Table of Contents
Suggested Citation: Kerr, Andy. 2000. Oregon Desert Guide: 70 Hikes. Seattle: The Mountaineers Books. pp. 6-9.
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Front Matter —3
Dedication —4
In Memorium —4
Acknowledgments —12
Preface —14
Introduction —16
Getting to the Embarkation Point
The Oregon Biodiversity Project
The Right Maps —22
Getting Around and Back Well —24
To Backpack! Or Not to Backpack?
Proposed Wilderness Boundaries
Campcraft and Backcountry Ethics
The Best of Times and the Worst of Times
Geology —42
Climate —43
Vegetation —44
Western Juniper: Loved and Loathed
A Desert Without Crusts Is a Desert Without a Skin
Faster Than a Speeding Pronghorn—Not!
Sage Grouse: The Spotted Owl of the Desert
Wilderness, Natural, and Recreational Values —62
Domestic Livestock: Scourge of the West —64
The Top Twenty Threats to Ecological Integrity —67
Inviting Nature Back: The Big Vision Requires Big Wilderness —73
A Solution: The Oregon Desert Conservation Act —77
A New Mission and Name for the Bureau of Land Management —82
Why Special Designations Are Necessary —83
A New and Better Economic Future —85
Ending Public Land Grazing Fair and Square —88
Abert Rim Wilderness (Proposed) —94
The largest continuous fault scarp in North America.
1. Colvin Timbers —95
2. Poison Creek —96
Alvord Wilderness (Proposed) —96
Huge desert plays, unique flor and fauna in the rain shadow of Steens Mountain.
3. Alvord Desert —97
4. Coyote Lake —98
Bighorn Wilderness (Proposed) —99
The largest concentration of bighorn sheep in Oregon.
5. Warner Peak and DeGarmo Canyon (Warner Peak Unit) —101
6. Orejana Canyon (Orejana Canyon Unit) —101
7. Poker Jim Ridge (Poker Jim Ridge Unit) —102
Buzzard Creek Wilderness (Proposed) —102
Recreation by and for those at risk.
8. Iron Mountain Summit (Iron Mountain Unit) —105
Diablo Mountain Wilderness (Proposed) —105
The wild shore of a relic Pleistocene lake, steep escarpments, unique volcanic flows, and a species "hotspot."
9. Diablo Peak (Summer Lake Unit) —107
10. Sand Dunes Traverse (Summer Lake Unit) —107
Diamond Craters National Monument (Proposed) —108
"A museum of basaltic volcanism."
Fish Creek Rim Wilderness (Proposed) —110
Great views of the Warner Valley, Warner Mountains, and Hart Mountain with a good chance to see bighorn sheep.
11. Fish Creek Rim—111
Fort Rock Lava Beds National Monument (Proposed) —111
Thick forests to open sage with a wide variety of volcanic features in between.
Fort Rock Lava Beds Wilderness (Proposed) —113
The collision of lava, forest and sage.
12. Crack in the Ground (Four Craters Lava Field Unit)—115
13. Little Garden (Devils Garden Unit)—115
Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Additions (Proposed) —116
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)—119-
15. Campbell Lake (Poker Jim Ridge Unit, Bighorn Wilderness) —120
Lake Abert National Wildlife Refuge (Proposed) —121
Oregon's Mono Lake.
Lonesome Lakes Wilderness (Proposed) —123
The wild does not reach and grab you, but is nonetheless tere for the taking.
16. Benjamin Lake and Benjamin Cave —125
17. Elk Butte —125
Lost Forest-Shifting Sand Dunes National Monument (Proposed) —126
Ancient pines and junipers, antediluvian fossils, and venerable dunes.
18. Fossil Lake —28
Malheur Lake Wilderness (Proposed) —128
Sporadically Oregon's largest lake.
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Additions (Proposed) —129
Expansion would help wildlife, ranchers, local government and federal taxpayers.
Oregon Grasslands Wilderness (Proposed) —132
Gentle rolling wide open spaces covered with bunchgrass and with other wonders, big and small.
19. Beatys Butte Summit (Beatys Butte Unit) —135
20. Lone Mountain (Hawk Mountain—Catlow Rim Unit) —135
21. The Potholes (Beatys Butte Unit) —136
Pronghorn Wilderness (Proposed) —137
One of the largest concentrations of pronghorn in Oregon.
22. Guano Creek —138
Pueblo Mountains Wilderness (Proposed) —139
A fascinating mix of scenery, geology, vegetation, and wildlife.
23. Pueblo Peak —141
Sheepshead Mountains Wilderness (Proposed) —141
Many more people know of them than have been too them.
24. Mickey Basin and Mickey Butte —143
Shifting Sand Dunes Wilderness (Proposed) —143
The most unique addition possible to Oregon's Wilderness System.
25. Nothing But Sand —145
Steens Mountain National Conservation Area (Proposed) —145
An ecological island in the sky.
