Alvord Desert
Desert · Fields, Oregon
A dry lake bed about twelve miles long and seven wide in the far south-east of Oregon, lying in the rain shadow of Steens Mountain, which rises 9,738 feet immediately to the west and strips the weather before it arrives. The playa gets around seven inches of rain a year, which makes it one of the driest places in the state. When it is dry the surface is flat, hard and drivable; when it is wet it is impassable mud. There is a hot spring at the edge and essentially nothing else.
Fields-Denio Road, Fields, Oregon, 97710, United States
Open at all times, year round - it is public land with no gate, no fee and no facilities, and dispersed camping is permitted. ⚠ THE LIMIT IS THE SURFACE, NOT THE CLOCK: the playa is drivable only when dry, roughly late June to early October, and after rain or through winter and spring it is a shallow lake or deep mud that strands vehicles with no recovery service available. Ask at Alvord Hot Springs or Fields Station whether it is dry before driving on. Alvord Hot Springs at the eastern edge is privately operated and charges. There is no water, fuel, food or mobile signal.