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Their stillness makes them almost imperceptible. But I know they are out there, so I cup my hands around my eyes and squint into the late afternoon sunlight, scanning the high desert for any sign of movement.
Suddenly, they appear: Nearly a dozen wild mustangs grazing in scattered groups on the hillside. Lingering beneath a partly cloudy sky, they look painted onto the landscape.
The air smells of dirt and sagebrush as I stand by my car parked on the side of Steens Mountain Loop Road, on the western flank of the mountain in southeast Oregon. Around me, the wilderness is silent except for a bevy of Western meadowlarks, who, perching on desert plants, tip their heads back and serenade anything passing by.
Covering an area of 254,806 sq. km, the State of Oregon is located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
As observed on the map, the Pacific Ocean coastline of the state is occupied by the rugged mountains (some over 1,000 ft. high), moist rainforests, and fertile valleys. In the southern part, the land rises into the Coastal Mountain Range and the Klamath Mountains. Both of these mountain ranges are a series of relatively low and heavily-forested peaks, that are in turn punctuated by numerous small lakes.
Situated directly to the east of these mountains is the Willamette Lowlands – that stretch south, about 175 miles from the Portland area. This fertile strip of land is dissected by the Willamette River which rises in the Cascades and then flows north draining into the Columbia River.