{"id":1240,"date":"2021-10-01T16:27:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-02T00:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stefoff.com\/?p=1240"},"modified":"2022-10-08T15:00:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-08T23:00:10","slug":"desert-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/?p=1240","title":{"rendered":"Desert Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7758-1-450x338.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1243\" width=\"583\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7758-1-450x338.jpeg 450w, https:\/\/stefoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7758-1-150x113.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/stefoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7758-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stefoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7758-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/stefoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7758-1-624x468.jpeg 624w, https:\/\/stefoff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7758-1.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 583px) 100vw, 583px\" \/><figcaption>Looking east from Buena Vista, Malheur Wildlife Refuge, the golden hour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A couple of days ago we returned from our fourth road trip of the pandemic. This time we treated ourselves to four days in Oregon&#8217;s High Desert, checking out some places that were new to us as well as revisiting an old favorite. It was good to be back in this bold, big-sky part of the state, which always feels expansive and eternal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Highlights included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Cruising down the <a href=\"https:\/\/traveloregon.com\/things-to-do\/trip-ideas\/scenic-drives\/outback-scenic-byway-2\/\">Outback Scenic Byway<\/a> (Highway 31) for the first time.<\/li><li>Getting a taste of the Warner Valley, the northwest corner of the country&#8217;s vast Basin and Range terrain. It&#8217;s full of geological wonders we hope to explore when we have more time. <\/li><li>Our first visit to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/hart_mountain\/\">Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge<\/a>, where we saw a huge Golden Eagle take off from a clump of lava just feet in front of us, and later drove past wild horses and a herd of pronghorn. <\/li><li>A drive up <a href=\"https:\/\/onda.org\/regions\/steens-mountain-region\/\">Steens Mountain<\/a> at the perfect time of year and day to appreciate the  quaking aspen, which were blazingly colorful across swathes of  the landscape. At one point we sat for a while between two low-growing clusters of aspen right next to the  road: it was like being surrounded by shimmying dancers clad in  golden sequins.  <\/li><li>Two nights at the Field Station in Malheur Wildlife Refuge: my fourth visit since 2010, Zachary&#8217;s second. This setting appears in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/osupress.oregonstate.edu\/book\/nighthawks-evening\">The Nighthawk&#8217;s Evening,<\/a><\/em> an outstanding book about a bird that is less well known than it should be, coming out any day now from OSU Press. The author is scientist Gretchen Newberry, a friend who shared a visit to the Field Station with us in 2011. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The only disappointment was that when we reached Lakeview, we learned that Old Perpetual, Oregon&#8217;s only geyser, was inactive due to the low water table in the drought-stricken area. We hope it will be geysering away at its usual 60 feet up, every 90 seconds, the next time we are in that area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of days ago we returned from our fourth road trip of the pandemic. This time we treated ourselves to four days in Oregon&#8217;s High Desert, checking out some places that were new to us as well as revisiting an old favorite. It was good to be back in this bold, big-sky part of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,85],"class_list":["post-1240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","tag-malheur","tag-oregon-road-trips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1245,"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions\/1245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stefoff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}