All out for Fort Stinkin'Desert.

That's not an outhouse. That's our sacred Sun Altar.

Everybody back on the bus.
~ Firesign Theatre, Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers

Ft. Rock is pretty amazing. My family and I have been out there a few times and other than the jackrabbits, had the place totally to ourselves each time.

Fort Rock is an interesting place.

Eastern Oregon has many such places, no Bend is not Eastern Oregon. Bend / Sun River / Black Butte are beautiful areas do not get me wrong, the issue is they are full of the same pretenders the metro area is full of. Like Portland or Los Angeles lite.

Try Sumpter or Granite , how about Paisley? Really cool spots.
Plush,Or. yeah maybe not.

Fort Rock was on the Cycle Oregon route the year we did it. So were many of the spots BoBo mentioned. Wonderful memories.

Try Flora and Troy. That's remoteness and awesome.

"Try Sumpter or Granite , how about Paisley? Really cool spots."

"Try Flora and Troy."

Or Bourne. After Jason Bourne. Neither shaken nor stirred.

BoBo, they are----when we first moved to Oregon, we hiked up to Green Lake near Bend---amazing spot, and the only other person there was an older gentleman, very nice guy, who had moved to Bend years before from California. He was telling us that he and his friends called the city "Little California." Told him that he was lucky we weren't Oregon natives and didn't take offense to that designation!

Anyway, the Ft. Rock area and Christmas Valley is a bit of a drive from Bend and as culturally opposite as could be. And later, we headed to the Steens, marveled at the views there and the wildlife seen, and while at the hot spring in the Alvord Desert a few days later, told a couple of native Oregonian older guys we met there that we'd seen lots of coyotes around---and they replied, "Yeah, we've been shooting them the entire trip." Sure, that's far removed from central Oregon, but those guys were from Bend----hardly LA stereotypes or Portland lite!

Fort Rock is cool, but if you want the real deal, in addition to Flora, Troy and Granite, try Andrews, Monument, Halfway or Fox.

Took a high school biology field trip to Fort Rock. It was great. Went back years later and also checked out some of the nearby attractions including "crack in the ground" and the alkali flats. There's plenty of interesting geology around there.

Better hope the "Pickers" don't find out about that antique gas pump!

My Grandparents owned a lumber mill in Silver Lake during and after WWII and then moved to Christmas Valley. It can be a harsh country. My Grandmother used to tell about leaving a 4th of July dance in Fort Rock and finding a heavy dusting of snow on the cars.