Oregon Badlands Wilderness

In a really sad, but not unexpected turn of events, we had to put our remaining dog Grace down mid-week. We really miss that dog, but on the other hand, caring for her was keeping us rooted at home. It was terribly hard for us to get away for more than about 2-3 hours at a time, basically eliminating our ability to get out and hike.

Thanks to a great break in our winterish weather, we were able to take advantage of the sun to get out and take a half-day hike. I selected the Oregon Badlands Wilderness because it is close to the house and out in the desert, we wouldn't have to worry about snow on the trails.

The Badlands is a 29,000-acre juniper and sagebrush wilderness area just 15 miles east of the house. Managed by BLM, it is similar to other wilderness areas we have visited: limited to no facilities, trail markings at some (but not necessarily all) trail junctions, and total absence of on-trail markers. In short, when visiting a wilderness area, you need to know how to navigate and potentially navigate cross country, which we ended up doing.

Since moving from the west (wet) side of the Cascades to the east (dry) side, I have been fascinated by the terrain, flora, and fauna of Central Oregon. The west side is characterized by Douglas Firs, Big Leaf Maples, and Sword Ferns. Here along the Deschutes, we see mainly Ponderosa Pines, Lodgepole Pines, and Greenleaf Manzanita. But starting not three miles east of the house, the primary vegetation is Western Junipers and Big Sagebrush (along with allies Rabbitbrush and Antelope Bitterbrush).

Because of a commitment of Ann's, we couldn't get out to the Badlands until pretty much high noon, the worst light for photography and the worst time of day to see fauna. On the other hand, the temperatures had warmed up to the low 50s, so it was quite pleasant, even in the blazing sun out in the sagebrush.

Not knowing anything about the Badlands, I looked at a trail map and put together a roughly 8-mile circuit from the Badlands Rock trailhead. As we arrived at the parking lot for the trailhead and exited the truck, we could hear a veritable symphony of Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) to our south and the happy, bubbling tune of Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides) to our north.

Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)

Our intended (rather than actual, more on this later) route was to take the Badlands Rock trail 3 miles north, then the Castle Trail a mile west to Flatiron Rock, then from there south to the car via the Flatiron Rock and Homestead trails for a total right at 8 miles. When we got to Flatiron Rock, we found ourselves on a small, almost game trail, without any signage or any sign of the much larger Flatiron Rock trail.

Rather than hunt further west for the Flatiron Rock trail, we just kept going through the scrub south and east, winding in and out of interesting rock formations, and ultimately ran back into the Badlands Rock trail. Our modified route was about a half a mile shorter than our intended route.

We weren't alone in our confusion; we met a couple of women coming through the scrub in our direction fairly utterly confused about where they were and hoping to be on the Flatiron Rock trail. I directed them back to the last trail marker we crossed so that they could plan a route back to their car. 

It would be truly hard to get lost in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness simply because the southern edge is bounded by the Central Oregon Highway, US 20. Head south long enough and you're bound to hit the highway. As it was, we enjoyed trekking through the scrub, off the beaten path seeing parts of the area that not many people see.

Leaving the Parking Lot
Sand, Western Junipers, Bitterbrush, and Sagebrush

Before moving to Bend, I'd never seen a Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) before, its range being quite limited and largely confined to eastern Oregon along with tiny bits of northern California and Nevada. Of course, coming from Virginia, we are intimate with the eastern version called Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), a scrub tree that is wont to colonize neglected pastures.

I come to find out that a lot of people despise the tree for a variety of reasons, but I have nothing but admiration for its ability to live for 1-2000 years in horrible volcanic soil with almost no rain. My hat is off to anything that can not only survive these circumstances but actually thrive in them.

I don't really understand the lifecycle of these trees yet, but I do know that we have just been through a big bloom back in March. Apparently, it is a big deal for many people with allergies. Some trees were barren of cones, some were laden, and others had just dropped all their blue cones on the ground. Around town, I see American Robins and Cedar Waxwings feasting on these cones when they cannot find better fare. I assume other birds feed on them as well, but I don't know of other fruit eaters in the desert.

