Alvord Desert; Party on the playa.

We loaded up our truck and trailer and headed out to Eastern Oregon for a much anticipated trip to the Alvord Desert. What would happen on our first night turned out to be one of the most amazing natural occurences I have ever witnessed.  The high desert of Oregon consists of nearly 24,000 square miles, an elevation average of around 4,000 feet with its highest point being just under 10,000 feet in the Steens Mountains. The Alvord Desert is a 12 mile by 7 mile dried up lake bed and is located just east of the Steens Mountain Range . From the top of the mountains it is a nearly 1 mile straight drop down to the desert floor. A truly impressive sight to see! Theres something about sitting in a giant desert setting while looking at 9,000 foot snow capped peaks towering above you. Truly remarkable.

Steens Mountains towering above the desert floor.

We first pulled into the Alvord Hot Springs and I stepped out to talk to the host. They directed me to where the best place would be to pull my travel trailer down to the actual playa. They told me to look for a house and a mailbox back the way we came and that I could take that road (which looks like a private drive but it isn’t) down to the desert floor. To use the hot springs and bath house it is $5 per person for anyone over 10. Anyone 10 and under is free. A nice place to soak after a long dusty, hot day in the desert sun! Also important to note that you can camp at the hot springs or rent what looks like little storage pods with cots inside to stay in. I, myself, wanted desperately to stay right out on the actual cracked Earth itself. As I was leaving the lady said “Just stay away from the water”.  A very intriguing comment it would turn out later! We noticed a pond like size of water at the very north end of the desert. Far, far away from where we’d be…

We drove out to the desert and proceeded another mile straight out from where the “normal” land was and decided this was perfect. Clear skies, sunshine, a good mile or so from the water and good family company. What could go wrong? We had about an hour until sundown so we set up camp quick and decided to leave the trailer hooked up to my truck until the morning which would turn out to save our butts later!

This photo was taken literally minutes before craziness appeared

We started a fire, made dinner and started settling in for the night. I got out my tripod and camera to take some night photos of our camper set up and my wife says “what is that in the distance?”. It looked like a shadow about 4 miles across the desert but we shrugged it off thinking it was just a shadow or mirage from the hills. Nope! 10-15 minutes later I hear my son say in a oh crap sort of way “UHHH DAD!!!??” I look over and there is a giant lake coming our way about 4-5 inches deep, it was already to the front of my truck and looked like it stretched all the way across the desert! I had two kids sleeping already in the trailer including our 5 month old baby girl. My older boys, myself and I immediately sprang into action. Kicked off our shoes, grabbed our muck boots usually used for clamming on the Oregon Coast and started throwing stuff into the trailer and the back of the truck. The water was flowing like the tide but faster. Gaining a foot every 10 seconds or so and before we knew it we were completely in water.  It doused and washed away our fire and just kept coming and coming. We packed up everything with haste, including my generator which was also getting slowly swallowed with water. I told everyone to just stay in the trailer while I tried to get us out and my oldest boy spotted for me in the back of my truck. I knew it was really soft, like clay already so I didn’t want to go forward. I just put it in 4wheel drive and went straight back with the rest of the family still in the trailer. Luckily, we made it out and to a spot which was dry and we could spotlight the water. IT WAS STILL COMING AT US! I decided it wasn’t the best idea to camp that night on the playa and I chose another spot just off the main desert floor a several feet that was on a little slope.

The next day when we woke up we realized the water had passed us again! Luckily though not through us! It had traveled at least 4 miles across the desert from the wind it seemed and when we took a drive out to the head of it we noticed it was still moving creepily across the desert floor but at a much more snail pace now. After we scoped it out and acknowledged we were in a safe spot we headed north to Fields, OR which is about a 15-20 minute drive south from the Alvord Desert.

Fields is a small town… I mean very small! It’s also your lifeblood out here though. With the only GAS and DIESEL for nearly 100 miles at the Fields Station. They have a cafe, some groceries, beers for camp, beer on tap and a real small town feel. They are known for their famous milk shakes and outstanding burgers which of course we had to try. The trick is, especially with kids, is to split a shake because they are so big! My daughter and I shared a orange creamsicle, my boys shared an oreo/raspberry which was phenomenal and my wife and other son shared the 3C. Chocolate, coffee and caramel! They definitely lived up to their famous status. I had a bacon cheeseburger and the kids had grilled cheese and my burger was delicious as well. Not that thin crap bacon either! REAL BACON! A highly recommended stop way out in the desert of Oregon! The owner and I started talking while she was filling up my truck with much needed diesel and I told her about our experience and she said she’s known of people being stuck out there when the water rushes through because the wind blows it across the desert. They were stuck for a week or more because they went to sleep and next thing they know they wake and are sunk up to their axles with mud and water! It cost someone $1,000 to just have a tow truck drive all the way out there once to get some people unstuck! That is nuts! Thankfully we were still awake and I had the vehicle to get us out. My 38 inch offroad tires were still spinning when I pulled us out as the desert clay just fills up the tread. We chatted for awhile more about the local area and she gave me a map at the bar and showed me some sights to go see with the kids. She even gave the little ones free Airheads! A truly, truly nice lady and nice place that we will visit again.

The next day after I assessed the wind, the water had stop moving and was drying up and disappearing into the cracks so I decided to move back out onto the playa much to my wife’s dismay but thats what I came for and by God that’s what I was going to do! A guy in a jeep stopped at our camp on his way out to the desert and said he had talked to the lady in Fields and heard that someone was out in the middle when water took over their camp. I said “Yup! That was us.” I shared the experience with him and gave him some ideas on good spots where it seemed the water wouldn’t go and they were off in a cloud of dust.

When we looked back on it and laughed we were so thankful that 1. We didn’t unhook our trailer that night. 2. We told my son to put down the stabilizers for our trailer and he didn’t listen so they weren’t down and actually ended up saving us time. 3. We’re night owls because all of this happened at 11:45 PM. If we were asleep I might still be in that same spot right now. All in all it was a memory for a lifetime, the kids loved it out there, we saw the largest shooting star of our lives rocket across the desert sky. We had military jets fly right over us while visiting natural hot springs. We met good people, built memories as a family and also most importantly we worked together to get out of a dangerous situation. Mission accomplished.

This trip has been kid tested and baby approved!