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Steens Mountain and the Alvord Desert, photo 1 of 4

Photo: Bureau of Land Management / Public domain · source

Mountains

Steens Mountain and the Alvord Desert

Frenchglen, OR · Southeast Oregon High DesertFreeNo fee at the Alvord Desert playa

About

Steens Mountain is a 30 mile fault block that lifts a vertical mile above the Alvord Desert playa, and the pair makes one of the darkest night landscapes left in the Lower 48. The gravel loop road tops out near 9,700 feet at the East Rim Overlook, where the playa lies a mile straight down and the horizon runs unbroken in every direction. Sky quality runs Bortle 1 to 2, so the Milky Way throws a faint shadow and zodiacal light climbs the west after dusk. Worth knowing: the 2.5 million acre Oregon Outback sanctuary, certified in 2024 as the world's largest, covers Lake County. Steens sits in Harney County, inside the proposed expansion, not the certified area. The loop road is normally open early July to mid October and snow gated otherwise, so check TripCheck. Aim for a new moon, dress for freezing rim nights, and give your eyes a full 30 minutes to adapt before judging the sky.

Highlights

Bortle 1 to 2 skies9,738 ft summitOregon's highest roadLoop road open early July to mid OctoberNo entrance feeNew moon, June to September

Getting there

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