From Jarbidge I went North on the Roland Road to Grasmere and made four side trips to the rim of the Bruneau Canyon on the way (Black Rock Crossing, Triguero Trail, Batt Trail, and Indian Hot Springs according to my USGS map). The latter two were real rough - several miles of walking pace over rocks or dirt with big ruts from when it was muddy. It looks like someone (in a wagon perhaps) just started out through the sagebrush avoiding the biggest rocks but otherwise driving over whatever was there and they've never been improved.
Black Rock Crossing and Indian Hot Springs have roads down. Both are pretty narrow in spots where they go through the rim-rock at the top. Hard to tell what they're like for the rest of the way down and up the other side. I saw what looked like a vehicle on the other side at Indian Hot Springs and for a moment thought the road on that side must be OK, but after looking through the binoculars it appears to be a 40s pickup truck that probably broke down and was abandoned where it quit. A BLM site for rafters seems to imply that vehicles can get down that side. There is a very sway-back bridge crossing the river there but I don't think it is safe for any vehicle. I could see some steam wafting up, so the Indian Hot Springs name seems appropriate.
The other two spots have pack trails according to the USGS maps, but obviously neither has been used in many years since I couldn't see a trail - only a way down that looked like it would be possible.
Obviously not many visitors to any of these places by the routes I took. At Black Rock Crossing I saw one ATV down in the canyon on the other side of the river and their truck parked on the rim on my side. Other than that two big Simplot cattle trucks on the Roland Road, a pickup truck near one ranch and a couple of dust clouds. I spent the night out at the rim where the Batt Trail starts. The only sign of civilization was a light from some government site (according to the map) W of Grasmere.
Wow, did Jerry get 'lost' down in there? I figured he would have a bunch of pics to post. I sure wish I had gone, but I'm planning and saving for my trip at the end of the month to the other side of the world . . . . just thought I'd drop in to see some pics of this trip . . .
Hey, no prob, I gots patience. Sort of. Ya done yet? LOL.
No really, when I take a week long trip, I have about 600 or so pics to sort through, and then you gotta damn near write the report first because some sites will log you out before you're done writing a long report like that.
Lets try posting day one. I left a day early to explore some back roads on the way to McDermitt.
Friday – Sept. 16 Beaverton:
Mike G. arrives; we load his gear into my Xterra and we are heading out at 7:44 am. It is overcast in Beaverton and we encounter light drizzle on our way to Salem. We turn East at Salem and head for Bend. My usual rest stop east of Mill City was out of commission so I stopped at the Packsaddle county park about a mile up the road.
Sandy and I have launched our rafts from here many times. Mike walks down to the end of the boat ramp to look at the river. Whoa – there are good sized salmon spawning right at the foot of the ramp and quite a few more further out. It was neat to see. We could have probably scooped them up with our hands.
The low overcast sky continued until we crossed the Cascades then it became a high overcast with warmer temps.
Bend: Gas and lunch. Lunch is at a Taco Bell and we are underway at noon.
We drive east to Alfalfa and then continue east to see if we can reach the Ochoco Mountains. Pavement, good gravel, narrow dirt, gravel, rock, rough rock and finally a locked gate on Twelvemile Creek before the mountains. Lots of empty country with hidden ranches down in the draws. The ranches have green fields with herds of cattle grazing in them. After the locked gate we back track, pick up a smooth gravel road to the south and sail through the empty land until we reach highway 20 at Glass Buttes. Then a hour’s boring drive into Burns. Temperature in the low 70’s
Burns: 4:30 pm We check into the Silver Spur motel and eat at the Apple Peddler restaurant which was fine but Burns could really use a better selection of restaurants. 356 miles today.
Saturday – Sept 17 Burns:
Up early as this may be a long day driving remote roads west of Owyhee Lake and river. We meet up with Richard and Jan (Jeep Grand Cherokee) and are off at 6:38.
48 degrees and a nice blue sky.
We head south from Burns on Highway 78 headed for Malheur Cave. Unlike the last time I tried to find it, I find the correct turn off and we are shortly doing a quick exploration of the cave. The cave is a lava tube owned by the Burns Mason’s. Interesting history at Robert Burns Masonic Lodge #97: Malheur Cave
Driving back to the highway we see a large bull elk which is sort of strange as is it grasslands for miles and more suited for antelope than elk.
