Alvord Desert

I get so excited when I have elopement photography couples who want to elope on the Alvord Desert or in the Steens. The sights are otherworldly, and driving on the playa is a wild feeling. The Alvord is unmatched when it comes to getting away from crowds, enjoying crystal clear starry skies, hearing coyotes off in the distance, and enjoying a soak in a hot spring. It's accessible through a few different roads, some free (that require a little more vehicle clearance) or paid (Alvord Hot Springs has a road that sedans can easily access). Be cautious of the area around the hot springs! It's a $1500 tow bill just to get you unstuck from the wet ground due to the spring runoff.

If you live in Oregon, this is worth the long drive. I’ve traveled all over the world and this is one of the most beautiful spots I’ve ever seen only a couple hours away from Portland. You can drive out on the lake bed and it’s practically empty. The sunsets are also absolutely stunning.

One of those places that you want to visit with an ancient cracked earth (playa) lakebed with dark skies in a very remote area of Oregon. The vast expanse is twelve miles long at the base of the Steens Mountains and a great place to camp under the stars. You can access the desert at Frog Springs or at the private Alvord Hot Springs. The wide open spaces are perfect for driving your car, motorcycle, ATV, and windsurfing board across the playa during the dry season. The quiet remote area has several thermal springs at Borax Lake to the south and Mickey and Alvord Hot Springs. The Alvord Hot Springs are the only you can soak in with a day pass or overnight stay that allows access to the private road to the desert. Located 105 miles from Burns on Oregon Route 78 and on Folly Farm Road, which becomes a dirt road, Fields- Denio Road. One of the most beautiful unique places in Oregon with a vast moonlike cracked earth lakebed surrounded by towering mountains, hot springs, and dark skies.

This place is so quiet and dark during the night. During the day it's so peaceful and the mirages are so fun to look at. There is a little Air B&B that is really homey and quaint. 100000% recommend for beginner photographers!

One of the darkest and most remote places in the lower 48 states. Seriously, the Alvord desert rivals places like Big Bend National Park for dark, starry skies. We access through the Frog Springs road, having driven down from Burns. It's a long way from anywhere, which is what makes it special. Star gazers, check the calendar for the next new moon and make it a point to get here.

This is the one of most favorite places in Oregon. .in the off season you can stay a week and only on the weekend will you see people. You truly feel alone . It is easy to forget about the rest of the world .the sunrise and sunset are spectacular..the nights are incredibly you almost think you can touch the stars. Great place to watch a meteor shower. On full moon nites you can drive without headlites. Hot day cold nights .. enjoy

The night was dark and cold when we arrived but as soon as the moon rose, the entire dessert was illuminated brightly. It was very quiet. The constellations and the Milky Way were visible to the naked eyes. We camped overnight on the playa in our rooftop tent, the temperature dropped significantly a few hours after we fell asleep. We checked out the Big Sand Gap Spring and the Micky Hotspring. Totally worth a trip!

Alvord Desert is a very special and beautiful place. It's also a good place for some speeding and crazy driving :), but be extremely careful cause people can just walk alone and it's not easy to spot them at high speed as well as motorcyclists. But the real magic of this desert unfolds during the nighttime. It becomes mysterious, extremely dark, and quiet. I like this desert even more than Bonneville Salt Flats.

Alvord desert is a unique experience that we knew we were never going to go unless we went on this road trip. Coming from Idaho, we were required to go onto gravel roads (at least 30 miles I would say) which was a little concerning but we made it safely. We stay at the Alvord Hot Springs so had a direct access to desert (which is a dried up lake). On the first night we arrived around 6PM, the wind was absolutely wild. We went out on the playa and could barely see anything besides what was in front of us. We gave it another shot at sunrise the next morning and came to a much more pleasant experience. At Alvord, you can drive around the playa freely. There was cracks in the dried mud that makes for some cool photos and then you can see the outlines of the mountains, although on our visit was a little foggy from the California fires (August 2020) so not as easy to see. Besides that there isn't anything else to really do. All in all, the experience was cool experience to have (and to stay in a bunker -- see Alvord Hot Springs review), but I would not go out of my way to see this again because it really is kind of out of the way, especially on a cross-country road trip.

