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Mission50

Alvord Desert

Walk onto the Alvord Desert, a dry lakebed under Steens Mountain, and stay for the Milky Way.

Walk (or carefully drive) out onto the cracked white floor of the Alvord Desert, with Steens Mountain towering over it. Spell something out together in footprints and take the classic photo of you tiny in the middle of it. Stay after sunset, when the Milky Way shows up over some of the darkest skies in Oregon. If there's any water or mud on the playa, stay off. Getting stuck out there is very expensive.

  • Date or adventure
  • All day
  • Easy
  • Free
  • Outdoors
  • Summer and fall
  • Best in the evening

Good with just you, friends, family, and kids

Check before you go: weather and trail conditions

Bring high clearance vehicle

No reliable cell service out here. Download offline maps and tell someone your plan before you go.

Alvord Desert playa (Frog Springs access), Below Steens Mountain, north of Fields
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Kids' version

Desert hunt! Find each thing.

  1. Cracked ground
  2. The big mountain
  3. Your footprints
  4. The first star
  5. A selfie on the desert!

Checked November 2026

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About this place

The Alvord Desert is a dry lakebed in southeast Oregon, so flat and empty it feels like another planet. Steens Mountain rises more than a mile above its western edge, and the playa gets less than 4 inches of rain a year. In 1976 Kitty O'Neil drove a jet car across it at 512 miles an hour.

Use the free Frog Springs access. The playa is usually dry from July through November. Grab a milkshake at Fields Station on the way.

Also in: Free Date Ideas · Kid-Friendly Adventures

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