(Courtesy of the Oregon Tour Route)
Trip Tips
Distance: 143 Miles
Minimum Driving Time: 5-7 hours
Best Time To Visit: Spring through Fall, but is enjoyable year round.
Skirting along the vast expanses of the Alvord Desert and the eastern slope of Steens Mountain, this 143-mile tour provides a picturesque study in vivid contrasts. Like any great play, the drama of the East Steens Tour builds slowly toward a spectacular finish. The tour starts by heading South out of Burns following Highway 78, the tour takes you past the Crystal Crane Hot Springs until eventually, at milepost 65, the tour route detours off Highway 78 onto East Steens Road; although it is a gravel road, it is passable for most passenger vehicles. The landscape may be arid, but it is not devoid of life-sustaining water. Upon passing the sagebrush covered Sheepshead Mountains in the east, a series of small lakes appear (four in total and they may be dry depending on the year) that draw in the local wildlife. Now coming into view, the majestic Steens Mountain, the “largest fault-block mountain in the northern Great Basin,” appears to rise vertically out of the Alvord Desert.[1] At its peak, the mountain reaches 10,000 feet. This mountain will continue to stay in view for the remainder of the trip. At this point, bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope can be seen off the road with binoculars. The next destination along this tour will be Mann Lake, “which is renowned by fly fisherman for its hefty cutthroat trout.”[2]
Having passed Mann Lake and with the Steens Mountain looming in the west, the tour goes through the Alvord Desert Playa (dry lake), one of the largest playas in Oregon. Many visitors use this playa for camping, land sailing, glider flying, ATV riding and dirt biking. Having reached the final destination of the tour in Fields, travelers can relax in the Alvord Hot Springs, a no-fee hot springs.[3]
(East side of the Steens Mountain)
Notes
[1] Oregon Department of Transportation, “The East Steen Tour Route,” last modified 2014, http://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/SBeastSteens.asp.
[2] Oregon Department of Transportation, “The East Steen Tour Route.”
[3] Oregon Department of Transportation, “The East Steen Tour Route.”
