High Desert Museum
59800 S US-97
Bend, OR
Part natural history museum, part wildlife sanctuary, part living-history ranch, all rooted in the sagebrush country of central Oregon.
The High Desert Museum is one of those places that quietly outgrows every expectation. From the highway it looks modest, but inside and out it spreads across more than a hundred acres of ponderosa pine, blending a natural history museum, a wildlife sanctuary, an art gallery, and a living-history ranch into a single day. It is regularly rated the top attraction in central Oregon, and for good reason.
In one visit you can stand a few feet from a golden eagle, watch otters swim past underwater glass, walk through the deep history of the Plateau tribes, stroll a re-created frontier town, and end up at an 1880s homestead where interpreters are splitting wood and tending the garden. It manages to be a serious museum and a genuinely fun outing at the same time.
What Guests Love
- Meeting live raptors up close at the birds of prey center, from bald eagles to owls
- Watching the river otters play through underwater windows
- The Hall of Plateau Indians and By Hand Through Memory, told with and by Native voices
- Wandering the outdoor trails to a homestead ranch and sawmill with costumed interpreters
Worth Knowing
- It is far bigger than it looks from the highway, indoors and out, so give yourself a half day at least
- Much of the experience is outside on forest trails, so dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes
- Live animal talks and demonstrations run on a daily schedule; catching a few is the best way to see the place
- It is open year-round and makes an ideal rainy or snowy day plan when the trails around Bend are wet
Details
Bend, OR
Learn about High Desert Museum
How it began
The museum grew out of the vision of Donald Kerr, a naturalist with a lifelong passion for birds of prey. In the 1970s he founded the Western Natural History Institute, and in 1982 that work opened to the public as the High Desert Museum. From the start the idea was different from a typical museum: to tell the whole story of the high desert, its wildlife, its landscapes, its Native peoples, and its settlers, in one place, with living animals and real experiences rather than glass cases alone.
That founding spirit still runs through everything. The birds of prey center carries Kerr's name, and the museum has kept growing, adding exhibits, trails, and habitats across its acreage while holding onto the hands-on, close-to-the-animals feel that made it special.
The wildlife
The stars for most visitors are the animals. The Donald Kerr Birds of Prey Center is home to regional raptors, including bald eagles and a range of hawks and owls, many of them birds that could not survive in the wild, shown in daily flight and talk programs. Outside, a family of North American river otters glides through a stream-and-pool habitat with underwater viewing windows, endlessly entertaining.
Indoors, the Desertarium introduces the small, secretive creatures of the sagebrush country, the snakes, lizards, tortoises, amphibians, and burrowing animals that most people never see. Together the living collection is a crash course in the surprising richness of a landscape that looks empty at first glance.
People of the high desert
The museum takes the human history of the region seriously. By Hand Through Memory and the Hall of Plateau Indians explore the cultures of the Columbia Plateau tribes through their own objects, art, and voices, a thoughtful and respectful telling of a living heritage rather than a vanished one.
The Spirit of the West exhibit walks you through the settler history of the desert in a series of life-size scenes, from a hard-rock mine to a frontier boardwalk. Rotating art shows and special exhibitions round out the indoor experience, so there is usually something new even for repeat visitors.
Outdoors and the ranch
A network of trails winds out through the pines to living-history sites, including a homestead ranch and a working sawmill dating to the early 1900s, where interpreters in period dress bring the daily grind of frontier life to hand. Along the way are more animal habitats and quiet forest, so the outdoor half of the museum is as much a walk in the woods as a history lesson.
Because so much of the museum is outside, the seasons change the visit. Summer is green and busy, fall and spring are crisp and quiet, and a snowy winter day turns the trails into something out of a storybook. Whatever the weather, there is enough indoors to keep a family happy for hours.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Bend
Bend
About 6 miles north
Central Oregon's lively hub, with the Deschutes River running through the Old Mill District, a deep bench of breweries, and trailheads in every direction.
Newberry National Volcanic Monument
About 8 miles south
Lava Lands, the Lava River Cave, a caldera with two alpine lakes, and the black glass of the Big Obsidian Flow, all on one of Oregon's youngest volcanoes.
Sunriver
About 10 miles south
A forested resort community on the Deschutes, with paved bike paths, a nature center and observatory, and easy river access.