Public lands travelogue 2026: Oregon Buttes

Public lands travelogue 2026: Oregon Buttes

On the crown of the continent just west of South Pass, the Oregon Buttes rise like battlements out of the vast sagebrush sea. My friends speak of them as being part of eastern Gassonistan, my family’s homeland in this hard country. The Shoshone people knew them well, as did the old-timers like Jedediah Smith and Benjamin Bonneville. Travelers on the Oregon-California and Mormon trails steered by these landmarks in the days long before maps on yo…