Steen Mountain and Alvord Desert
Places to Visit in Eastern Oregon #2 Steens Mountain and Alvord Desert Steens Mountain and the Alvord Desert form one of the most dramatic geologic landscapes in the American West, a place where the forces of faulting, volcanism, and ice have created a stunning visual contrast. Steens Mountain is not a typical mountain range but a massive, 50-mile-long fault-block mountain, a single slab of basalt that was uplifted and tilted westward by tectonic forces over millions of years . Its western slope is a gentle, gradual incline, while its eastern face is an escarpment that rises abruptly, creating a sheer wall of rock and eroded gorges that tower over the valley floor. At its summit, reaching 9,733 feet, visitors stand at the apex of this colossal geologic structure, looking out over a landscape that reveals over 17 million years of volcanic history . Directly below this imposing eastern front lies the Alvord Desert, a vast, otherworldly playa that exists in the rain shado...