South Western Idaho       Central Idaho        Eastern Idaho        Eastern Oregon

The Owyhee desert and mountain range in south western Idaho and south eastern Oregon is an amazing place.   In the book “Owyhee Trails” by Mike Hanley and Ellis Lucia, the authors showed how ALL of the stereotypes of the Old West, actually happened in Owyhee County.  Gun fights, Indian Wars, sheepmen vs. cattlemen battles, underground mining wars, wagon train hold-ups, and grand hotels. This is a very unique and special place. 

While roaming the Owyhee mountains and desert, visitors may photograph wildlife, study history first-hand, and search for cool looking rocks.   Mostly though, they are able to enjoy the quiet and serenity.  In time, you too will find these places equally fascinating to visit.

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.

• Utter - Van Ornum Massacre sites

• Hole in the Wall, Birch Creek, Poison Creek Cutoff, Doyle Place, Hart Creek Canyons

• Hole in the Ground, Mud Flat Road loop

  • • • • • Mountain Home Crater Rings

          • Hardtrigger Falls

          • Jump Creek Falls, Poison Creek Stage Station, The Rocks Stage Station, petrified wood

          • Wickahoney, Duncan Creek, Zeno Canyon, Buffalo Jumps

          • Wilson Peak, Reynolds Canyon loop

          • Black Mountain to Silver City

          • Ghost towns near Silver City

          • Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park

          • Winter Camp

          • Lower Bruneau Canyon

          • Castle Creek Loop

          • Celebration Park

          • Initial Point - Kuna Cave

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 Owyhee desert 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.