Ancient volcanic activity — molded and augered by millions of years of erosive rain and wind — has created a modern-day recreational playground in the 1.5-million-acre Malheur. Hikers can visit ashflow tuffs like Arch Rock, a scenic arch with several small rockshelters eroded into the outcrop. Rock climbers descend on the region to ascend the intricate walls of lava rocks. The Strawberry Mountain range is laced with secluded alpine lakes that lure ice fishermen on Nordic skis in the winter. Hikers can explore vast wilderness areas of and vast forests of ponderosa pine, lodgepole, Douglas fir, aspen, spruce, and larch.

As the forest approaches the desert of southeastern Oregon, the landscape's metamorphosis encompasses prairies of bunchgrass, sagebrush steppe, and scattered juniper. The high desert grasslands of sage and juniper surrender to pines and firs as the elevation escalates from around 4,000 feet to 9,038 feet at the top of Strawberry Mountain.