- I wasn't really expecting a legit river.
I really wasn't.
I've been going for about eight hours, I guess.
And I've made it 12 miles.
I think it's going to be an interesting rest of the day.
- [Narrator] It's no small thing to hike 750 miles
through one of the harshest landscapes in Oregon,
but Sage Clegg was determined.
And in 2013, she became the first person
to complete Oregon's newest long distance route,
the Oregon Desert Trail.
- I'm not really trying to escape from anything
or get to anything.
I just like being out there and cruising along
and seeing what the world is at that moment.
- [Narrator] There probably was no better person than Sage
to tackle the Oregon Desert Trail or ODT as it's called.
- I started thru-hiking in 2008
with the Grand Enchantment Trail.
I hiked for about 30 days on that and was hooked.
Hiked the Pacific Crest Trail.
And then hiked northbound on the Continental Divide Trail.
After that, walked southbound on the Appalachian Trail.
So, I became the first woman to hike it within 18 months.
- [Narrator] But Sage found that compared to those more
famous long distance trails, the Oregon Desert Trail is more
of an idea than a physical path.
And that's by design.
The Oregon Natural Desert Association,
the conservation group behind the trail idea,
wants people to shape their own adventure
without signs that spell out every turn and junction.
- Out here, there's absolute freedom.
Your feet are not going to be walking on the same exact spot
that my feet were walking on.
That's the beauty of a route versus a trail.
- [Narrator] Among those who followed sages lead
is Renee Patrick, another ODT tracker,
who logged an impressive 10,000 miles
of hiking around the country
(Renee laughing)
before snagging a job as trail coordinator
for the Oregon Natural Desert Association.
- Sometimes it's hard to resist a little shoe skiing action.
Traditionally, people think, why would you want to walk
long distances across the desert?
But there are some of us who do.
The desert is quite interesting.
You may have to look a little bit closer than you might
in other landscapes that are more lush and verdant,
but the desert has a lot to offer,
if you're willing to give it a chance.
- [Narrator] So, if the Oregon Desert Trail isn't an actual
path through the dirt, then what is it?
The ODT is really any route that weaves existing trails,
public land, and public rights of way between Bend
and the Owyhee Canyonlands near Idaho.
Think of it like a treasure map that loosely connects
remote towns and the scenic highlights of the desert.
- Of the different types of training you'll encounter,
11% is trail tread,
About 33% is cross-country travel, and the rest are roads,
mostly dirt roads, primitive two-track roads.
- There's nothing to ever tell you
you're on the Oregon Desert Trail.
Only your brain will tell you
you're on the Oregon desert trail.
There's no signs.
There's nothing. It's unmarked completely.
- [Narrator] When we joined Renee in the Pueblo mountains,
we got a taste for just how serious
hiking this trail can be.
- It demands respect.
It demands you show up with a solid set of skills
and you have to be aware and present
in order to be successful.
We'll be starting a cross country section
and wrap around this far side of the ridge
at about 7,000 foot elevation.
- [Narrator] If you think that a trail
across Oregon's desert would be easier
than a track through the cascades, think again.
Hikers here need to navigate seven mountain ranges.
(Renee breathing heavily)
- You go up and over a big mountain range,
and then, there's the flat spaces between them.
And it's almost like this reset. You know?
You get back out to the nothingness of sagebrush land
and then pop back into a mountain range
and back down into another basin.
And I really felt what basin and range meant
on the Oregon desert trail. It became very clear.
(Sage chuckles)
- [Narrator] The Oregon Natural Desert Association
has used the experiences of Sage, Renee, and others
to create maps of public and private land,
provide information about finding water,
and to give GPS coordinates to key landmarks.
But there are no plans to turn the Oregon Desert Trail
into any kind of comfortable, well-provisioned hikers'
highway.
- You really do need to know how to get yourself
from point A to point B
and having the ability to manage yourself properly
in desert conditions.
And that can mean a blizzard or hypothermia in the Owyhee,
as well as, 105-degree days out in dry sage brush.
Yep. Cold. I'm cold.
I'm ready to go sit in a hot spring.
