A recent post described our trip to Abert Lake. This week we explore a bit farther East to another ancient lake bed and the fault-block mountain beside it.
At the end of the last ice age the Warner Valley was filled with water and it’s slopes lined with tropical forests. Today this is desert marsh land among a string of small lakes at the foot of Hart Mountain and it’s National Antelope Refuge.
Like Summer and Abert Lakes to the west and Malheur to the north this 60 mile stretch of shallow lakes and wetlands is a lure for migrating birds. On this mid-June day there is still some winter runoff filling lake beds that will mostly be dry in just a few months.
We head south on Hwy 31 toward Lakeview and the Nevada Border. About 30 miles north of Lakeview we turn East and head for Plush, OR, which sits on the Southern end of Warner Valley. From here you can look across the valley to Hart Mountain and the 420 square mile antelope refuge that sits atop it
Spring brings a burst of wildflowers to the rocky landscape and new growth to the sage. From Plush you go along the northern edge of Hart Lake and then skirt the eastern side of marsh lands around Anderson and Swamp Lakes.
At the edge of Upper Campbell Lake we turn East and start up Hart Mountain to the refuge headquarters. It’s a pretty steep climb from the valley floor to the headquarters site.
At the first switch back there’s a short hike loop that runs along the canyon edge and offers spectacular views up and down the valley.
Amid the scatter of rock and sage is a variety of paintbrush and other small desert blooms.
There is a standing rule in our adventure plans that we don’t return by the same route. So, from the headquarter station we turn north again and across the flat plateau atop Hart Mountain. Eventually this gravel track puts us on the western edge of the Steens Range at Frenchglen and the southern part of the Malheur Refuge. From here the loop is completed via Burns and Highway 20 west to Bend.