Author: Renee Schiavone | Published: October 10, 2024 | Category: Where-To
This article originally appeared in The Bulletin on October 10, 2024.
Central Oregon’s “Backyard Wilderness” features 50+ miles of runnable trails.
The Oregon Badlands Wilderness, so named for its wild and rugged terrain, lies just 15 miles east of Bend, Oregon. While the Badlands is easy to reach, this spectacular landscape has a way of mesmerizing visitors into thinking they’ve stepped into a different time and place.
Featuring 30,000 acres of fascinating lava flows, the Badlands is characterized by craggy hillsides dotted with sagebrush, dry river canyons, ancient juniper trees and castle-like rock formations. The ancestral land of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Northern Paiute, it’s also marked by fragile cultural artifacts like pictographs. Today, it’s home to a surprisingly diverse community of wildlife and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
With 50+ miles of trails that can only be explored by foot, the Badlands might just be Central Oregon’s most underrated running destination. A touch farther and less traveled than the trails in nearby Bend, this is one of the best local places to escape the snow and put down some miles in the winter months. October through May is an ideal time to head out for a run, with fall featuring firm trail conditions and spring bringing vibrant displays of desert wildflowers.
When the snow starts to fall, here are a few trails to get you started.
Ancient Juniper Trail
This easy, flat and sandy 3.1-mile loop is a classic trail to get you started in the Badlands. It most notably features tons of desert wildflowers and ancient juniper trees, rock outcrops and some distant hills, making for a colorful run in the spring and a picturesque jaunt in the fall or winter.
Badlands Rock to Castle, Flatiron and Homestead Trail Loop
Looking for a longer, relatively flat trail run? This 8.2-mile route gives you a real taste of the best of Central Oregon’s High Desert. With only about 500 feet of elevation gain, this loop connects four different trails to take you past Badlands Rock — an impressive natural rock formation, beautiful views of the Cascades, all sorts of desert flora and a glimpse of a rocky lava ridge. Starting from the Badlands Rock trailhead, excellent signage throughout the trail network will lead you to follow these trails counterclockwise, making a full loop.
Tumulus to Black Lava Trail Loop
If rocks and volcanoes are your main point of interest, this moderate 6.6-mile loop might be for you. Connecting with Black Lava trail, this loop begins at Tumulus Trailhead and winds through lava fields and cinder cones. Runners will see evidence of volcanic activity including lava tubes and pressure ridges—towering rock formations bulging out of the ground. GPS directions to this trailhead tend to be misleading, so it’s recommended that visitors look out for signs for Tumulus trail on the road. The turn off feels like a private road, but it is in fact just excellently maintained public land that will take you straight to the trailhead.
Dry River Canyon Trail
While this trail technically lies just outside the Badlands Wilderness boundary, it is still part of what makes this landscape so spectacular. The 4.6-mile out and back trail winds through a narrow canyon bordered by steep basalt cliffs and old-growth juniper trees. The rounded boulders that you see along the trail were shaped by the force of an ancient, now drained river. Due to nesting peregrine falcons, the trail is closed from Feb. 1 through Aug. 31, so is best visited in the fall.
The Badlands is teeming with subtle beauty that begs to be explored in our most natural state — by foot. Those who get out and connect with this natural High Desert ecosystem will understand why it’s earned the highest level of permanent protection: Wilderness designation.
Recognizing the outstanding natural beauty and recreational opportunities of the area, Oregon Natural Desert Association led a decade-long conservation campaign to protect the Oregon Badlands, securing a rare desert Wilderness designation in 2009 to permanently protect this exceptional landscape. To this day, ONDA continues to work closely with land managers and the community to improve the natural habitat and recreational amenities found here so that current and future generations may enjoy this special place. Runners and recreationalists alike can join ONDA’s efforts to care for this landscape by taking part in a volunteer stewardship trip in the Badlands this fall.
—Renee Schiavone is the Communications Manager with Oregon Natural Desert Association, a nonprofit that protects and restores Oregon’s High Desert public lands and waters.
