DETAILS

4 Days, 3 nights

INCLUDES

• Transportation from Bend

• Professional naturalist guide

• Lodging

• Meals: 3 Breakfasts, 4 Lunches, & 3 dinners

PLEASE BRING

• Layers: Warm jacket, light gloves, hiking clothes

• Footwear: Comfortable hiking shoes, socks, and sandals

• Sun protection: Hat, Sunglasses, Sunscreen

• Miscellaneous gear: Water bottle, Day pack for hiking, camera, binoculars for bird watching, Snacks if desired

Day 0: Pre-tour opportunity | High Desert Museum

Join your guide, Dave Nissen, at the High Desert Museum for a walk through time in the Spirit of the West- the magnificent exhibit which inspired this series of tours.  Among the wondrous dioramas we’ll see is that of the lives of the Buckaroos in the Steens Mt. area. We trust this serves as a meaningful introduction to the beauty about to fill you!

2:00 pm meet at the High Desert Museum front entrance

DAY 1: Bend | Hart Mt. Antelope Refuge | Frenchglen

Bend lies on the outermost western edge of the Great Basin Desert.  Our first day’s journey will transport us deeper into the fabled sagebrush country of the graceful pronghorn and cattle baron, Peter French. Our visit at Hart Mt., high up in the Warner Mountains, will include a dip in a steaming hot spring. 

Overnight: Frenchglen Hotel | Meals: Lunch, Dinner

Day 2: Steens Mountain Loop

After a hearty breakfast, our route takes us to heights of 9,700 feet where vistas over the driest section of Oregon meet the eye.  The cracked earth a mile below is striking, while remnant snow patches atop the Steens persist from last winter’s deposits. We’ll walk the uplifted slopes of Steens Mt. where the changing aspens fill our senses of sight and smell while the rustling leaves whisper in our ears.  A good hike into glacial cut Wildhorse Canyon where shimmering waters lie will enliven your senses! Deep, water-cut canyons will guide us back to Frenchglen for a second night.

Overnight: Frenchglen Hotel.| Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3: Pike Creek Canyon | Alvord Desert

The lonely desert roads lie ahead today!  The incredibly vast and unpopulated land will certainly strike awe in you. Lying at the eastern base of the Steens, 5,000 feet below our perch atop Steens the day before, lies the Alvord Desert. The Alvord is a playa, dried by the scorching sun, on the edge of which flows the perennial hot waters of Alvord Spring. Plunging into this ephemeral playa is Pike Creek which flows through its eroded canyon on the Steens east flank.  Willow, sage, cottonwood and gurgling water accompany our hike up-canyon. Exhilarated by the natural world, we’ll arrive at the Hotel Diamond.

Overnight: Hotel Diamond. | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner