Steens Mountain, OR

It’s been called, “Oregon’s secret mountain”. Steens Mountain, 9734’ is a massive fault-block mountain that stretches 50 miles from north to south. Tucked away in the south east corner of the state it’s quite a haul from almost anywhere. A friend of mine mentions “Steens” from time to time but otherwise I’d not heard much about the place.

My wife, Molly and I were feeling antsy after not traveling all summer and my birthday was coming up so we decided to go check it out. The idea of exploring a new mountain away from home got us excited. When we arrived I was shocked at the scale of this mountain. Big canyons, striking ridge lines, lonely trails, alpine lakes, waterfalls, hassle free camping. There’s also a scenic drive that traverses the mountain. It’s a beauty that will challenge any driver to keeps their eyes one the road.

The camping scene is easy at Steens. There are a few developed campgrounds with pit toilets, trash cans, and fire pits but there’s also plenty of great dispersed camping as well. It’s all BLM land and much of it is BLM Wilderness which means that there’s lot’s of differing recreation opportunities.

With decent weather and mid week crowds we took the chance to put in a few miles of trail running. The available vert, altitude, and picturesque wilderness single track was a treat. We saw very few people and I’m guessing it’s busier in the summer. I learned that there’s an annual trail running camp at Steens and have heard that it’s a great program for young runners. Here’s a link to the camp’s website. https://steens.camp

The skier in me couldn’t help but to imagine the terrain buried under several feet of snow. Steep canyon walls and couloirs running 2000’ in some places. I’m curious if anyone reading this has skied there. It doesn’t seem too remote to access in the winter but almost everywhere we went in the canyons would be considered bigger avalanche terrain. You’d want little uncertainty in the snowpack.

All in all Steens Mountain provided a great little getaway for us. We’ll go back for sure. If you’re heading that way be sure to fill up your gas tank and stock up on groceries in Burns. Once you get out there, you’re out there. Here’s a link to the BLM page about Steens. https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/recreation-activities/oregon-washington/steens-mountain Steens Mountain is remote and well worth the drive.

Thanks for reading.