Alvord Desert of Oregon

Looking back on the year, one of my favorite trips of the summer was a trek down to the Alvord Desert. The Alvord is one of those places I’d recommend everyone take the time to check out. Something about driving through the middle of nowhere Oregon and seeing signs that say “Next Gas 98 Miles” brings an awesome perspective of solitude. The trip we took was far from one of solitude and self-reflection and rather a time for celebration of our dear friend Micah. We decided that for Micah’s bachelor party we would lug the kid nine hours south of Spokane, and we had a blast.

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The playa of what once was the Alvord Lake is insane. I’ve never seen dirt like it. Not to mention the expansive-ness makes you feel tiny. Along the west side of the playa there is a hot spring that comes to the surface out of the Steens Mountains. Most hot springs are heated by geothermal activity, but the water here is heated by the friction between the tectonic plates before it rises to a pool to be enjoyed by all.

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Selfishly, I really wanted to make the trek down to the Alvord as I heard it was quite the overland destination. Since I first got my Land Cruiser I have fallen in love with them and Toyota 4x4s in general. All I heard about the road to the playa  was that 4wd was necessary at times. Looking back, you could definitely go enjoy the Alvord Desert in a Prius and get wonderful fuel economy all the way down and back. 4wd is not necessary unless rain comes, or you decide to some difficult routes to find a campsite. All that said, I don’t regret taking my gas guzzling FZJ80 one bit.  Aside from it being a pig of an SUV and therefore only getting 14 mpg on its best days, it’s comfortable, reliable, and a perfect basecamp for a camping trip like we took.

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As we relaxed  and played corn hole while trying to finish our quickly warming pale ale, the winds picked up and a storm began to blow in. We quickly packed up camp and headed back on the road to Fields to search for a secondary campsite. We checked out a several 4×4 trails that were all on BLM land, but couldn’t seem to find a level place to camp. We landed at Mann Lake, a small lake just down the road from the playa.

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On our way home the Outback and f150 that were along with us far out-shined the 80 Series in pace, but that’s not what owning a Land Cruiser is about. We took our time. We had a slow-paced adventure mobile the whole way home. We even decided to stop off at a fire lookout on the way, and in the end we were only about an hour and half behind the first  car home. If there is one thing that owning a Land Cruiser has taught me, it’s that taking your time is always worth it. There is always more work to be done and not enough time in the day, but slowing down and enjoying the view is good for the soul. At the end of a trip you’re sure to be tired and beat so you might as well soak up as much dirt as you can!

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