You know you’re falling in love with the desert, says my hiking companion, when you start venturing into places where there’s no water at all. No streams, no tinajas, no springs burbling up from the depths. Just landscape stripped to the bone: rock, scrub and sky.

Sprinkle a little water on such a thirsty tableau though, and you can feel the love come a’welling.

Alder Springs gushes out of the hillside at the top of a desert canyon west of Terrebonne, replenishing a depleted Squaw Creek not far below. The confluence of Alder Springs and Squaw Creek is a happy place, with cottonwoods and alders and tall grass contrasting with the junipers and bitterbrush just up the hill.

I’m here with Brent Fenty – Central Oregon native, long-distance hiker and former wilderness coordinator for the Oregon Natural Desert Association. He’s just made his water-in-the-desert comment and I’m considering its essential truth.

There’s a lot to love about pure, unadulterated desert. But water in dry country is truly a welcome bonus.

Fenty and I hiked to this place from an obscure trailhead administered by the Crooked River National Grasslands. This is the centerpiece of a proposed 17,000-acre wilderness area that contains plenty of High Desert plateau country, 800-foot-deep canyons and lots of wildlife. Inside its boundaries, 10 miles of Squaw Creek and 11 miles of the Deschutes River flow.

Not far from Redmond, Terrebonne and Madras, these rimrock canyons seem far more remote than their geography implies. Fenty and his colleagues say they see the writing on the wall. They believe growth in Central Oregon will spur more use and they worry that private land on the periphery of the proposed wilderness will be developed. They’d like to see the area protected from further road building and preserved as is for hikers.

We ford Squaw Creek and continue downstream along the rugged western bank, following the spidery tracks of a raccoon and the path of least resistance. Up out of the riparian zone, the sun blasts the basalt; slithery beasts – snakes and lizards – stick to the tall grass. A great blue heron explodes from the creek directly below us and we watch as it wings back the way we’d come. A half-mile on, we watch a forked horn mule deer buck mosey along the bottom land.

It’s hikes like this that make one yearn to know more. What is that delicate red wildflower blooming along the creek? How many thousands of years does each striation on the canyon wall represent?

It’s only about 3.5 miles from where we parked the rig to the mouth of Squaw Creek where another hoodoo cleft – the Des-chutes River Canyon above Lake Billy Chinook – opens to view.

On the way back up and out, I discover that Fenty has hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail, south to north, in one 5-1/2 month burst of energy. It’s an impressive feat that goes a long way toward explaining his effortless, virtually sweat-free approach to this little stroll. We cross back over the stream and hit the juniper trail, up along the Alder Springs canyon and back out on top.

Back in the Jeep, Fenty says turning this dramatic corner of Central Oregon into a fully protected wilderness is far from a done deal. But he figures that once you’ve been here and done this, you’ll appreciate Central Oregon’s High Desert a little bit more.

From Terrebonne, turn west on Lower Bridge at the Crooked River Ranch sign. Follow the paved road about 10 miles and turn left at Holmes Road. Go past the entrance to Holmes Ranch and turn right at the first gravel road, Road 6360. Open the gate (and close it once you’re through) and watch for a Road 6370 sign. Take this dirt road to the right, go past the trees to the north and follow it to a fork. There’s a natural parking area here. A 4-wheel-drive vehicle or 2-wheel with high clearance is recommended.

From the parking area, follow the road on foot to the right. It turns into a trail (there’s a sign) leading to the top of the canyon above Alder Springs. Follow the trail down into the canyon to Squaw Creek. You can stop here and enjoy this oasis or ford the creek and continue on the trail all the way to the Squaw Creek- Deschutes River confluence.

Bring plenty of water. Watch for snakes in summer. No permits are required.