Bridge Creek Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the Ochoco Mountains of central Oregon, within the Ochoco National Forest

Ochoco National Forest

The Ochoco National Forest is located in Central Oregon in the United States, north and east of the City of Prineville, location of the National Forest Headquarters. It encompasses of rimrock, canyons, geologic oddities, dense pine forests, and high desert terrain, as well as the headwaters of...

. It was established in 1984 and comprises 5400 acres (2,185 ha), making it one of the smallest Wilderness areas in the state.

Topography

Bridge Creek Wilderness is characterized by steep terrain, open meadows, forested mountain slopes, and barren plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

s. Elevation ranges from 4360 to 6607 ft (1,328.9 to 2,013.8 m). Bridge Creek drains northeasterly from the summit of the Ochoco Mountains, essentially dividing the Wilderness into two plateaus. The peaks of East Point and North Point at 6625 feet (2,019.3 m) and 6607 feet (2,013.8 m), respectively, look across the small Wilderness. Five perennial springs

Spring (hydrosphere)

A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...

 flow in the Wilderness - Thompson, Pisgah, Masterson, Nelson, and Maxwell. The Bridge Spring and Bridge Creek watershed creates the domestic water supply for the town of Mitchell

Mitchell, Oregon

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 170 people, 75 households, and 42 families residing in the city. The population density was 144.6 people per square mile . There were 91 housing units at an average density of 77.4 per square mile...

.

Lava vents located north of the John Day River

John Day River

The John Day River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northeastern Oregon in the United States. Undammed along its entire length, the river is the third longest free-flowing river in the conterminous United States. There is extensive use of its waters for irrigation. Its...

 produced lava that now caps most of the Ochoco crest, creating the pillar-shaped basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

 columns at the cliffs on North Point.

Vegetation

The forest in Bridge Creek Wilderness consists primarily of Douglas fir, grand fir

Grand Fir

Abies grandis is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea level to 1,800 m...

, and larch

Larch

Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. Growing from 15 to 50m tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains further south...

, with some stands of lodgepole

Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine, Pinus contorta, also known as Shore Pine, is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.-Subspecies:...

 and ponderosa pine

Ponderosa Pine

Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...

. Other plants include sagebrush

Sagebrush

Sagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby plant species in the genus Artemisia native to western North America;Or, the sagebrush steppe ecoregion, having one or more kinds of sagebrush, bunchgrasses and others;...

, bunchgrass, sparse

Sparse

In computer science, Sparse is a tool designed to find possible coding faults in the Linux kernel. This static analysis tool differed from other such tools in that it was initially designed to flag constructs that were only likely to be of interest to kernel developers, e.g...

, and mountain mahogany.

Wildlife

A variety of wildlife lives in Bridge Creek Wilderness, including elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, mule deer

Mule Deer

The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...

, black bear

American black bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

, and mountain lion. Birds include pileated woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

The Pileated Woodpecker is a very large North American woodpecker, almost crow-sized, inhabiting deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific coast. It is also the largest woodpecker in America.Adults are long, and weigh...

, goshawk and prairie falcon

Prairie Falcon

The Prairie Falcon is a medium-sized falcon of western North America.It is about the size of a Peregrine Falcon or a crow, with an average length of 40 cm , wingspan of 1 metre , and weight of 720 g...

.

Recreation

Popular recreational activities in Bridge Creek Wilderness include hiking several miles of trails to North Point and East Point.

See also

• List of Oregon Wildernesses
• List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
• Wilderness Act
  Wilderness Act
  The Wilderness Act of 1964 was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected some 9 million acres of federal land. The result of a long effort to protect federal wilderness, the Wilderness Act was signed...
  
  

External links

• Deschutes & Ochoco National Forests - Bridge Creek Wilderness