For years, we’ve wanted to visit the canyonlands of southeast Oregon.

We had heard that this vast area (250,000 acres) of public lands contains desert landscapes rivaling Zion and Bryce. However, from Portland it is a 6-7 hour drive and we wanted to make sure we had enough time to explore the area. Turns out, spring break is the perfect time to spend a week.

The weather was great, but a week was not nearly enough time.

Hiking

The canyons really do rival the hikes in the US southwest national parks… just without the crowds.

• Timber gulch – a short hike into a red rock amphitheater.
• Juniper gulch – longer hike following the wash up to the Oregon Desert trail.
• Succor creek – the entire area is surrounded by steep ORV roads that are great for hiking and mountain biking.

Rock hounding

The entire area is a haven for rock hounds. We spent a lot of time exploring the area for sparkly rocks. Successful finds included:

• Thundereggs from Succor creek
• Petrified wood with agate inclusions
• Black bog petrified wood
• Teal picture jasper
• Leaf fossils
• Agate nodules and a few amethyst geodes
• Ronin even discovered a small cave filled with sparkly citrene geodes!