Designed with road tours in mind, "Remote Wonders" is an ideal guide to Oregon's Outback. At first glance the landscape looks desolate--a barren realm of basalt rims, high cold deserts, dry lakes, and vast expanses of grass and sage. In fact, it is a place where petite flowers bloom on rock shelves. Tiny organisms thrive in hot springs and water saltier than any ocean. Even some of the soil is unique--a special combination that collects and retains water and allows ancient pine stands to survive. The diminutive pika harvests meadow grass, building miniature haystacks to store food for the winter. When the time is right, thousand of tiny green and black frogs emerge from mud cracks along a lake perimeter. There is also human history, evidenced by petroglyphs and remnants of ranches, mills, and mines. Indeed, this magnificent corner is a rich wonderland of mountains, forest, creatures and more--one worth exploring.