Lake Abert, Oregon

Last year while on our way to the Oregon Outback Scenic ByWay (Hwy 31) we found ourselves heading south down Hwy 395 just 30 miles north of Lakeview and discovered a beautiful place



It was a beautiful sunny, warm day as we stopped to admire the cattle grazing amid the while salt deposits



The landscape was captivating. Sand, sage brush, the white salt deposits, and open range cattle. It looked like we had entered another land



There is not much traffic along this section and eventually we found a place to pull over and spend some time



We later found out that this was the last remnants of a great inland sea from another age which covered a large area



It turns out that this lake can stretch for over 30 miles in all directions depending upon the time and year and amount of rainfall. I am nearly positive that we had travelled over 20 miles down this gravel road



And looking both directions (North & South) Abert Lake extends farther than your eyes can see



I was very tempted to transverse the rocks and sand to make my way down to the water but decided against it for I noticed lots of Lizards wandering about. I know that this is a very arrid area and I was worried about poisonous snakes lurking & shorts and sandals are not adequate protection. Not to mention that we seem to be in the middle of nowhere if medical attention was needed.



I'm not sure how far away we are from the ocean but there are lots of seagulls about



We read somewhere that this was a great sea loaded with salt. With the water having no place to exit it gets depleted through evaporation which leaves the salt behind. Right now the water levels are very low and only so much salt can be precipitated into the water solution, so I would imagine that the water should be very saturated and salty tasting.



Since I didn't get a chance to taste the water I'll never know how it tastes



But I will the next time I visit again . . .