Back on the pavement we continue south and arrive at the Crowley Road turn off at 8:24. A short stop and then we bomb up the road towards Crowley ignoring the road closed sign as I am pretty sure it applies to a location to the north of where we are going.
We see lots of antelope near the lake SW of Crowley. Just before Crowley Mike begins to earn the name Gateman as he opens/closes the first of many gates we will encounter this trip. Crowley at 9:15. Crowley is just an old abandoned farmhouse. Just beyond Crowley I turn right onto a dirt road and we raise large dust clouds until we come the gate that we need to go thru to continue south. Closed, Private Land, No Trespassing. Damn. Well I have an alternate route mapped out to the east – let’s try that one.
Back to the Crowley Road, another right turn off and we are bumping down the Reinhart Ranch road at the fast rate of 20 mph. Finally reach the point where my computerized map says we need to turn right. Hmm – is there a road here? I get out and walk a ways up a faint track that no one has been on for some time. Ok, let’s try it. Right turn and up the hill (slowly). Lots of embedded rock. 5 – 10 mph. Reach the top after a short climb and start south across the dry land.
At 11:25 I turn to the left to see if we can drive out to the Chalk Cliffs overlook. After several slow miles I start down the spur to the overlook. Whoops, it doesn’t look good; better get out and scout. The road ceases to exit a short distance from where I am parked. Time for lunch.
Back on the road at 12:10 and the road improves - slightly.
A short time later I notice a small pool of water off the side of the road. Strange to see in this dry land. Even stranger is the marshy wet section of road I see up ahead. I put the throttle down to blast thru it.
As I come to a stop about 3/4 of the way thru the mud I remember one of the cardinal rules of driving in this area – “Don’t drive thru mud!”. Hell of a time to remember.
I try various maneuvers to get out but I am stuck good. This is when I become REALLY glad Rich and Jan are behind me. Rich hooks up a strap, gives me a little tug and I am out. But now – do we go back (like sensible people) or try to find a way thru. You can guess the answer. Mike hikes around the puddle trying find a way we can drive around it and miss the bigger rocks and other soft spots.
He finds a possible route and guides us while we get in some real off roading.
Back on the road and pressing on – for about an 1/8 mile when we find another mud puddle. No trying to blast thru this one. Mike does the scout, we wander thru grass and rocks and then back on the road.
We get to repeat this exercise many times for the next several miles. I think a heavy rain cell came thru this area several days prior and the road has not had a chance to dry out due to the moderate temperatures.
Once past the mud we pick up ‘decent’ road and slowly make our way south towards Rome OR via the Tub Springs road. Pavement at 12:25. Now only 60 or 70 miles to McDermitt where we will meet up with the rest of the group.
However - the best laid plans and all of that…
Just before McDermitt you go over the Blue Mtn. summit. At the top of the paved summit I pull off onto the little parking area and look up at the real Blue Mtn summit.
Looks like a road going up there and I see a open gate just ahead of us. Hmmm.
Do we go into McDermitt or try to climb the summit?
You know the answer to that. It’s back on the dirt and rock road towards the mountain. Flat, then climbing. Narrow rock road. A possible turn around about 1/2 way up. Turn around? No way. Now the road gets quite steep and even narrower. Up, up and still more up. A sharp left turn and we are on the summit. The usual ‘see forever’ and windy. 3:13 pm - Ok, enough of this, let’s go back down. A half hour later we are back at the pavement and on our way to McDermitt.
McDermitt: 4:02 pm. Gas is $4.20 a gallon, the highest price we will see this trip.
235 interesting miles today. Another perfect weather day with the temps in the low to mid 70’s.
The trip has not even officially begun and the Xterra already has a glorious coating of dried mud and dust.
We meet up with Jerry and Evelyn (Ford F150 w/Flip Top camper) and Alan H. (Toyota Tacoma)
We have a nice dinner at the casino across the street and then it’s sack out time at the local motel. (Possibly one of the worlds thinnest mattresses but that does not stop me from getting a decent night’s sleep.)
Sunday – Sept 18, McDermitt:
We have breakfast at the casino and the ‘official’ trip is underway at 8:11.
I am leading as I have the route plotted on my dash mounted computer which also displays real time tracking of where we are at.
A short way south on hwy. 95 then a left turn thru the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation and we begin climbing up the mountain. Easy dirt road with three creek fordings and occasional pockets of powder dirt/ruts just before we reach the plateau.
