks Unit)
69. Saddle Butte Lava Tubes (Saddle Butte Unit)
70. Slocum Creek-Schoolhouse Gulch (Mahogany Mountain Unit)
71. Three Forks (Middle Owyhee River Unit)
REFERENCES
RECOMMENDED READING
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Government Agency Contacts
Appendix B: What You Can Do to Help
Appendix C: Conservation Organizations
Appendix D: The Desert Trail
Appendix E: Home on the Range
MAPS AND TABLES
Maps
The Oregon Desert
Basin and Range Ecoregion
Blue Mountains Ecoregion
Columbia Basin Ecoregion
Klamath Mountains Ecoregion
Lava Plains Ecoregion
Tables
Settlement Services
Wilderness, Natural, and Recreational Values
Index
About the Author
About the Photographer