Note that each of the following underlined outings is hyper-linked to a page with detailed outing information: The remaining outing details are still to be created.
Safety notice:
The ground in the Owyhee desert is mostly comprised of clay-based or sand-based soils. When wet, the clay-based soil becomes very sticky and very slippery. It is locally known as Owyhee County Gumbo. You want to avoid driving and walking on these soils once they get wet.
A friend had a dual-sport motorcycle with a low front fender. One time when riding in the spring, so much clay was packed in between his front tire and front fender that the tire would not turn. We had to remove the tire and chip the clay away with a screwdriver.
Another time after riding in the Owyhees in the spring, I removed 30 pounds of clay from my bike when cleaning it. (I weighed the clay!)
In the winter and early spring, roads that are frozen in the morning might become slippery wet clay once they thaw. On more than one occasion I have not been able to make it up a hill in the afternoon that I rode down in the morning.
When driving on a dry road and there are visible ruts, most likely there is a clay -based substrate that the road was built on and will become gumbo when wet.