The High Road Steens Mountain Loop Takes In Sagebrush To Timberline And Above

Sun., March 22, 1998

Jeff Barnard Associated Press

When the snow releases its hold on Steens Mountain, visitors can drive the 66-mile Steens Mountain Loop Road from sagebrush flats through juniper-covered slopes to timberline and above.

The rough gravel road offers sweeping vistas of the U-shaped Big Indian and Kiger gorges, cut by glaciers and left practically unaltered by further erosion because of the arid climate of southeastern Oregon. On the rim above Kiger Gorge, a notch cut by the massive ice floes is called the Gunsight.

The road also passes by small alpine lakes, where birds leave their tracks in the muddy shoreline, and groves of quaking aspen turn to gold, where hairy woodpeckers look for insects in the bark.

At 9,773 feet, Steens Mountain is the highest point in this dry corner of Oregon, which gets about 10 inches of rain a year. The western slope rises gradually to the top. The eastern slope drops precipitously 5,000 feet to the bare Alvord Desert below.

The recreation area administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management draws about 50,000 people annually.

Labeled the Snow Mountains on early pioneer maps, the mountain is named for U.S. Army Maj. Enoch Steen, who in 1860 chased a band of Snake Indians over it.

The mountain was formed millions of years ago when the basalt laid down by volcanic activity was tilted at an angle to form what geologists call a fault block.

Hudson’s Bay Company trappers led by Peter Skene Ogden trapped beaver here in 1826. During the homestead era at the turn of the century, lonely Basque shepherds tended flocks on the mountain. Buckaroos still run cattle in the lower valleys.

Golden eagles and prairie falcons soar over the higher levels of Steens Mountain and wild horses, mule deer and antelope gallop across the lower levels. Native redband trout swim in the little creeks flowing into Catlow Valley.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Drive south 60 miles from Burns on Highway 205 to the tiny community of Frenchglen. On the south end of town, turn left on the gravel road. Drive past the former headquarters of cattle baron Pete French’s P Ranch, Steens Mountain Resort, and the Page Springs Campground and keep on going until you come out the other end, about eight miles south of Frenchglen.

This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Drive south 60 miles from Burns on Highway 205 to the tiny community of Frenchglen. On the south end of town, turn left on the gravel road. Drive past the former headquarters of cattle baron Pete French’s P Ranch, Steens Mountain Resort, and the Page Springs Campground and keep on going until you come out the other end, about eight miles south of Frenchglen.