26. Whorehouse Meadows —149
Steens Mountain Wilderness (Proposed) —150
The most diverse wildland in the Oregon Desert.
27. Alvord Peak Summit (Alvord Peak Unit) —151
28. Bridge Creek (High Steens Unit) —152
29. Home Creek Butte (High Steens Unit) —152
30. Little Blitzen River (Little Blitzen Unit) —153
31. Pike Creek (High Steens Unit) —154
Trout Creek Mountains Wilderness (Proposed) —154
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) —156
33. Mud Spring Base Camp (Oregon Canyon Mountains Unit) —157
34. Oregon Canyon (Oregon Canyon Mountains Unit) —158
35. Little Trout Creek (Trout Creek Unit) —159
Homestead Addition (Proposed) to the Hells Canyon Wilderness —161
Ten miles of very rugged and knfelike ridge desending from forest to desert.
36. McLain Gulch —164
Sheep Mountain Wilderness (Proposed) —165
A wildlife wonderland known by few and visited by fewer.
37. Black Canyon Headwaters —167
South Fork John Day Wilderness (Proposed) —168
Stark natural beauty with a great divesity of vegetation from large conifers to tiny flowers.
38. Smokey Creek (Murderers Creek Unit) —170
Boardman Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge (Proposed) —172
The Navy is abandoning its bombing range, which contains one of the best remaining blocks of native grasslands on the Columbi plateau.
Soda Mountain Wilderness (Proposed) —176
Multiple collisions at an ecological crossroads.
39. Pacific Crest Trail: Soda Mountain—Pilot Rock (Pilot Rock Unit) —178
40. Boccard Point (Pilot Rock Unit) —178
41. Dutch Oven and Camp Creeks (Pilot Rock Unit) —179
Badlands Wilderness (Proposed) —181
Striking volcanic outcrops coverd by juniper and a dry river canyon with polished lavas.
42. Badlands Rock —184
43. Dry River Canyon —185
Crooked River Wilderness (Proposed) —186
Seven jewels representative of the ecological diversity of the Crooked River Basin.
44. Chimney Rock (Chimney Rock Unit) 189
45. Crooked River Overlook (Rocky Canyon Unit) —190
46. Gerry Mountain Summit (Gerry Mountain Unit) —190
47. Pickett Canyon (South Fork Unit) —191
48. River Mile 14 Island (North Fork Unit) —191
Deschutes Canyon Wilderness (Proposed) —192
The meeting of the Cascade and desert ecosystems provides and unusually rich natural diversity.
49. Steelhead Falls (Steelhead Falls Unit) —193
John Day River Wilderness (Proposed) —194
A spectacular river, linking equally spectacular cliffs, canyons, habitats and scenery.
50. Clarno to Cottonwood (Lower Canyon Unit) —198
51. Eagle Canyon (Spring Basin Unit) —198
52. Sutton Mountain Summit (Sutton Mountain Unit) —199
Jordan Craters National Monument (Proposed) —202
A stark expanse of bare lava, some less than a century old.
53. West Peninsula (Jordan Craters Unit, Owyhee Wilderness) — 204
Lower Owyhee National Conservation Area (Proposed) —204
A forgotten wild wonderland.
Malheur Canyons Wilderness (Proposed) —209
Eighteen wild refugia, each worth of wilderness designation on its own.
54. Beaver Dam Creek (Beaver Dam Creek Unit) —214
55. Bluebucket Creek (Upper River Unit) —214
56. Castle Rock Circumnavigation (Castle Rock Unit) —215
57. Coleman Creek Canyon (Coleman Creek Unit) —215
58. Cottonwood Creek (Cottonwood Unit) —217
59. Ironside Mountain Summit (Ironside Mountain Unit) —218
60. Star Mountain Summit (Star Mountain Unit) —218
61. Upton Mountain (Middle River Unit) —219
62. Westfall Butte (Westfall Highlands Unit)—219
Owyhee Wilderness (Proposed) —220
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) —228
64. Batch Lake (Jordan Craters Unit) —229
65. Bowden Hills Summit (Bowden Hills Unit) —230
66. Chalk Basin (Owyhee Breaks Unit) —231
67. Honeycombs (Honeycombs Unit) —232
68. Lambert Rocks (Owyhee Breaks Unit) —232
69. Saddle Butte Lava Tubes (Saddle Butte Unit)—233
70. Slocum Creek—Schoolhouse Gulch (Mahogany Mountain Unit) —234
71. Three Forks (Middle Owyhee River Unit) —234
REFERENCES —236 (Note: References are not incorporated at bottom the page of text that they reference.)
RECOMMENDED READING —238
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Government Agency Contacts —246
Appendix B: What You Can Do to Help —248
Appendix C: Conservation Organizations —249
Appendix D: The Desert Trail —252
Appendix E: Home on the Range —254
MAPS AND TABLES
Maps
Klamath Mountains Ecoregion —177
Tables
Wilderness, Natural, and Recreational Values —62
Index —255
About the Author —271