Difference between revisions of "Steens Mountain"
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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=== Description === | === Description === | ||
Revision as of 17:39, 21 July 2018
- Hikes to this destination:
- Weather forecast: NWS/NOAA
- Maps: Oregon Hikers Maps Google Maps
- Latitude, Longitude: 42.6364, -118.5767
- Elevation: 9733 feet
Description
Stevens Mountain is a 50-mile long basalt fault block with a steep eastern face and more gradual slopes facing west. The mountain is distinguished by four classic U-shaped gorges, the Kiger, Little Blitzen, Big Indian, and Wildhorse. These glacial process began about 1.6 million years ago during the last ice age.
The mountain has had a long and continuous history of human occupation. Native Americans foraged and hunted along the canyon bottom, and Euro-American stockmen arrived in the late 19th century with their herds; at the beginning of the 20th century there were at least 100,000 head of sheep and cattle grazing in the Steens Mountain area. Most of the mountain now lies within the Steens Mountain Wilderness, part of the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area created in 2000. The governing body is the Bureau of Land Management.
The 52-mile loop road, now good gravel all the way, is usually opened sometime in June. There are drive-in campgrounds on the north and south legs of the loop road. You can drive almost to the summit (It's a 1/4 mile hike from where you park your car), where there is a communications tower. Others choose to reach the summit via a backpacking trip, making a loop using the Big Indian Gorge and Little Blitzen Gorge. Views from the summit extend east over the Alford Desert, north to the Strawberry Mountains, south to the Pueblos, and west to Hart Mountain.
More Links
- Steens Mountain (Bureau of Land Management)
- Steens Mountain (Summit Post)
- Steens Mountain (Wikipedia)
- Steens Mountain (Oregon.com)
- Visitor’s Guide to Steens Mountain Region (Oregon Natural Desert Association)
- "Steens Mountain Loop Road among most spectacular routes in Oregon" (Statesman Journal)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)