Alvord Desert/Steens Mtn. Trip July 10 thru July 13, 2009

[Jerry]

I will bring some BLM Surface Management Maps that cover much of the area. I don't have the complete set as they are now out of print, but I do have three that cover much of SE Oregon and three that cover NW Nevada. They are very detailed in showing roads and geological points and while they name geographical locations they DO NOT indicate road names nor do they distinguish between "major" and "minor" roads. As if there is such a thing out there. Unless you study them closely they can be confusing. For general purposes I prefer DeLorme or Benchmark Atlas'.

Edit: Ah, the wildflowers, you should have seen them on the road to the OR/ID/NV corner. It was like driving through a florist shop.

[nightfoam]

Might also check with the BLM bookstore in Portland. They supposedly have a lot of different maps. I know they had that map last spring cause I was going to get it and actually called and confirmed, just never made it down there.

[Toy Man]

If I didn't have USGS 24k maps on my laptop when I was trying to get to Iron Point on the Owyhee I might still be there today

Did you drive in from the east or west side.

Iron point is an interesting spot to raft thru.

Dick - Toy Man

[chado]

Hi is this trip to late to join? I would like to attend this trip please. Also what is the exact meeting address to meet up at?

[RidgeRunner]

For general purposes I prefer DeLorme or Benchmark Atlas'.

Edit: Ah, the wildflowers, you should have seen them on the road to the OR/ID/NV corner. It was like driving through a florist shop.

I agree on those maps, Jerry. Although I had the USGS topos on my laptop on the Canyonlands trip, we didn't really use them.

Wildflowers? You mean these?

Did you drive in from the east or west side.

Iron point is an interesting spot to raft thru.

Dick - Toy Man

I've never been to Iron Point but have seen some pics taken down into the canyon from up there. Very impressive. I understood it's about a four mile hike to get there on the west side of the canyon from the end of the nearest road.

Maybe you could see it from the east side but don't know how you'd get across the canyon? Ultralight?

Mick

[94xj]

We visited Iron Point from the NE after staying at Birch Creek Campground (awesome place) for a few days. It's more of a challenge from that direction. The BLM map showed the road as being something just sort of a highway. The reality was a cow trail that vanished beneath the grass. At one point, after scaring up an antelope herd, we were about to turn back because it looked like a sea of grass without any roads, but I pulled out the binoculars and was just barely able to discern a small patch of dirt road a few miles distant. So driving mainly by GPS on what was shown as a "jeep trail" on the USGS map in MacGPS Pro, we eventually made it.

_MG_3090 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2901092...7606410508960/

With the USGS map you can drive right up to the rim, but it's wilderness area about 300 feet from the rim, so we walked in the last tiny bit.
_MG_3110-Edit on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[94xj]

Here's some Stone House Creek photos:

_MG_3391 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

_MG_3401 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[RidgeRunner]

Very nice pix. What a view down into that canyon.

Looks like you were on the east side looking west toward Iron Point on the other side?

Mick

[Jerry]

Nice pics! Thanks for sharing them with us.

[Rupe]

Great pics. Thanks!


rupe