In case you missed the news, 1 million acres of Oregon caught on fire starting on Memorial day. We were out of the smoke for the first few days as it drifted west, but then the flow switched back to the normal westerly flow and we were soon experiencing the worst air quality in the world. Yes, the world. So after a week of being stuck inside it was time to get out of town…
We have been waiting for the right time, the combination of nice fall weather and trying to time the color change on the aspens. The first weekend we had planned was forecasted to be snowy with highs possibly in the 40’s. Then the sunny weather came along and we headed east to the Steens with our fingers crossed hoping for some fall colors on the aspens.
It was nearly dark by the time we arrived. The days in October are just too short. But we awoke to blue skies and golden colors on the trees.
After a pretty steady run of rivers it was time to stay ashore for the weekend and head to Steens Mountain. Steens Mountain is a huge fault block mountain in southeastern Oregon. From the west it’s a steady incline, from the east a steep dramatic drop off. The western side is also riddled with dramatic glacial canyons you can only appreciate with a good hike. We arrived for the weekend just before dark on Friday night at South Steens campground. There were about four other camps, not bad for a Friday night. Just as we set up and had the fire started the rain set in and we spent the rest of the night in the camper.
Next morning we were off to hike up the Big Indian Gorge. I’d only been here once before quite a while back. It wasn’t a wilderness then, but it was probably a little more wild. Anyhow, we made our way toward the gorge, a big glacial carved canyon cutting deep into the west side of the mountain. Note the new snow from the night before. It is June, right?