Lying at the northern perimeter of the Basin and Range geologic province, the Alvord Desert is a large dry lake bed - a playa - similar to others found in the region, such as those just to the south in Nevada near Black Rock. Alvord is a fault block basin formed by tectonic activity that raised (and still raises) the Steens Mountains and others surrounding the playa. It's a typical feature in the Basin and Range. From a non-geologic perspective, Alvord is pretty spectacular to visit, particularly if you're a desert rat like I am. The views are incredible. Moreover, you can drive out onto the playa which takes you into a surreal environment as well as providing access to the land on the south side of the playa. I must add a caveat - please do not drive on the playa when it's wet or has recently rained (an infrequent event, to be sure). Vehicle tracks mar the surface of the lake bed and will endure for years. See one of my photos for an example. Proximity to the Steens makes Alvord even more attractive. The mountain looms over the playa, inviting you to drive up to the top and take in the downward view too. Note that large tracts of the Alvord Desert are within a BLM Wilderness Study Area and the Leave No Trace principle applies.

There is something breathtaking about a desert. Now the crazy thing is that this white salty desert doesn't have many visitors. We did see a family camping near it and there are plenty of car tracks seen but it was empty for just my husband and I to enjoy. This used to be a lake but is now all dried up. The salt minerals were formed because rainwater evaporated from this lake. The beautiful Steens mountain range can be seen from a distance. When you drive up to Alvord Desert you'll come across Alvord Hot Springs.

Those yuppies in Bend may insist that they live in a (High) "Desert", but they really don't. That area is still far too wet to be classified as desert. (it's actually "Steppe", look it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Desert_(Oregon)) THIS, is a desert. The Alvord Desert gets around 7 inches of precip a year, while Bend gets about 11. It's a large, dried-out lakebed, complete with cracks. If you know where to look ,you can drive your vehicle out onto the playa and camp. You'll see people doing all sorts of activities here. If you look closely, you might even see a real-life hippie. Far more common though, is a millennial with a VW van and an addiction to Instagram. The star gazing is some of the best in the state. Massive Steens Mountain looms to the west. It's a destination in its own right. (and the highest point you can drive to in Oregon, at least that I know of.) There is also a hot springs here, but I heard it's not worth the cost of admission.

I checked this place out with a couple of friends. One of them was writing a paper for his school on the various hot springs in Eastern Oregon and had a whole list of places to check out. This was one of them. I knew nothing about the Alvord Desert but thought the trip sounded exciting so I joined him in his quest. We first checked out Mickey Hot Springs and then headed out to the Alvord. From what we were told this was an ancient lakebed that is now a flat, dry desert. We were told that a land speed record was broken at this location, but I couldn't verify if that was factual, so take that bit of information with a grain of salt. If you want to get a great photo of Steens Mountain, this is the perfect location. The cracked floor of the desert fading into the mountain make for an amazing shot. Unfortunately, all I brought with me was a GoPro, but now I know better. We did, however, see a ton of goat carts with sails on them (I have no clue what they are called), and they were clipping along really pretty well. Another thing that is popular out here is driving super fast in a car on the lake bed. We did give this a go, but I will say there is something super sketchy about clipping along in a desert at highways speeds. We brought it up to 80 and chickened out after that. The ground seemed to be super consistent, but you never know if a rock is going to sneak up on you in a situation like that. As well planned out as the trip seemed, we had no clue where to camp for the night. I am pretty sure now that there are some great camp spots, but we just found a creek in a cow pasture to bunker down. The trip was well worth it for us, but that's mainly because we checked out multiple things in one trip. Heading out here just for the desert may not be something I would consider, but be sure to take a map and find a hot spring or two to make it worth it!