You can get away with kind of cruddy planning
on a trip up in the Cascades and probably be fine
or at least bump into another person who can rescue you.
But out here, that's not really an option.
- So right now we're at waypoint EB082
which is a questionable water source.
Water is the crux of this trail.
(water flowing)
Not only, where is the water? Is it seasonal?
Will you need to filter it? Treat it?
And then how long are you going to have to carry that water
until your next reliable source?
- One of the harder things about the Oregon Desert Trail
is it starts right away
with some huge waterless stretches
40 and 50 miles without water.
- [Narrator] Sage did cache or place water in advance
at key locations, but it wasn't always enough.
And just as often she had to make do
with whatever water she could find.
- So I got to get out there and find that there was water
in places that I wasn't expecting it.
Or sometimes there wasn't.
There's no drink mix in that folks.
That is my water.
But you know, today is a scary hot day
and I'm incredibly lucky to find water at all.
That was my main anxiety.
I mean, heat's something I could deal with
as long as I have water.
Getting lost is something I can deal with
as long as I have water. Water just kind of ruled my day.
But at the same time I needed to let go
of that anxiety a little bit.
Otherwise, I would never be able to hike a trail
like the Oregon Desert Trail.
Every hike I do has those moments
where I was just like, why am I out here?
And I might not even think that.
I might just think like, wow, I'm out here
and this is really hard.
For me, that happened out in the Owyhee.
I felt like I was in like "Lord of the Rings" or something.
And all of a sudden here I was at Mount Doom.
I'm definitely on edge today.
Not only have I almost stepped on nine rattlesnakes,
it's also just really stressful travel.
It was just really intense
to be walking through water and stinging nettles,
and slipping over beaver dams,
and having one extreme thing after another
being thrown at me.
(bugs chittering)
Sometimes, I just felt like I was walking through
what felt like a prehistoric grocery store
or something.
Though, I felt like I was the only human being
out there right now,
I certainly hadn't been the only one to ever be there.
(wind blowing)
(footsteps crunching)
I was kind of overwhelmed by how big it was.
That's kind of how I feel about the whole ODT.
It's just a lot of vastness.
But all of a sudden, I started seeing all these little ants
crawling up and down the sagebrush that I was sitting under.
And there's all these little aphids
on the tips of the sagebrush.
And there was all this cool lichen
and it was this whole small universe
that only lives right there.
The whole world just opened up a little bit more.
And I felt like, okay, that's what this place is all about.
(wind blowing)
(birds chirping)
- [Narrator] You can go anywhere in Oregon
and hear complaints of crowded trails
and overused landscapes,
but the desert is big enough that hikers,
like Sage and Renee, say they went days
without seeing anyone.
For Renee,
the solitude of the desert is one of its biggest rewards.
(wind blowing)
(plastic crinkling)
- Long distance hiking is really a lifestyle.
It's more than just the miles you make.
That includes many nights sleeping out in your tent
or under the stars.
I love to bring something to read,
to take my shoes off for a little bit, air out the feet.
It's really a lifestyle that includes simple pleasures.
(birds singing)
Then, when I get to town, it's a time to replenish
all those calories you've burned
and stock up for the next leg of the journey.
- What flavor would you like?
- I'm gonna do an Oreo cookie...
People were very curious when I would get to town, tired
and dirty, sit at the cafe, polish off a big plate of food,
And there were lots of questions, usually.
What are you doing out here?
Granted, there have only been 11 of us, so far,
to have completed, but there've been lots of others
who have done sections.
(gear knocking)
- I came out today to explore a section
of the Oregon Desert Trail near Pine Mountain.
- [Narrator] Completing the entire 750 mile trail
can be an intimidating goal,
but the ODT can be done in sections
or even as a series of day trips.
And hiking isn't the only way to do it.
The point is to find your own way
and to go at whatever speed works for you.
- Know what you're getting yourself into,
but on that same note, let yourself go at some point.
- When you spend a few days or weeks or months on a trail,
you get to know yourself and nature better.
And if we all went on a good long hike
I think we'd all be a little happier.
(bugs chittering)
(birds calling)