Oregon Desert Trail
Posted inOutside

ONDA’s Independent Stewards Program

Volunteer projects designed for individuals or households to safely undertake during the pandemic
by Damian Fagan

This past year was a rough one, even for volunteers. Many nonprofit organizations canceled group volunteer projects to minimize exposure during the pandemic. One local described that experience. “I tried to volunteer last year, but COVID derailed that,” said Jess Beauchemin, a volunteer with the Oregon Natural Desert Association. This year, she’s signed up to […]

Posted inCulture

Walking the High Desert: A Mountain is Pretty Sure to Figure

One of the “highs” along the Oregon Desert Trail, at 6300 feet, is Pine Mountain.
Avatar photo Ellen Waterston

Part three of our serial excerpts of Ellen Waterston’s new book, “Walking the High Desert: Encounters with Rural America Along the Oregon Desert Trail. In this excerpt, we begin part one of Chapter 4. A Mountain is Pretty Sure to Figure One of the “highs” along the Oregon Desert Trail, at sixty-three hundred feet, is Pine […]

Posted inOutside

Oregon Desert Trail

A vision in progress from the Badlands to the Owyhee Canyonlands
Brian Jennings

The Oregon Desert Trail is a journey following a rugged, remote and in many places incomplete 800-mile trail through the southeast Oregon desert. Renee Patrick, with 10,000 miles of trail experience behind her, is the Oregon Desert Trail Coordinator for the Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA). Patrick’s first major hike was the Appalachian Trail in […]

Posted inOutside

Go Here 2/24-3/2

Brian Jennings

Cascade Center of Photography Excursions The Cascade Center of Photography offers excursions and on-site workshops for photography adventures in Central Oregon and beyond. There are workshops and outings for beginning to advanced photographers. Saturday, June 4: CCOP is offering a “Last Light and Night Photography” workshop at Fort Rock State Park. The historic Fort Rock […]

Posted inOutside

Need a Little Alone Time?

The “new” Oregon Desert Trail offers an 800-mile trek through solitude
Avatar photo Phil Busse

The difference between the Pacific Crest Trail and the Oregon Desert Trail, explains Shane Von Schlemp who has walked both, is a lot of “space-out time.” He goes on to explain that the famous PCT is well-marked—and increasingly well-trodden—while ODT is, at best, a faint trail that meanders through some of Oregon’s most hard-scrabbled and […]

Posted inOutside

Go Here 3/5-3/11

Long-distance hikes (that aren’t the PCT)
Avatar photo Corbin Gentzler

Since the deservedly successful novel Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, was published and adapted to the big screen, thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail has moved to the top of every Tom, Dick, and Sally’s bucket list. For those of us interested in the challenge and fulfillment a thru-hike offers, but seeking less of a time commitment […]

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