Oregon Badlands Wilderness

Quiet except for the traffic down the main road. Lots of the same cars going back and forth all week all hours. I had to wonder if this was drug smuggling area. One "night" (11pm) a truck was very close to me on the main road, sat there for at least 30 minutes with it's bright lights focused on my rig. Scary but I stayed alert.

Amazing place, great trails. Just keep in mind there are no restrooms, no water, so bring your own h20 and a lot because you'll want to keep exploring

One of my favorite camping spots I’ve ever been to. Very beautiful area, sunny every day, only cold during nighttime in fall, beautiful walking trails, lots of camp spots. You can access spots in a big rig or low clearance van near the entrance, but you will need higher clearance to go down a lot of the other dirt roads due to rocks and tree roots. But there’s a spot for any vehicle and it’s not crowded during fall so there’s plenty to choose from. Highly recommend checking this place out for dispersed camping.

Beautiful, underrated landscape. The landscape/vegetation can get monotonous… sagebrush, juniper trees, lava rock… over and over for as far as the eye can see… but the vast sameness is actually part of what makes it interesting. There is a cool dry riverbed that breaks up the sameness. There is also a deep dry gorge 3mi long that I haven’t gotten a chance to hike through. I think it is closed for a large portion of the year.

It cracks me up how many states have locations within them called the Badlands. Everyone wants a place on the map that sounds like a movie was filmed there. That being said, this is a simple to find, ease at parking, flat trailed hiking area in the Oregon high desert. When you live in Oregon, chances are you live west of the Cascade range, so you get real tired of seeing nothing but dense green trees. Amazing to visitors, but monotonous to people residing here. So heading east of the Cascade range, it is a new unique perspective to see desert land, and then realizing about 2/3rs of the state is actually desert in itself. There are multiple trails, and unlike some comments, we found it pretty well marked. Elevation change is negligible, but you are at about 3500 feet. If you come from sea level this will feel a bit different. Numerous old junipers and rock formations make for a nice change of scenery. Take water and a compass; you shouldn't find it difficult to find your way back even if you get off on the wrong trail.

We took a backpacking trip on the Badlands Rock trail, and camped at the base of Badlands Rock. We then took a day hike the next day over to Castle Rock along the Castle Trail and played for several hours in the nooks and crannies of the "Castle" and its "moat". Later that day, after coming back to camp, we climbed all over Badlands Rock and got some impressive photos. Luckily the sun came out for us and we had a beautiful sunset to end the day. Our only complaints were the lack of water (have to backpack your own water in) and the low temps which left us with ice on our tents in the morning. But then the sun came out on the hike out and we got very hot. I can imagine this place is true to its name during the hottest months. It's covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mt Mazama, which created Crater Lake. I heard that it gets super dusty during the hot months, but we had luckily had some rain recently so the ash was squishy and easy to walk on, without getting dust in our orifices. I would come back here again, maybe staying at Flatiron Rock the next time. I wouldn't want to do it during the rain, the snow, or the full heat, but I'm sure there is a late Winter or an early Spring time which is perfect.

A interesting place to experience the high desert with juniper trees, sagebrush and volcanic formations from ancient lava flows. I started my hike on the Homestead Trail to Flatiron Rock on a cool morning. The trail was flat with sandy soil and took me through a harsh landscape with shrubs, sagebrush, small flowers and juniper trees. The landscape became more rocky as I connected to the Flatiron trail. Flatiron Rock is a cracked pressure ridge that was formed during an eruption of the Newberry Volcano. You can turnaround at this point or continue hiking toward Badlands Rock. I did hike toward Castle Rock for a short distance and started back to the trailhead as it started to get really hot. Located about 17 miles from Bend on Hwy 20. The Oregon Badlands may not be for everybody, but it is a good opportunity to hike through old juniper trees and volcanic formations from ancient lava flows.

Everytime I go to the Badlands it's an adventure. Those of you that like exploring the high desert you know exactly what I'm talking about.