About this place
Steens Mountain lies along the horizon of southeastern Oregon like a sleeping giant among a bed of sagebrush, perennial grasses and wildflowers. Although often mistaken for a chain of mountains, Steens is actually one contiguous monolith — the largest fault block mountain in North America, stretching some 50 miles and reaching a mile vertically, with summits that overlook the Alvord Desert, wide canyons and the Donner und Blitzen River.
Through the Steens Mountain Wilderness the Oregon Desert Trail ties into the existing Desert Trail, a proposed Mexico to Canada desert route with many of the same characteristics of a “virtual trail” like the ODT. The Desert Trail was designated as a National Recreation Trail in 1992.