A number of Oregon stereotypes don’t apply to Steens Mountain, located in the southeastern corner of the state. First, it doesn’t support a thick conifer forest, apparently because it’s so remote it was never seeded after the glacial retreat. Second, it’s in the “outback” east of the Cascades, popularly supposed to be the unattractive part of the state. Finally, although the mountain is made of layers of volcanic rock, it’s not a volcano, unlike the famous peaks in the Cascades. Steens Mountain is a tilted fault block, with a gentle…
