Miles: 50+ miles possible within the Badlands, this was a 7 mile loop
Elevation Gain/Highest: 100ft/3465ft
Favorite Eats After Hike: Spork, The Brown Owl, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Hike details:
There is a network of trails and canal roads over the shield volcano of the 29,000 acre Oregon Badlands Wilderness Area outside Bend, Oregon that weave through lava flows, rock outcroppings, ancient western juniper and sagebrush. With multiple trailheads that provide access, you can wander for as little or as long as you like keeping an eye out for marmot, elk and antelope.
This is also the beginning of the Oregon Desert Trail, a long distance trail you can learn more about here!
My trip report:
11/25/2020, a loop on the canal road, Tumulus, Basalt and Black Lava Trails.
I have been reading about the Oregon Desert Trail for a few years now and so when we spent the night in Bend, I wanted to see if I could do a short little day hike on it. It took a little time to find, but eventually I figured out it started on the Tumulus Trail through the Badlands Wilderness and there were a few loop trails perfect for a few hours before we had to get back on the road for home.
Finding good directions to the trailhead were a challenge as the ones I found did not share that the 1.2 canal road was gated. We after driving down past Reynolds Pond and back, I decided we must be in the right spot and so we parked and began out on the gated road.
This turned out to be one of the best parts of the hike as canal was basically a lava flow! Frozen pools of water dotted the scaled and rugged surface and amber grasses lined its banks.
The road came to another gate in 1.2 miles so I figured it was time to turn left (based on the directions I found online) even though there was no sign for the Tumulus Trail. It followed another side canal and in about .4 miles I could see a trail marker across the canal labeled for the Tumulus Trail!
As the canal was low, we simply walked across a rocky spot and joined the Tumulus Trail where it met the Black Lava Trail, turning left to stay on the Tumulus. Now we were wandering more in the badlands area with determined looking ancient juniper and sagebrush.
This looped around for another half mile where it was intersected by the Basalt Trail which sounded interesting and cut back up to the Black Lava Trail to make a loop back out on the Tumulus. This connector did turn out to be much more rocky as it wove through the thrusting basalt covered with lichen and scrappy vegetation.
In .6 miles we met the junction with Black Lava and turned right, continuing through the cracked and crevassed landscape. We passed a few other people but otherwise we had had the trail to ourselves this whole time.
We were once back at the spot we joined the Tumulus Trail 5 miles into our trip, this time keeping on the same side of the canal and following it out to the road we came on. It was here we found the actual sign for the trailhead and could see there was a parking lot across the canal that must be new as it was not one the maps.
Taking the canal road back, we soon passed through the gate (the one I turned at 1.2 miles in) and were back at the car after 7 miles and 3.25 hours on the trail.
Curious as to how that closer trailhead was accessed, we drove back past the transfer station and turned left on Walker Road and then another left on Dodds Road. Using GPS, there were a few possible dirt roads to turn in on, none marked for the trail. We eventually turned on one to find it followed out to the canal but not the trailhead. Being a little brave (crazy), we saw it had an overgrown canal road that led back towards what we hoped would be the trailhead. We did make it to the new trailhead near the Tumulus Trail in about a mile but I would not recommend it for low clearance vehicles. The place where one should turn is a dirt road just past the last farm on the left. Look for a dirt turnaround and a gate just a ways in.
Directions: From Alfalfa outside Bend, drive 1/4 mile west on Alfalfa Market Road, turning south on Johnson Ranch Road for 1 mile to the transfer station. Here the pavement ends and you soon come to a gated road that runs along the canal for 1.2 miles. There is parking here for about 10 cars.
You can also access the Tumulus Trail more directly off of nearby Dodds Road, about 1.5 miles from Walker Road (see Wilderness Map above) but the walk along the canal was one of my favorite parts so I don’t recommend skipping it.
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