On one of my social feeds, a post came up titled something like Best Places in Oregon For Fall Colors. There aren't a ton of locations in the state with a high density of deciduous trees, it's mainly evergreens. Heck, the state license plate has a Douglas Fir on it. Intrigued, I open up the article. I saw places I'm familiar with like Santiam Pass/McKenzie River, but one location caught my eye - Steens Mountain. And more specifically a gorge named Big Indian on Steens Mountain.
I had been in the area before a couple of times, to the Alvord Desert that sits in the plains to the East of Steens Mountain, but I hadn't been on the actual mountain nor had I been on the western slopes. I quick online search didn't pull up many images of fall foliage in Big Indian (but I did see the aspens). This made me even more excited as there seemed to be a lot of untapped photographic potential. A quick check of the weather determined great conditions with a mixed bag of clouds, potential rain, and some sun. I packed up quickly and took off on the 4 hour drive.
The final 30 minutes of the drive was on a well maintained gravel road. As I approached Steens Mountain, and the South Steens Campground where I would be staying, I caught my first glimpse of the autumnal foliage draped across the slopes of the mountain - I was ecstatic! After quickly checking into the campground, I headed up the road that rose of above Big Indian to the summit of Steens Mountain which was over 9,000 ft and covered in snow. The viewpoints along the way were stunning and this was one of the first shots I took.
This wasn't Colorado or Utah, this was Oregon! This state never ceases to amaze with its natural beauty. I spent some time driving and exploring the plateau above the gorge before heading down to camp.
The night in the tent was a little rough as it had gotten quite cold. When I got out of the tent in the morning, I saw why. Fog had descended and we were completely socked in. But that got me excited, we landscape photographers love fog. It creates moodiness and it can look lovely as an inversion. I was looking forward to getting up to the view points and checking things out.
Things were looking incredible. The Big Indian gorge was completely socked in when I first arrived at the top of the valley. After a little bit, the sun rose and the fog began to dissipate, revealing the colorful foliage. I ran around with my camera finding lots of interesting trees to use as foreground.
Around 8:30AM, the fog began to lift and I needed breakfast, another coffee, and to begin my hike into Big Indian.
After driving back down to the campground and having some food, I loaded up my backpack and started the hike. To get the very end of the valley, the headwall, was 8 miles (so 16 miles return). I wasn't planning on heading out that far, I just wanted to immerse myself amongst the aspens and look for compositions.
The hike consisted of a continuous gentle uphill slope with three creek crossings that required a little fancy footwork to save myself from wet shoes.
I ended up hiking around 5.5 miles into the gorge. At almost 7,000ft in elevation with 1,500ft of vertical, I did feel it and my heavily leaden backpack didn't help. The colors and scenery kept me going. I didn't see a soul the whole day in the gorge.
Interestingly, I did have great cell reception as there was a tower at the summit of the mountain at the end of the valley.
This is truly an amazing zone with untapped photographic potential. I barely scratched the surface out there and I know I'm going have to make this an annual trip.