Oregon: Green in the Steens Mountain Loop

As we drove along the Steens Mountain Loop, it was hard to miss the signs of spring and summer: lots of green foliage.

A green valley viewpoint, with clouds in the sky.
A viewpoint capturing the valley from the loop, about 1.2 miles before the East Rim Viewpoint.

Before you get to that viewpoint, visit the Kiger Gorge area. Wild mustangs roam free in this area, though we didn’t see any until we were close to the end of the loop. But that’s a future post!  🙂

View of the Kiger Gorge area.
View from the Kiger Gorge. Snow is still visible in spots around the gorge.

Just a few feet from the road, we found this runoff stream with wildflowers all around it. If you only checked out the snow on the road, you would miss this sight. This is just past the Page Springs Campground area, and was on the other side of the road from a deep snowbank. Yes, snow in July. 🙂

The entire loop is 59 miles. There were plenty of photographic opportunities, viewpoints, and some strategically placed pit toilets along the route. See Oregon: Clouds in the Steens Mountain area for some other photos of the road trip.

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