Page 628 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

626  THE P A CIFIC NOR THWEST

c Steens Mountain North American waterfowl.
A small museum houses
Steens Mountain Loop Rd: (for 58 specimens of birds commonly
miles/93.5 km), starting North Loop
Rd in Frenchglen. n 484 N Broadway, seen in the refuge.
Burns 97720, (541) 573-2636.
∑ harneycounty.com/ Environs
steensmountain.html From the refuge, the 69-mile
(110.5-km) Diamond Loop
Scenery does not get much National Back Country Byway
grander than it does here on this heads into sage-covered hills
9,700-ft (2,910-m) mountain in and red rimrock canyons. Along
southeastern Oregon. The west the route are Diamond Craters,
slope rises gradually from a volcanic landscape; the Round
sagebrush country, while the Resting mule deer in the Malheur National Barn, a distinctive 19th-century
eastern slope drops more steeply. Wildlife Refuge structure; and Diamond, a small,
Antelope, bighorn sheep, and poplar-shaded ranch town.
wild horses roam gorges and v Malheur National
alpine tundra carpeted with Wildlife Refuge } Diamond Loop National Back
wildflowers; eagles and falcons Country Byway
soar overhead. Tel (541) 493-2612. Refuge & Museum: n 28910 Hwy 20 W, Hines, (541) 573-
The Steens Mountain Loop Open check website for latest hours. 4400. ∑ blm.gov/or
Road traverses this remarkable Visitor Center: Open Call ahead to
check for hours and latest information.
landscape. Lovely, marsh- 7 ∑ fws.gov/malheur
fringed Lily Lake, on the west b John Day Fossil
side of the Warner Mountains, One of the nation’s largest Beds National
is slowly silting up. However, it wildlife refuges, Malheur spreads Monument
is popular with anglers because across 290 sq miles (760 sq km)
of its trout-fishing opportunities. of the Blitzen Valley floor. More n 32651 Hwy 19, 40 miles (64 km) W
The nearby Donner and Blitzen than 320 species of birds and of John Day, (541) 987-2333.
River was named “Thunder and 58 species of mammals are Open dawn–dusk daily. Visitor Center
Lightning” by an army officer found here. Sandhill cranes, (Sheep Rock Unit): Open 9am–5pm
attempting to cross it during a tundra swans, snowy white daily. Closed public hols between
Thanksgiving & Presidents’ Day.
thunderstorm in 1864. Kiger egrets, white-faced ibis, ∑ nps.gov/joda
Gorge to the east affords views pronghorn antelope, mule deer,
of four immense gorges scooped and redband trout are among Prehistoric fossil beds litter
out from the mountainside by the most numerous of the the John Day Fossil Beds
massive glaciers. East Rim refuge’s denizens. National Monument, where
Viewpoint is a full mile (1.6 km) Spring and fall are the best sedimentary rocks preserve
above the alkali flats of the times to view birds, which alight the plants and animals that
Alvord Desert. Sitting in the in the refuge on their annual flourished in jungles and
mountain’s rain shadow, this migrations up and down the savannas for 40 million years,
desert receives a mere 6 inches Pacific Flyway, which is a major between the extinction of
(15 cm) of rain a year. north–south route for migrating the dinosaurs and the start

A magnificent view of the Steens Mountain from the East Rim Viewpoint, above the alkali flats of the desolate Alvord Desert
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp632–3 and pp634–5

626-627_EW_USA.indd 626 11/2/16 2:49 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.7)
Date 1st October 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm