Oregon's Dry Side: Exploring East of the Cascade Crest

by Alan D. St. John

Come explore the sights, sounds, scents, and stories of Oregon's dry side, the stunning, vast, arid East, which is the state's true West. Here are the volcanic mountains and mysterious fossils, vanilla-scented ponderosa pines, painted desert colors, wild creatures large and small, rugged wildflowers, remote outposts, and rich history reaching back to prehistoric times. Your expert guide is Alan D. St. John, naturalist, photographer, native Oregonian, and lifetime dry-side explorer who shares it all, including — and this is generous indeed — some of his own little-known favorite places. Also a broad field guide to eastern Oregon, this treasure of a book shows the region's flora and fauna and dramatic geology in gorgeous photographs.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, Natural History

324 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

Reviews

[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

People not from oryGun tend to think of it as a rainy place. It is, where most of the people live, on the west side of the Cascade Mountain Range. Dismal climate in winter where I attended schools.
Here on the High Desert, where I experience a Big Sky existence, the vistas are plentiful, and rainfall measures about 11 inches annually.
***
Alan's is another fine book from Timber Press, one of the publishers I ordered from with confidence.
***
One of few belonging in my personal collection as well.
***
If you're considering visiting Oregon, suggest this would be helpful for planning go to places.

[Valleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oregon's Dry Side is a comprehensive guide to eastern Oregon, featuring three driving tours of the region. It includes information on the area's volcanic mountains, fossils, flora, fauna, and history. The photographs were beautiful, and enhanced the written words.

I'm eager to do some more exploring of this beautiful side of Oregon, again!

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

While checking in returned books at the Library where I work, I discovered this gem. If you plan a trip to Oregon, live in that state, or hope to visit some day, you'll get a ton of useful information from this great non-fiction book. It also contains many wonderful color photos, too.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good exploration of eastern Oregon, which is not like what many people assume. I'll be referring to this book in future travels to Oregon.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get to know your home ... this is a great book about the dry side of the state. St. John's great photography and a serious -- but engaging -- narrative provides a wealth of info. St. John also wrote a Lone Pine field guide on reptiles ... which came in handy when I found a juvenile Rubber Boa (Charina bottae) in my front yard.

[Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice photos, a little more of a travel log than I expected. I was looking for some of the deeper stories...

[Ike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Made me want to go to so very many little places which I know already don't amount to much. Even got me interested in plants. Some plants. Just a little.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference book for specific areas,
excellent explanation of the geology of the whole region.