Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

We here at The Oregonian/OregonLive are gearing up to release a beautiful new book this summer, "Oregon's Natural Treasures," that will showcase the natural wonder of our state. In advance of publication, we're posting previews of each of the chapters online. But be sure to pre-order a copy of the full book before it's released on July 27.



If you consider Oregon a green and rainy state, you haven't considered the desert.



Starting at the eastern edge of the Cascade Mountains and stretching out toward Idaho and Nevada, the high desert region makes up roughly a quarter of all land in Oregon. It rises to more than 9,700 feet above sea level at Steens Mountain and dips to just over 2,000 feet along the Owyhee River on the eastern border.

Out here, oddities are the main attraction. In the Painted Hills, the most popular unit of the John Day Fossil Beds, bands of rust-red soil alternate with layers of yellow and brown, shadows illuminating hues of deep purple and blue. At Smith Rock, a dazzling collection of pinnacles and cliffs towers above the Crooked River's curves. Way out in the southeast, odd blobs of lava rock pop up beside big blast craters and tiny volcanic lakes.



Anchored by Bend, Oregon's biggest city outside the Willamette Valley, the high desert is a playground for hikers, horseback riders, mountain bikers and rock climbers. Millions of birds flock seasonally to desert wetlands, drawing bird watchers and hunters. And wide swaths of wilderness provide a home to mustangs, strutting sage grouse, rogue antelope and herds of bighorn sheep.



It’s a stark contrast to the lush rainforests and snowy mountains in the west – the dusty flipside of Oregon’s great beauty.

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Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

1. Alvord Desert

A boy rides his scooter over the dry playa of the Alvord Desert, with the snow-capped Steens Mountain just beyond. While eastern Oregon sits in the Cascade Mountains’ rain shadow, the Alvord Desert lies within the rain shadow of Steens Mountain, receiving about 7 inches of rain each year.

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Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

2. Painted Hills

Layers of red, yellow and brown color the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The layers of sediment were deposited over tens of millions of years and illustrate the vast volcanic flows that shaped the area, as well as the changing climate over time. Protected as a national monument, the fossil beds draw more than 200,000 visitors each year.

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Ted Sickinger/The Oregonian

3. Fort Rock

Fort Rock is a prime example of a volcanic tuff ring, a shallow crater created by the explosive meeting of magma and water at what was once the ancient Fort Rock Lake. In 1938, archaeologists unearthed a cache of sagebrush sandals estimated to be roughly 10,000 years old in a cave at Fort Rock. The discovery placed human settlement in the area as early as 13,200 years ago.

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Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

4. Kiger Mustangs

A herd of wild Kiger mustangs roams the Kiger Horse Management Area in southeast Oregon. Unlike most other wild horses in North America, the Kiger mustangs have qualities of the original Spanish mustangs brought from Europe in the 17th century. At last count, about 130 wild horses roamed the area, which is protected by the Bureau of Land Management.

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Dave Killen

5. Malheur Refuge

Snow coats a tree on the road between Burns and the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Changes in elevation mean that average annual snowfall varies widely in the high desert of eastern Oregon, from 6 to 58 inches. The snow helps feed the region’s rivers, wetlands and seasonal lakes.

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Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

6. Smith Rock

A rock climber makes his way up a route known as Magic Light at Smith Rock. The popular state park offers nearly 2,000 climbing routes across cliffs and pinnacles that rise as high as 550 feet above the Crooked River. The rock formation was created after the ancestral Crooked River carved through layers of lava, ash and mudflow deposited 30 million years ago. Today, it’s a destination for more than 700,000 visitors annually.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

7. The Cove Palisades

The Tam-a-láu Trail gives a great view of Lake Billy Chinook at The Cove Palisades State Park in central Oregon. The lake was created when Round Butte Dam was constructed in 1964 at the confluence of the Crooked, Deschutes and Metolius rivers. Today, the lake is popular among boaters and campers and is home to The Island, a plateau protected as an ideal example of Oregon’s high desert ecosystem.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

8. Steens Mountain

A gravel road winds along the top of Steens Mountain, a fault-block mountain created when a large block of basalt was uplifted and tilted to the west. Standing roughly 9,700 feet tall, Steens Mountain is the highest point in eastern Oregon and one of the tallest peaks statewide. Today, a 59-mile gravel road loops the mountain, offering a scenic tour with opportunities to explore rugged canyons and plateaus.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

9. Newberry Volcano

The Big Obsidian Flow and East Lake as seen from the trail on Paulina Peak at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. The site was once home to the Newberry Volcano, which collapsed after an eruption about 500,000 years ago. The resulting Newberry Crater filled with two calderas, East Lake and Paulina Lake, which are popular fishing and boating spots.

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Terry Richard/The Oregonian

10. Owyhee Canyonlands

A road into the rugged Owyhee Canyonlands ends at Three Fingers Gulch. The spot is just off Lake Owyhee near an area called The Honeycombs, named for countless small pockets in the red and ochre cliffs that have been hollowed out by wind and frost. Most roads leading to the remote network of canyons are impassible for passenger vehicles, but a few are accessible under the right conditions.