Lake County, Oregon, Day 3: Driving to Hart Mtn National Antelope Refuge

After Big Basin, I drove down Highway 31, called the Oregon Outback Scenic Byway.  I stopped at a state wayside, where I took a sponge bath in the men's room.  Partly because of the heat of walking in full sunlight, and also because the ground under my tarp the last night was really fine sand, which now covered everything!

I drove down to Lakeview, which is the county seat and largest town in Lake County.  Lake County is big and empty: 8,358 square miles (about the same size as New Jersey, and bigger than Connecticut, for comparison) and about 7,500 residents.  That's a bit less than one person per square mile, though of course, the population isn't spread out like that.  Lake County has two incorporated towns, and 12 unincorporated communities.  78% of the land in the county is owned by the Federal Government, and Uncle Sam is the largest employer.  It's interesting country!  


After tanking up in Lakeview, I drove over the Warner Mountains.  These top out at about 8,500 feet, and had too much snow on them for my hiking plans.  Though the tops of the mountains had melted out in sunlight, the trails under trees (and some of the roads that accessed these trails) were still under spring snow.  Here's a view of Drake Peak, the highest peak of the range.

Right after taking this picture, I was driving down the highway and almost ran over an antelope!  American antelope are not actually antelope, but an entirely separate species that evolved here independently.  I'd always thought they'd be small, but the one that stood in the road looking at my car seemed to be about the size of a small horse.  I think that was just an effect of my surprise, though.  Other ones I saw looked more like the size of deer.  Deer with hugh barrel chests, though.  Antelope are designed for speed, and they have an incredible heart and lung set that allows them to easily outrun wolves and other predators.

I drove down through the town of Plush.  I've read that the town is named Plush, after a local Paiute Indian mispronounced "flush," during a game of poker with cowboys.  They're a tiny town with a great big view:

Plush is on the western edge of a 5 mile wide valley.  In the middle of the valley are several lake beds that fill up in wet years, and on the other side is a fault block upthrust mountain called Hart Mountain.  I drove on to the edge of Hart Mountain.

I swear I saw more campers and camper trailers on this trip than I've ever seen in my life.  It's almost like that's the most common vehicle for travel out here.  I can see the attraction, especially after spending several nights in the back of my compact sedan!

Some of the lakes were dry, and others were wet.  Part of their area is managed for the benefit of wildlife by the BLM, so they drain and fill up various bodies to increase wildlife populations.  The clouds really started rolling in in force about this time, and didn't let up until the afternoon the next day.

I entered the Antelope Refuge by the main entrance road, which climbs up the side of Hart Mountain.  It seems improbable, and though it's in places steep, it's not death defying like it would seem!

This refuge was created in the 1930's, when people realized that the antelope were disappearing.  They had formerly run all over the American West in herds of thousands, but by the thirties they had become scarce.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that professional hunters were killing hundreds at a time for commercial meat markets.  Or with the fact that antelope won't jump over a fence like deer, and so can be cornered by predators at fences or be separated from water, fresh grazing, and winter habitat.   Or with the fact that cattle had destroyed the West's bunchgrass prairies, and the antelope had to live off of sagebrush and cheatgrass.  The refuges prevented hunting, but did little to improve the other problems.  In the 90's scientists finally persuaded the US Fish and Wildlife Service to close the Refuge to cattle grazing, and destroy all the fences.  Since that time antelope numbers have increased.  I saw them all over the place.  I've seen one before, but I'd never seen so many.  I also got to see several fairly near, and one baby right up close!

Next up: Poker Jim Ridge overnighter.

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