Owyhee Canyonlands

Why go

BLM’s own description is hard to improve on: a vast high desert plateau with deep canyons hidden in it, carved by the Owyhee, Bruneau and Jarbidge rivers. On the Idaho side the Owyhee River Wilderness alone covers more than 267,000 acres. The agency writes of vertical cliffs, California bighorn sheep and a solitude it calls unsurpassed.

In 2009 Congress designated six wilderness areas in Owyhee County, about 517,000 acres in all, and 16 Wild and Scenic River segments. BLM’s byway guide says the uplands hold one of the largest unfragmented areas of sagebrush steppe in the West, and that this was the homeland of the Shoshone, Bannock and Paiute peoples for at least 10,000 years before settlers arrived. The land remains, in the guide’s words, isolated, starkly scenic, extreme and unforgiving.

You come for the rims and the quiet. The guide says the canyonlands are known for solitude, though in fall in particular you should expect to see others.

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When to go

Snow and mud set the season. BLM’s page for the byway says the road is seasonally closed from the first snowfall until Memorial Day weekend, and refers questions to Owyhee County. Its byway guide puts it another way: usually impassable from late November through April because of snow, and passable by most passenger vehicles during the summer.

The side roads follow the same logic. BLM lists Birch Creek Historic Ranch as open year-round with best access from May to October, and says the side trip from the byway toward Three Forks should not be attempted during the wet season. Rain can do in an afternoon what snow does for a season, so build slack into the plan. BLM reckons a round trip of the byway from Boise at about 250 miles and a full day, and suggests an overnight if you have the time.

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The byway in the order you drive it

The Owyhee Uplands Back Country Byway runs between Jordan Valley, Oregon, 80 miles southwest of Boise, and State Highway 78 near Grand View, Idaho, 70 miles southeast of it. BLM counts about 91 miles in Idaho and 12 in Oregon. The road is graveled, mainly one and one-half lanes wide, mostly flat to rolling, with short grades of up to 12 percent.

Leaving Jordan Valley along Jordan Creek, keep right at Pleasant Valley Road and at Juniper Mountain Road. The guide marks the state line at mile 14.0 and again at mile 23.2, with the Three Forks junction between them at mile 22. At mile 31.3 the road drops into the canyon of the North Fork Owyhee River, where the North Fork Recreation Site has campsites, picnic tables, fire grates and a vault toilet. The next toilet, the guide notes, is about 50 miles east.

Beyond the river the byway crosses juniper country, passes the junction with what the guide calls a rough four-wheel-drive road over Juniper Mountain at mile 41.9, and reaches the Mud Flat administrative site at mile 64.1. It crosses a saddle at 6,133 feet at mile 77.1, descends the Poison Creek drainage past a picnic site with a vault toilet at mile 82.6, and ends at Highway 78 at mile 102.7.

Signed dead-end spurs called cherrystems lead from the byway into the wilderness areas, with the wilderness boundary running up one side and down the other. They are open to motor vehicles unless posted otherwise.

Do not skipKeep all vehicles on the roadway. BLM asks this because the soils and vegetation are fragile. All-terrain vehicles are not allowed on the byway, and every motor vehicle on it must have registered license plates.

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Three Forks and the Soldier Creek Loop Road

Three Forks, where the North Fork, the Middle Fork and the main Owyhee meet, is by BLM’s reckoning one of the most remote locations in Oregon. The approach leaves U.S. 95 near Danner, about 16 miles west of Jordan Valley, at a sign for the Soldier Creek Loop Road, the Owyhee Canyon Overlook and Three Forks. From there it is 36 miles of dirt to the canyon rim. The overlook, 22 miles in, looks down on the Owyhee Wild and Scenic River.

BLM highly recommends high-clearance four-wheel drive and warns that the Soldier Creek Loop Road can be impassable when wet or muddy. The last two miles drop quickly into the canyon on a road the agency describes as rocky, steep and not regularly maintained. Its advice is to stop at the rim, assess the road, and park and hike down if the descent looks too treacherous.

At the bottom are five designated campsites, a boat launch, parking and vault restrooms. BLM lists no fees and a 14-day stay limit.

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Leslie Gulch and Birch Creek

North of Jordan Valley and east of Owyhee Reservoir, Leslie Gulch is 11,000 acres of volcanic tuff cliffs and honeycombed rock, home to more than 200 California bighorn sheep and two plants found only in this drainage. BLM’s directions leave Highway 95 in Idaho, go west 8 miles on McBride Creek Road to Rockville, 1 mile north to Leslie Gulch Road and 15 miles west. Succor Creek Road reaches the same junction from Oregon Highway 201 or from U.S. 95.

The gulch is an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, and the rules are tighter than on the open desert. Vehicles are limited to existing roads and parking areas. Camping and fires are allowed only at Slocum Creek Campground, for up to 14 days. Overnight backpacking and horses are not allowed, and collecting vegetation, rocks or firewood is prohibited. There is no drinking water. BLM recommends high-clearance vehicles, does not recommend large recreational vehicles, and warns that flash floods, wet roads or winter conditions can make the road impassable.

Birch Creek Historic Ranch, on the Owyhee River, is reached from Highway 95 by turning west at the Jordan Craters sign, 8 miles north of Jordan Valley, and following BLM’s river access signs. Access depends on road conditions, BLM recommends a high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicle, and the Vale District office has the current state of the road.

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What your vehicle needs, wet and dry

The byway is the exception: BLM says most passenger vehicles can drive it in summer. For nearly everything else, the Boise District’s safety advice applies: unpaved roads should be avoided during inclement weather, and most require high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicles even in dry conditions.

Rain is the hazard. In the same notice the Owyhee County sheriff’s office says most rainstorms turn the dirt roads muddy, slick and impassable even with four-wheel drive, and that driving them wet tears up land that takes years to recover. The byway guide says precipitation can make even the graveled road treacherously slick. BLM describes the access roads to the Owyhee River Wilderness as difficult for even high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles, 4 to 5 hours one way from Bruneau.

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Camping

Developed sites are few and small. On the byway, North Fork Campground is a semi-developed site with no potable water. Three Forks has five designated sites, Slocum Creek has nine, and Birch Creek has a five-unit campground with a single water source and a restroom. BLM lists no fees at Three Forks, Slocum Creek or Birch Creek.

Elsewhere BLM’s general rules for dispersed camping apply unless an area is posted otherwise. The stay limit is generally 14 days within any 28-day period, after which you move on, often at least 25 to 30 miles. Vehicles stay on designated roads and trails, and most areas need no permit. BLM recommends using sites that are already disturbed, camping within 150 feet of a designated route instead of making new tracks, staying at least 200 feet from water, and packing out everything, human waste included where you can.

Stay limits and fire restrictions vary by office, so ask the one that manages the ground you are heading for.

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Fuel, water, services and who to call

There are no services along the byway. BLM says they are available at its two ends, in Jordan Valley and Grand View, so fill up there and confirm before you go. The guide tells drivers heading for the Three Forks overlook to be sure they have the fuel and the time for it. For the Owyhee River Wilderness, BLM recommends filling the tank at Duck Valley.

Carry all your drinking water. The guide’s instruction is bottled water, and no drinking from streams without treating it. Cell phone coverage is missing along most of the byway.

Who to call: the Vale District Office at 541-473-3144 for the Oregon side; the Owyhee Field Office in Marsing at 208-896-5912 for the byway; the Boise District and Bruneau Field Office at 208-384-3300 for the Idaho wilderness areas; and Owyhee County at 208-495-1154 about the byway’s seasonal closure.

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Questions people ask