Western Juniper Laden with Cones

Western Juniper Cones on the Ground

The Western Juniper has a spectrum of differing forms and the older ones with their twisted limbs are quite fascinating to look at. When allowed to grow free of interference, fire, disease, and competition, they can take on a rather oak-like form, which Ann and I called the "broccoli tree" for obvious reasons. The older trees such as the one below have scale-like leaves. The young trees such as the second one below not only have a spiky form, but they have spiky needle-like leaves as well.

"Broccoli Tree" Form

Young, Spiky Form

The soil in the badlands is poor, thin, shallow, and largely sandy, varying from fine sand to rougher red volcanic cinder, originating as windblown volcanic ash or eroded lava. The rock, mainly Columbia River Basalt, is the remnant of an ancient shield volcano. The higher areas have either pushed up through faulting or are harder rock that has not eroded as quickly as the surrounding rock.

Lava Flow, Western Junipers, and Big Sagebrush 

Beautiful Old Juniper Trunk

Juniper is really rot resistant, so it is not unusual to finding dead trees standing for decades, providing nesting cavities and perches for a variety of birds. The snags also are home to other things: almost all dead wood in the Badlands is covered in a brilliant neon green lichen, called Wolf Lichen (Letharia vulpine). If you click through the picture below to enlarge it, you will see that the branches of the dead juniper glow green.

Juniper Snag Glowing Neon Green

Wolf Lichen (Letharia vulpine) Detail

Natural Sculpture, a Juniper Snag

Badlands Rock, our primary destination for the afternoon, stands above the desert floor; let's call it 75 feet high. You can see it a bit in perspective in the photo below by comparing Ann's height (in the yellow jacket) to that of the rock formation. As I was taking the second photo, I was being serenaded by a Canyon Wren (Catherpes mexicanus). I would hear the haunting descending melody several times as I was climbing the rock formation, but I never did see the little guy. Ann saw it fly off to my right as I was looking down trying to find a handhold, but I missed it. I've seen Canyon Wrens throughout the southwest, but never here in Oregon.

Badlands Rock from 1/4 Mile

Badlands Rock from 100 Yards

Atop Badlands Rock, Looking Southeast

Western Spire, Home to Canyon Wrens

Climbing Badlands Rock affords a view of the snow-capped Cascades to the west that we really cannot take in in its entirety from downtown Bend. I'm pretty sure that on a pristine day, you could see all the way to Mount Hood but it was too hazy when we were there. From south to north, the mountains in order are Bachelor, Broken Top, South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister, Washington, Black Butte, Three Fingered Jack, and Jefferson.

Mount Bachelor and Broken Top

South, Middle, and North Sisters

Mount Washington and Black Butte

Black Butte, Three Fingered Jack, and Mount Jefferson

We saw no mammals at all, no doubt because it was the height of the afternoon while we were hiking. In spite of this, we saw and heard more birds than I was expecting. In addition to hearing a Canyon Wren, I heard a lot of Western Meadowlarks, the Oregon state bird. I only saw one because they do a phenomenal job of blending in to the scrub. Dozens of Mountain Bluebirds were hawking bugs from snags. I got a brief glance at a Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) and a better look at a stunningly colored male American Kestrel (Falco sparverius). What at first I thought was the trilling of a male Oregon Junco turned out to be a tiny Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina).

Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)

Male American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)

I was hoping that because of a wetter than normal April and some relatively mild weather that more plants might be in bloom. That was sadly not the case. Blooms were few and far between. The most common flower was a white lily-like flower that Ann and I had never seen. We decided to call them Sand Lilies until we could look up their common name. Over beers later, we found that the common name is indeed Sand Lily. It could not be a more fitting name.

Western Tansymustard (Descurainia longipedicellata)

Redstem Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium)

Sand Lily (Leucocrinum montanum)

Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)

Western Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum)

With so many hiking options available to us here in Central Oregon, I am not sure the next time we will get to the Badlands. I do want to visit later when more plants are in bloom and I would love to go see some of the very old junipers on the Ancient Juniper Trail.