It seems I disliked this drive so much that I failed to write about it. I wanted to find the Alvord Hot Springs, but the Steens Loop drive took so long that by the time I was done, I just wanted to get out of the area and make some tracks. I was headed to visit a dear friend in Logan, Utah and was feeling my month slip by too quickly.

I stopped in Frenchglen for some expensive gas and to encounter the surliest person I met on the trip behind the payment desk.

Argos and Pugsly at the top of Steens. I don’t think they liked the drive either. Unfortunately, most of the photos I took up there are very flat. It’s hard to get the depth of the view with a little point and shoot camera.

The views were pretty cool tho.

It doesn’t look treacherous, but this is where the sheer terror of driving down that almost 10,000 foot slope began.

I was so scared of falling off the side of the mountain, that I completely forgot my low-gear training and used too much brake on the way down. Oops.

Eep.

My bravery was rewarded by getting to see a bunch of horses after the descent.

I pushed on to Winnemucca, NV and while gassing up around 6:00pm with nowhere known to set up camp, I realized that I wasn’t terribly concerned. Worse comes to worst, I can just not pop-up, move my kitchen stuff to the truck, and me n’ dogs stealth camp in a parking lot somewhere. I have my house on my back and can rest anywhere.

This feeling was a big difference from how I’d felt when I started this trek. I made sure I had camping locations scouted and GPS coordinates listed in my little book. It was freeing to not worry and know that I was okay, even if I didn’t find a real place to camp.

I consulted freecampsites.net and found the Water Canyon Recreation Area which happened to be about 1.5 miles from the gas station. There are little campsites set up every so often on into the canyon. I was tired and didn’t much feel like exploring, so I took one of the closer ones and got a spectacular view.

Argos was glad to settle down for the night.

Pugsly wanted me to settle in so that she could cuddle with me

and we watched the sunset.
and we were content.