Bend, Ore. – As the largest undeveloped natural area left unprotected by law in the Lower 48, very little has been written about the Owyhee Canyonlands.
You can learn about the power and the beauty of this remote corner of Oregon with author Bonnie Olin as part of the Summer Reading Program, “Escape From the Ordinary.” The programs are free and open to the public and books will be available for sale following her presentation.
“I believe that almost any extended river or hiking trip offers a person the opportunity to reconnect with nature, and that is a good thing,” says Olin. However, she says a trip into the Owyhee is something quite different. “You feel like you are the first and only person to have set foot there. It is still possible to ‘unplug’ completely from the modern world,” she says.
The Owyhee drains a remote area of the arid plateau region on the north edge of the Great Basin, winding through parts of Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. Its watershed is very sparsely populated, but its rolling hills and rugged red-rock canyons provide ideal habitat for golden eagles, bighorn sheep and the Greater sage-grouse.
Olin’s photographer husband Mike Quigley began exploring the Owyhee Canyonlands in 1975. Olin joined him in 1993 and began keeping a personal record of their journeys together.
For more information about this or other library programs, please visit the library website at www.deschuteslibrary.org.
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