The High Desert

Oregon East of the Cascades

Painted Hills, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon

From the Pacific Northwest, one heads east to go west, as I like to say. What I mean is that, from the point of view of an easterner especially, the traditional "American West" really seems to end at the Cascade range. West of the Cascades is a whole new world, geographically and culturally. East of the Cascades, however, one feels that one is right in the middle of a Clint Eastwood movie. At any rate, my travels in the intramountaine high deserts of eastern Oregon and Washington were part of a longer trip in the Northwest region, and most of my time was in fact spent in the rainforests west of the mountains. However, in the short time I spent there, I grew to love the deserts as well.

The story of my desert travels begins when my wife and I made our way east from Crater Lake. Gradually, the Douglas firs and Sitka spruce trees of western Oregon gave way to ponderosa pines. The thick, lush forests of the west became sparse and dry, and gradually gave out altogether, leaving sagebrush as the dominant flora. (more to come....)

Other images of the high desert:

Obsidian Formation
Painted Hills

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