The Long Way
Owyhee County, Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon
People looking at petroglyphs on a large rock by a river.
Plate I. Hikers viewing petroglyphs, Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway. From nwtravelmag.com
A river flows through a valley with hills and a campsite along the shore.
Plate II. Owyhee River Canyon, Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway. From nwtravelmag.com
A scenic view of a rocky canyon with green trees and vegetation on a clear day.
Plate III. Canyon landscape along Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway. From visitidaho.org
A river flows through a wide canyon with steep, rocky cliffs and green vegetation along its banks.
Plate IV. Canyon landscape along Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway. From nwtravelmag.com
A natural rock arch formation in a desert landscape under a clear sky.
Plate V. Oolite Interpretive Site, Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway. From nwtravelmag.com
A winding river flowing through a deep canyon with rocky cliffs.
Plate VI. River canyon along Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway. From blm.gov

Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway

Grand View, Owyhee County, Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon, Idaho. Backcountry byway.

Details

Map. Grand View, Owyhee County, Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon, Idaho. Larger map
Where
Grand View, Owyhee County, Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon, ID. No street address stated. Directions
Season
Seasonally closed from the first snowfall until Memorial Weekend.
Getting there
From Boise, take I-84 to Mountain Home (Exit 95), then follow ID-67 and ID-167 southwest to Grand View. Roughly 1 mile southeast of Grand View on State Highway 78, turn southwest onto Mud Flat Road.
Access
Mostly one to one-and-a-half lanes of gravel road.
Phone
208-495-1154
Website
visitidaho.org
Managed by
Bureau of Land Management.
Coordinates
42.960441, -116.077206.

The 103-mile Owyhee Uplands Back Country Byway offers high desert scenery at its finest, from expanses of sagebrush and grasslands to sheer, red-walled river canyons - a vast, little-known, unchanged corner of the American West.

Notable Events

  1. 1863Euro-American settlement began after gold was discovered on Jordan Creek. blm.gov
  2. 1888After ice and cold killed cattle, stockmen developed meadows to raise more winter hay. blm.gov

People

  • Michael Jordan, Leader of the original prospectors for whom Jordan Creek and Jordan Valley were named (died 1864).

Sources

  1. nwtravelmag.com/features/owyhee-canyonlands-as-wild-as-it-gets/article_2f219fab-9e07-450c-b7e4-05952584d298.html
  2. blm.gov/visit/owyhee-uplands-back-country-byway
  3. visitidaho.org/things-to-do/scenic-byways/owyhee-uplands-backcountry-byway
  4. blm.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/OwyBywayGuide_2016_web.pdf
  5. blm.gov/blog/2021-03-18/owyhee-uplands-backcountry-byway