In all the years we have lived in Central Oregon, we have never hiked to Alder Springs. In fact, we didn't even know it existed until recently.  Flowing into lower Whychus Creek which starts at Broken Top and merges into the Deschutes River, Alder Springs is an oasis in the midst of the High Desert. 

There are two trail heads you can drive to in order to begin your hike to Alder Springs.  Both trail heads have sketchy 4 wheel drive dirt roads which is probably why few take these hikes. We took the least rough road located out of Sisters to our trail head which resulted in a longer 3.8 mile hike one direction bordering Whychus Creek much of the way.  We saw no one on this hike until we reached Alder Springs and at times the trail was hard to find. During the summer this hike would be very warm as there is little shade and we would recommend hikers bring a lot of water. But the hike along the canyon rim can be beautiful with views down to the creek and birds of prey circling in the sky.

Once we reached Alder Springs, we saw other hikers for the first time. They had come the shorter 1.5 miles from the other trail head and had hiked the additional 1.5 miles to an overlook of the junction of Whychus Creek and the Deschutes River. This second way to reach Alder Springs involves wading across Whychus Creek - which was knee high the end of May 2020.  After resting a bit, we returned to our car the way we had come and made it there 10 minutes before a violent thunderstorm hit. It was a great day.