It's a rare day that you get tailwinds in both directions across the Alvord Playa, but the wind gods played favorites today. Desert Wells gap is a sweet little climb up to the Alvord Wilderness Study area though a windy canyon between a table butte to the south and the rolling hills to the north. At the top of the gap, views back toward Tse'tse'ede (Steens Mountain) are one reward. Of course wilderness is a bit of a misnomer as 5000 head of cattle winter up here and well, cow patties and wandering beasts don’t always bring to mind the theme of wildness. Sometimes the calves are cute. East Steens road is a typical start. The easiest access is Frog Spring with parking and an outhouse. Park in the lot or park out on the playa. The only posted rule is pack it in, pack it out, otherwise drive and park where you want. There is a steep southern access almost no one takes at the junction of East Steens road and Serrano-Tule Springs road. There is a paid access at Alvord Hot Springs. Although you can drive across the playa, I wouldn’t miss the ride across the playa with views of the eastern buttes riming the Alvord. The playa plays with your sense of distance, especially as the day warms up. The mirage effect of heat elevates cars into flying spaceships with dust off their tails. The sagebrush near the edges start as islands in a sea (until you get closer). The eastern buttes reflect as if you are sailing on the edge of the sea. Even your cycling partner, if far enough ahead of you, will levitate off the playa. You are in hyperspace. At least in the spring, it is somewhat common to have a tailwind heading east across the playa, so sit up, extend your arms and fly. The dried mud has various personalities as you cross the playa. I often find it hard and fast on both the west and east ends, softer in the middle of the playa requiring a bit more pressure on the pedals. Have a look at the distance on your Karoo, Garmin or favorite GPS device when you think you are almost to the other side and find out that you are nearly halfway across. Keep pedaling. Sometimes automotive tire tracks lead you into the road heading up the gap. It’s ok if you don’t initially find it. Mickey Alvord Wells road runs along the base of the buttes and you will eventually encounter a road. It is quite possible to meander between the brush, but it is faster to find the road, a double track path. The double track with tire ruts is softer than the playa. Sometimes the paths through the greasewood and sage are hard and sometimes they are super soft and you sink in. Look at the gravel as you begin to climb and admire the extent of color in the rocks. Horned lizards and other reptiles occasionally dart across your path. The climb up the gap begins just after the crossing of Mickey Alvord Wells road, another double track. The gap seems to be used by cowboys and ranchers in pickup trucks, so you may well encounter someone on this otherwise seemingly desolate road to nowhere. We took lunch up top. While the view of Tse’tse’ede is spectacular, with wind howling from across the playa in May we tucked down behind the sagebrush for relief. It is possible to shelter from wind or sun behind a greasewood plant, much as the flowers do. In fact, it was while sitting down that we noticed all the different flowers beneath the otherwise monotone of the desert. Lizards and snakes too seek shelter in the brush. My original plan was to follow Dry Basin Road, a winding path paralleling the Alvord Desert Wilderness Study area. Once on the road, it proved to be a veritable cow path. That is, cows wandered along it when it was wet, leaving footprint depressions. Now that it was hard and dry, riding over the waffle grid was tedious and I can verify it is a true cow path. A return to the Mickey-Alvord Wells road, following the double track blazed by pickups, still dusty and rocky, was a much better flow. On this route, you are still rewarded with cresting hills that reveal a new panorama at intervals. At an unlabeled junction with the Mickey reservoir road, the straight ahead path becomes known as Mickey-Nowhere road. Maybe take that one someday. But a left here heads down valley to Mickey Springs. For us, winding deep into the narrow canyon and turning a bend suddenly brought whistling, whooping, braying, barking and mooing. We had stumbled onto a cattle round-up. Winter grazing was over and the last of 5000 head of cattle were moving elsewhere. The cowboys let us join and pass though. They reasoned our bikes might just help move some of the cows on down the valley. Turns out a few of the cattle ended up racing us. After we passed the herd, several took a side path across a dry creek bed, started running and passed us in turn, beating us out onto the sandy open valley. After a bit of slower going, Mickey Springs appeared with Mickey Butte in the background. The geothermal springs are gated, I assume to keep cattle out. Lots of warning on the signs about not falling in and death being imminent for failure to be careful. A serene, vibrant pool from deep in the earth empties into a tiny rivulet which fills a small rectangular foot-pool, chiseled into the ground for warming your dusty feet. Well worth a stop to wonder what is going on in the earth beneath you. Returning south toward the Alvord playa, back on the Mickey-Alvord Wells road, the road runs straight south. As you approach the intersection near Desert Wells gap, there is a brief section of nearly pure sand, perhaps 500 meters that were only walkable for us, even on partially deflated 55 mm tires. We glanced over our shoulders toward Mickey Butte and it was disappearing into a wall of dust coming out both sides of the Butte. The dust was perhaps 500 meters high and gained on us as we headed out onto the playa. This new north tailwind then blew us back to the start. It is a rare day that there are high speed tailwinds in both directions, but occasionally, just occasionally, nature plays a serendipitous hand to the exploring cyclist.