Owyhee's High Desert

The Owyhee Canyonlands are among the wildest, most beautiful, and most unforgiving places we have explored in Oregon. Several members of our family have made trips here since 2014, camping at Anderson Crossing, Succor Creek, Three Forks, and Lake Owyhee. Getting there is often half the adventure. The roads can be steep, muddy, sandy, and extremely rough-sometimes calling them roads is generous-but they also lead through enormous sagebrush valleys, sculpted rhyolite cliffs, colorful canyons, and landscapes that make you wonder whether you are still in Oregon. A sturdy high-clearance vehicle, plenty of water and supplies, and a good map or GPS are essential.

Our first trip was to Anderson Crossing with Gary, Ben, Lola, and me-Three Dudes and a Dog. We backpacked beneath 300-foot cliffs, spent almost as much time wading in the river as hiking on land, and encountered our first Owyhee rattlesnake. Succor Creek later became our regular jumping-off point. From there we explored Painted Canyon, Sage Creek, Carlton Canyon, and Juniper Ridge. Some outings were spectacular, while others involved losing the trail, hiking farther than planned, or failing to find the place we meant to visit. Carlton and Painted Canyon remain among the best hikes we have done here, with vast cliffs, valleys, and rock formations that look more like the desert Southwest than eastern Oregon.

Three Forks is one of my favorite places on Earth. Reaching it is not easy, and the road to the hot springs is definitely not for the faint of heart, but the setting is extraordinary. We have camped along the river, hiked and waded to the springs, soaked beneath the canyon walls, fished for smallmouth bass, watched river otters and mergansers, and seen more rattlesnakes than anywhere else we have traveled. Visit from mid-May through early June and the high desert can be covered with remarkable displays of wildflowers. Owyhee is hot, rugged, remote, and occasionally difficult-but that is also what makes every trip there feel like a genuine adventure.