If you have not heard of the largest endorheic watershed basin in North America, a basin that has no connection to any ocean, then you can find part of this basin in Idaho, one which is a desert called the Great Basin.

This basin covers most all of Nevada about half of Utah and parts of Oregon, California, Idaho and Wyoming. Some believe that the Great Basis also includes areas of the Mojave desert in southern California as well as part of the Sonoran desert as far south as the state of Baja California in Mexico. Several thousand years ago, immense lakes covered much of the Great Basin region.

The Oregon Outback Scenic Byway will take you on a journey along the edge of the Great Basin. The journey in Oregon traverses 170 miles along the western edge of the Great basin beginning just south of La Pine, Oregon and continuing southeast to Lakeview, Oregon where the route in Oregon will end at Goose Lake State Park on the California state line. Although not a part of this scenic byway, the western edge of the Great Basin follows the California-Nevada border all the way to Death Valley before the edge turns east to form the southern boundary of the Great Basin.

Along the path of the Oregon Outback Scenic Byway, there will be an abundance of volcanic landscapes, remnants of ancients lakes, and abundant signs of the native Americans, the early explorers, and the pioneers settlers.

This entire area is sparsely populated but that only makes good opportunities for times with simplicity, solitude and solace.

Its southern boundary is determined by the highest shoreline of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, which once inundated the Central Basin.