A trip to Lake County, Oregon’s Outback

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On July 6th and 7th I finally visited Lake County, an area in south-central Oregon just north of the California border. Travel Southern Oregon has a web page titled Oregon’s Outback, where you can download a detailed map of Lake County titled Oregon’s Outback – Outdoor Recreation Map. On the 6th I drove west on US 20 past Burns, and then south on US 395.

 

One prominent feature is the alkaline Lake Abert and Abert Rim (shown above), that is about 25 miles north of Lakeview. A sign from the Oregon Travel Information Council about the Abert Rim (also shown above) describes the geology as follows:

 

“Behind you to the east is a steep cliff called Abert Rim, made of many layers of hardened lava flows. This 30-mile-long, 2,500-foot-high, steep cliff is an example of a fault scarp, produced over millennia by great blocks of rock tilting and moving along faults in this region where the earth’s crust is thinning and stretching.

 

The fault that produced Abert Rim is one of many in the Basin and Range Province – a geologic region where rising blocks of crust (horsts) form mountain ranges, and sinking blocks of crust (grabens) create broad basins. The region spans about 300,000 square miles, including almost all of Nevada and parts of Oregon, Idaho, Utah, California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

 

Geologists believe the crustal movements contributing to Abert Rim’s formation were probably accompanied by earthquakes of up to magnitude 6 to 6.5 – they also believe the fault is still active.

 

Lake Abert, in the basin below Abert Rim, covers 63 square miles – but it is only a remnant of Ice Age Lake Chewaucan, which once covered over 470 square miles. Lake Chewaucan’s shorelines can still be seen lining Abert Rim’s cliffs, far above the present shoreline.

 

Archaeological evidence shows that Native Americans have been here for about 11,000 years, with the greatest use between 2,000 and 500 years ago. Most lived in earth covered lodge (pithouse) villages along Lake Abert’s shoreline. Artifacts suggest these early people were affiliated with ancestors of the modern Klamath and Modoc Indians, who now live to the west.”

 

There is an article by Jess Thomson at Newsweek on January 30, 2023 titled Shocking images show plummeting water levels at Oregon lake.

 

I stayed overnight in Lakeview, the county with a population ~2400 and an altitude almost twice that (4,757 ft.). It has a local Burger Queen instead of a Burger King.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the 7th I drove east on Oregon 140 to Adel. On my way back I passed the little gem of a waterfall shown above. The gravel pull off I stopped at only had room for my car. That little waterfall is not on the Oregon’s Outback – Outdoor Recreation Map. It’s about 25 miles east from US 395.