Steens Mountain, from Buena Vista Overlook
Copyright © 1996, Don Baccus
Copyright © 1995, Don Baccus
All images copyright © 1995, Don Baccus
Steens Mountain is a classic example of Basin and Range topography. Like other mountains in this geologic province, which includes the Great Basin and most of New Mexico and Arizona, it was built by faulting rather than volcanic action. The west side of the mountain slopes gently towards the summit, overlooking the Malheur Refuge. There is a rough, gravel road on this side of the mountain that leads to the east rim summit, which overlooks the steep cliffs plunging five-thousand feet to the Alvord Desert below.
The mountain is home to a variety of endemic flowering plants, which are under heavy pressure from cattle grazing. The landscape here is a combination of subalpine meadow, forest, deeply-glaciated valleys, and aspen stands.
Though grazing is still a problem on the mountain, in particular considering the existence of fragile endemic plants in sub-alpine meadows, keep in mind that grazing has greatly diminished from the 1800s, when hundreds of thousands of sheep shared the slopes with large herds of cattle. There has been real improvement in the ensuing years.
The road to the top is gated in several portions, and the BLM, which manages the mountain, opens them as spring and summer progress. Since the road gets little maintenance, they want to keep folks off it while it is still wet and soft. The hosts in the BLM's Page Springs Campground often have a reasonably good idea of when the road will be opened.
The visitor seeking a professionally guided tour on horseback of the mountain, ranging from day trips to several day pack trips, may be interested in checking out Steens Mountain Packers. Yes, the fact that their name is highlighted means that they have a home page.
This place is spectacular. While ascending the road's lower portions, keep a lookout for mountain bluebirds on nearby juniper. Up higher, Lily Lake is bordered by a large stand of aspen which is home to several woodpecker species, such as the northern flicker pictured below. Whorehouse Meadow is lush and wet, is near large aspen stands, and often used by mule deer in summer and fall.
At Fish Lake, there is another campground and just beyond, another gate which normally is kept shut until about the Fourth of July. If the gate is open, be certain to go to Kiger Gorge, which has the classic "U" shape of a young glacial "scoop". There are permanent snow fields here which are home to rosy finches.
In the fall, of course, the aspen turn various shades of yellow and orange and are absolutely gorgeous.
