This trip will highlight our unique partnership with the Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA), a conservation organization devoted to protecting, restoring, and defending landscapes in Oregon's high desert. We will spend some time learning about this incredible desert landscape, participate in some stewardship-based activities, and engage in important desert advocacy. 

DETAILS

Oct. 9-12th, 2025
4 Days, 3 nights

~$3500 per person based on double occupancy (exact cost will be announced once the tour is bookable)

This trip is all inclusive including: Professional Naturalist Guides & award-winning interpretation, lodging in local historic hotels, all meals, transportation, gratuity for guides.

INCLUDES

• Transportation from Bend

• Professional naturalist guide

• Lodging

• Meals: 3 Breakfasts, 4 Lunches, & 3 dinners

• Guide gratuity

PLEASE BRING

• Layers: Warm jacket, light gloves, hiking clothes

• Footwear: Comfortable hiking shoes, socks, and sandals

• Sun protection: Hat, Sunglasses, Sunscreen

• Miscellaneous gear: Water bottle, Day pack for hiking, camera, binoculars for bird watching, Snacks if desired

Meet your guide

Renee Patrick will be our guide to a deeper understanding of this landscape. Renee helped establish the 750-mile Oregon Desert Trail for ONDA, a trail which can be found in the deep canyons of Steens Mountain and along expansive playa of the Alvord Desert. Renee's business, Intentional Hiking, seeks to inspire action on social and environmental causes and encourage hikers to be more intentional and thoughtful while hiking. 

DAY 1: Bend | Malheur Wildlife Refuge | Frenchglen

Bend lies on the outermost western edge of the Great Basin Desert.  Our first day’s journey will transport us deeper into the fabled sagebrush country of the graceful pronghorn and cattle baron, Peter French. Our time at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge will include stunning scenery, wildlife and a picnic lunch.

Overnight: Frenchglen Hotel | Meals: Lunch, Dinner

Day 2: Steens Mountain Loop

After a hearty breakfast, our route takes us to heights of 9,700 feet where vistas over the driest section of Oregon meet the eye.  The cracked earth a mile below is striking, while remnant snow patches atop the Steens persist from last winter’s deposits. We’ll walk the uplifted slopes of Steens Mt. where the changing aspens fill our senses of sight and smell while the rustling leaves whisper in our ears.  A good hike into glacial cut Wildhorse Canyon where shimmering waters lie will enliven your senses! Deep, water-cut canyons will guide us back to Frenchglen for a second night.

Overnight: Frenchglen Hotel | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3: Pike Creek Canyon | Alvord Desert

The lonely desert roads lie ahead today!  The incredibly vast and unpopulated land will certainly strike awe in you. Lying at the eastern base of the Steens, 5,000 feet below our perch atop Steens the day before, lies the Alvord Desert. The Alvord is a playa, dried by the scorching sun, on the edge of which flows the perennial hot waters of Alvord Spring. Plunging into this ephemeral playa is Pike Creek which flows through its eroded canyon on the Steens east flank.  Willow, sage, cottonwood and gurgling water accompany our hike up-canyon.

Our third day immersed in the mighty Steens will also include a Stewardship effort. While the details are not yet finalized, our efforts will involve elements of volunteer work and citizen science.

Overnight: Frenchglen Hotel | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner