High Desert in Oregon

Driving from Burns to Medford, Oregon yesterday meant heading into high desert country. The more southern part of Oregon is a far cry from the NW coastline of Oregon...

The wildflowers are in full swing among the miles and miles of sagebrush, including these pale pom-poms dotting the roadside, yet to be ID'd...am thinking a buckwheat...

Some more paintbrush...

Looks like larkspur...

An aster....

Definitely a wild onion...they're from the lily family...

Another aster...it still amazes me all the wildflower beauty that grows in barren, dry, sandy or gravelly type soil...

...That looks like this...miles and miles of sagebrush heading to Abert Lake...if it was Aug. or Sept. it would've been blistering hot as well...

Alkalai Lake...looks like white sand...

My guess was a thrush...looks like a water pipet in the guide...

In the middle of nowhere there's a small area of sand, looks really out of place...a single large sand dune...there were gumbo lily type flowers growing there...reminds me of the ones in the Badlands in S Dakota...

This interesting pink plant was growing in the Abert Lake area...

There were many brown lizards on the rocks between the road and the lake...Abert Lake (not Albert) has very interesting, unique landscape...I'm sure due to the fact that it is in high desert country...

A view of part of Abert Lake...

There are avocets on the shore at the lake, but I didn't get too close...

And there is an orange moss-type 'growth' on a lot of rocks around the lake area.

Just past Klamath Falls, heading along the final part of the drive to my old stomping grounds, on Hwy 140, I passed this large field covered with some yellow flower.

I wasn't able to get any photos of Mt. McLaughlin, the volcano seen in the Rogue Valley area, which is snow-capped right now...but I did share photos on my blog last year. I spent the night in Medford, got to see my brother and meet his lady friend.  :o)  Today I finished my trip, the last four hours of driving, to the N Calif. coast and my hometown...will share today's photos tomorrow.