The road slowly deteriorates as we head for the three state marker of Oregon/Idaho/Nevada. The road has a lot of embedded sharp rocks by the time we reach the fence line where we leave the road and drive very slowly along the fence line for about a mile to reach the marker at 10:43. A 15 minute stop for pictures and then it’s back to the ‘road’ heading NE across a whole bunch of nothing. Great place.
An hour later we are at the Star Ranch overlook checking out the view and the rough steep road down into the canyon where the ranch is.
4x4 low gear going down. The small valley at the bottom has an amazingly thick growth of extremely high ‘grass’ growing in it. The grass or whatever it is is higher than the roof of my Xterra. Pretty obvious that no one has been down here for sometime as I knock down the ‘grass’ in the middle of the track as I drive. Star Ranch has a few sheds and some old equipment. A sharp right turn and Whoa – the ‘road’ goes across a deep gully. Going down is ok, it is the going up that I want to take a closer look at. It is a steep climb up a dirt bank. We all get out to look at it. 4x4 vehicles in the past have dug out the bank trying to get up it. The holes mean that a standard 4x4 will have a tough time climbing out as the right rear wheel will spin in one hole while the left front wheel will spin in the other hole. I have a locking rear differential that will get me up – I hope.
Back in the Xterra, 4x4 low, diff. locked, a light touch on the gas pedal and we are up and out. Rich and Jan power up ok. Alan is having problems. His locking differential is not working. He gives it a number of tries but finally has to hook his winch line onto Rich’s Jeep and pull himself up. Jerry in the long and heavy Ford F150 climbs up with no problems. Hot damn, we are having fun now.
A steep climb out of the canyon with a ledge rock and sharp right hand turn at the top. No one has a problem getting over the ledge or making the turn.
Back on the slow road north towards 45 Ranch. Finally – we can see down into/across the many canyons that cut thru the plateau. 45 Ranch is at the bottom of one these canyons. Well lookee here, the road finally starts winding its way down. I do the 4x4 low gear thing again. Down, down and down. We finally reach the bottom, go thru some brush and STOP – I’m about to drive into the Owhyee River.
Ok, I knew we would have to cross the river but it looks deeper than I expected. No one wants to think about going back but there is not a lot of enthusiasm for fording the river either. Fearless leader finally decides to wade out and see how deep it is. Not as bad as it looked The near side of the river is up to my knee caps which is just about the maximum depth I feel comfortable with. The river gets shallower towards the far side.
I do the 4x4 low thing, ease into the river and have no problems getting across. The rest of the group follows with no problems also. Then a short drive to the ranch and lunch at 1:45 pm. Nice buildings and equipment but it does not look like anyone lives there full time. Another great sunny day with the temps in the 70’s.
We leave the ranch at 2:15 and start the climb back up to the plateau. The road becomes ‘better’ being mostly dirt or decent rock. Tracks in the dirt where vehicles have driven thru when wet. Some seem to have made it, others leave scenes of interesting struggles. We are able to do 20 mph for short sections.
A short way later we come to the side road to Crutcher Crossing which we had originally hoped to drive out to but it is getting too late to do it today. Onward and onward.
Finally we come to the Pipeline road intersection where our road east becomes a nice one lane rock road. Just how ‘one lane’ we find out when a truck with a horse trailer comes at us. We and the truck get way over on our respective sides of the road and squeeze past each other. That is the only moving vehicle we have seen since leaving McDermitt.
More onward and finally - pavement. Nice smooth pavement on which we zoom into the Duck Valley reservation. At the intersection with hwy. 225 we see a gas station – lets pull in there. 4:30 pm. Good choice as it is the only gas station for a 100 miles north or south. And look at this, it has a good sized market and a small deli.
After filling up with gas and checking out the market we decide to eat at the deli. Another good idea as it is also the only deli for a 100 miles north or south. Slow service but good sandwiches.
Dusk is starting as we head south thru the city of Owyhee (no services) and finally reach Mountain City (6:00 pm) which also has no services but does have two small old motels which we have reservations at.
Check in and unpack. The motel we are staying at has a SMALL bar (The only one ….) which doubles as the office, casino (two? slot machines) and you can order a burger to go with your drinks. Great place if you have a magenta colored neck.
The Forgotten Corner - Sept 2011 
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