Eastern Oregon

Eastern Oregon covers the high desert and mountain country east of the Cascade Range, the broad plateau-and-canyon land running from the Snake River along the Idaho border west to the John Day country and from Washington south to the Nevada line. The terrain stacks dramatically — flat sagebrush plains at 3,000 feet, the Wallowa Mountains rising above 9,000 feet at Eagle Cap, and the deep Snake River canyon at Hells Canyon (the deepest river gorge in North America). Ten counties cover the region. Umatilla holds Pendleton (the largest city, with the Pendleton Round-Up rodeo each September); Union holds La Grande; Wallowa holds Joseph and the Wallowa Lake resort area; Baker holds Baker City and the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center; Grant holds John Day; Harney holds Burns; Malheur holds Ontario. The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, the Eagle Cap Wilderness, the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and Hells Canyon National Recreation Area cover most of the public-land scenery. Most trips here run wilderness and Western-history focused. Hells Canyon and the Wallowa Mountains carry the largest single-stream visitor traffic; the John Day Fossil Beds (with the Painted Hills, Sheep Rock, and Clarno units) draw paleontology visitors; Pendleton’s Round-Up and the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute carry Native American and rodeo history; the Steens Mountain country pulls quieter back-road travelers.