Leslie Gulch
The Owyhee Country of Eastern Oregon
When most people think of Oregon, they often imagine lush, vibrant evergreen forests or majestic volcanic peaks with crystal-clear waterfalls cascading down their slopes. Others might picture the dramatic coastal vistas, where powerful ocean swells crash against striking rock formations. For many though, unique desert landscapes don't immediately come to mind, but there is an entirely different side of Oregon that is just as beautiful and interesting as the landscapes that so often end up on the postcards from the state.
Leslie Gulch is a place I had wanted to visit for years. I had first seen a photo of the area printed in a book and rushed to Google Maps to look up where this was. Over the years that followed, we traversed across the state of Oregon no less than five or six times, taking different routes and seeing different parts of the state, yet still, we never found ourselves within three hours of this otherworldly location. You see, if you want to see Leslie Gulch, you have to deliberately set out to go see it. It sits far from any major highway, interstate, city or other commonly visited natural attractions. So this year, in late June, on Day 3 of our 2024 cross country road trip, I had planned a route that would add approximately three additional hours of driving to our journey from Nampa, ID to Bend, OR for the sole purpose of finally exploring Leslie Gulch.
As previously stated, to reach the gulch, you have to be fully commited. Even after driving down US 95 in remote SW Idaho heading toward the Oregon border and reaching the turn off for Leslie Gulch, you still have 24 miles to go, 20+ of which are unpaved and several of those unpaved miles are washboard in nature. Still, the entire drive is beautiful. You begin in ever-undulating open prairie with free-range cattle roaming near and occasionally on the road, all the while dropping in elevation as you make your way towards the Owyhee River. It is a landscape that brought to mind Eastern Montana or Wyoming.
Eventually, these rolling prairies start to show signs of erosion and reveal glimpses of red, orange, and gold rock beneath a green exterior. This is a sign of what is to come.
These hills were formed millions of years ago by large scale volcanic activity in the area and over time, wind and water, traveling downhill towards the Owhyee River, have slowly carved these rolling hills into some of the most interesting and spectacular volcanic rock formations in the country.
This road, originally constructed as a mail route between the towns of Watson, Oregon and Rockville, Idaho (the former of which, now sits beneath Owyhee Reservoir after the Owyhee River was dammed in 1932), weaves its way through a colorful tapestry of eroded spires and pinnacles.
Our first stop was the Juniper Gulch Trailhead, with plans to hike the Juniper Gulch Trail. We arrived a little after 10:30am. It was a brilliant bluebird sky morning. Temperatures had started in the mid-50s, but were quickly on their way into the mid-90s. With not much shade to be found and approaching mid-day, we slathered on the sunscreen and donned hats and sleeves for the 3.5 mile out and back trail (with nearly 1,100 ft. of elevation gain).
The Juniper Gulch Trail follows Juniper Gulch (imagine that!), starting in the bottom and slowly climbing up a ridge that provides an overlook of Leslie Gulch and neighboring gulches. We had the entire trail to ourselves, or so it seemed, until we came upon a Western Rattlesnake blocking our path.
Early on, the trail is truly in the bottom of a steep gulch. The path is often not much more than shoulder width wide with steep sloping rock or small grottos and caves on either side. In places the trail is slightly wider, it often contains chaparral or sagebrush which still limits your ability to hike in anything other than a single file line. This meant we had to stop until the rattler decided to move on, which initially, he did not seem inclined to do. Finally, however, after a minute or two, the snake scurried on into some brush just beside the trail. While glad we could finally pass, I did worry about where he might be hiding when we passed back through on the return trip to the truck. A snake you can see out in the open is different from one that is hidden and still in a location to be stepped on or nearly stepped on.
After our snake encounter, we started to gradually climb up out of the bottom of the gulch and the higher we climbed the more we were able to see. After nearly 24 hours of driving over the first two days of our trip, Callie didn’t yet have her hiking legs under her and the higher we climbed, the more she complained. Her primary concern became where the water could be found that we had promised her she could swim in at the conclusion of this hike. So far, all that could be seen was desert, and the heat was starting to really make it feel like desert as well.
At roughly the 3/4 mile mark, we hit a relatively flat section with a great view of the valley below and more wind-sculpted shapes above. Formations rising dramatically from the sagebrush and juniper-dotted desert floor, offering remarkable contrast from yellows and greens to oranges and reds.
From this point, the trail embarked on its steepest, longest climb to the top. Sensing Cal needed a win and knowing we had much tougher/longer hikes ahead on this trip, I suggested we go ahead and turn around here and go find a place to swim. This lit a fire under Callie and she was in great spirits as we retraced our steps back towards the truck.
The first 3/4 of a mile had been largely all uphill and all struggle bus for Cal, but turning around and heading downhill knowing that swimming was up next turned her into a chatterbox. She had no shortage of topics to tell us about as we made great time heading back to the truck.
Once back to the trailhead, we had about 4 miles of corrugated gravel between us and Slocum Creek Campground on the banks of the Owyhee Reservoir where we would hop in to cool off. This was Callie’s happy place. In the summertime, the promise of getting in water is the engine that makes Cal run.
While we splashed around in the Owyhee River, a parade of small planes made their way up the river from our southwest. There had to be 12-15 of them and they flew just above the surface of the water. I can’t imagine how cool that flight would be and the landscapes you would get to see covering ground that quickly and from that perspective.
After 30 or 45 minutes at the lake, we toweled off and got to do the majestic drive through Leslie Gulch one more time. As we slowly climbed our way back east and out of the gulch, we once again got to watch the landscape transform with every 1/4 mile. Towering cliffs and surreal rock formations jutting out dramatically in every direction. The play of light in the afternoon sunshine added a new dynamic on the way out with some rocks glowing orange and red and gold in the sunlight, while also casting sharp contrasting shadows on those behind them. I will forever be grateful that we took the time to come explore this out-of-the-way gem of geological wonder.
