JORDAN VALLEY, Oregon — The Owyhee Canyonlands are rugged and remote, but this desert landscape is also a beautiful area to explore when fall brings cooler temperatures.
An adventure into this landscape should not be taken lightly. I find it to be one of the most challenging places to recreate as it has no cell service, rough gravel roads, and a lack of available water sources.
Check out the video to see the honeycombs and follow our journey:
I set out to backpack through the Honeycombs Wilderness Study Area, which is 39,000 acres of non-motorized BLM land, and the challenges started before I even got to the trailhead of Painted Canyon.
A water crossing stopped me in my tracks. I decided it would not be a smart move to try and drive across it— seeing as I was out adventuring with just my dog Chief.
This hurdle added an additional three miles onto the trip each way, and when I got to Carelton Canyon, I had to navigate into a draw with no trail, and it was slow going to find the best route.
After the first two challenges set me back, I realized I wasn't going to make it to Owyhee Reservoir before dark.
However, I decided to keep trekking because there was zero water along the route, and I didn't want to stay out in the wilderness longer than my water supply could support my trip.
Thankfully, I eventually made it to the reservoir and set up camp underneath some trees.
It was an awesome spot, and if I had to guess the distance, it was about eight miles from where I started walking.
The next morning, I headed back and ran into a group of wild horses that had surprised us the night before. It would have been scarier if we hadn't noticed all the horse poop in the canyon.
We also heard coyotes howling through the night.
We hiked out of Painted Canyon on our way back to the car— tired and a little defeated from another epic adventure in the Owyhee Canyonlands, where I didn't run into a single person.
If this landscape piques your interest, I would recommend starting with a trip to Leslie Gulch.
This area has a much better dirt road; you will see people down there, you can drive all the way to the reservoir, and the hiking trails will have similar views.
The Owyhees are one of the last vast expanses of land in the United States that include limited protections from the federal government.
There has been a movement to try and change that, but it fell short in the last couple of years of the Biden Administration.
As always, when backpacking in a wilderness area, it's vitally important to practice Leave No Trace's 7 Principles when visiting public lands and make sure to pack out everything you bring in.
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