Crack in the Ground — Christmas Valley BLM Natural Feature

Crack in the Ground is exactly what the name says — a volcanic rift in the desert floor outside Christmas Valley that drops 70 feet and runs nearly two miles long. The walls stay cool even in midsummer heat, making a walk through it feel like stepping into a refrigerator. No developed facilities, no fee, no ranger station. Just a BLM two-track off Christmas Valley-Wagontire Road, a small parking area, and one of the more otherworldly geological features in the Pacific Northwest. Overlanders running the Summer Lake basin and Silver Lake desert floor will pass within a few miles.

Access is via a short gravel spur off the main Christmas Valley Road — passable by most stock vehicles in dry conditions. A pit toilet exists at the trailhead. No water, no shade at the parking area itself. Cell signal is essentially nonexistent. Best visited spring or fall; summer midday in the lava flats is brutally hot. The BLM Lake District out of Lakeview manages this area.

A two-mile volcanic crack through the Oregon desert floor.