5.0 hr
Overview
The Little Blitzen Gorge is one of five classically U-shaped glacially carved gorges on the slopes of Steens Mountain . (The others are the Kiger, Big Indian, Little Indian, and Wildhorse.) The mountain is a fifty-mile-long fault block of basalt that was folded and tilted during the Pliocene. Ice Age glaciers began carving their way down the valleys about 1.6 million years ago. Native Americans foraged and hunted along the canyon bottom, and Euro-American stockmen arrived in the late 19th century with their herds; at the beginning of the 20th century there were at least 100,000 head of sheep and cattle grazing in the Steens Mountain area. The Little Blitzen Gorge now lies within the Steens Mountain Wilderness, part of the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area created in 2000, and cattle ranching is no longer permitted here. For most hikers, an excursion that takes in the entire ten-mile gorge is an overnight backpack. Others do the Steens Mountain Loop as a three or four-day affair, often beginning with Big Indian Gorge , a cross-country hike up to the summit, and then a return down the Little Blitzen. The trip detailed below is a day hike that takes you about halfway along the trail.
Trail Stats
15.9 km
393 m
1890 m
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Photos
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