This is Oregon? Leslie Gulch, 6.17.23 - 6.22.23, Part 1 of 2

I love maps. I pore over them constantly. When I look at a map my mind is envisioning being there. A good map has a wealth of information on everything from campgrounds to points of interest to 4WD roads and so much more. That’s how I found Leslie Gulch.

When most people think of Oregon they think of Crater Lake, Mount Hood, the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge or the beautiful beaches along the Pacific coastline. Yet Oregon has an incredibly diverse topography. In addition to those places mentioned above, there are the lush green valleys of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers, the fascinating colors of the Painted Hills and Blue Basin in the John Day Fossil Beds, the string of volcanoes along the Oregon Cascades to name a few of the myriad of locations worth visiting. Studying the map of Oregon I realized I knew absolutely nothing about the entire southeastern corner of the state. That alone intrigued me enough to look into it further. Was it just a wasteland not even worth driving through? I doubted that. So I did some research and came across a vast area known as the Owyhee (pronounced O Why Hee) Canyonlands. It is a huge area roughly the size of Yellowstone. It is located on the far southeastern corner of Oregon. The Owyhee Canyonlands are extremely isolated. Boise, Idaho is the closest decent sized city. The only roads leading into the heart of this area are dirt. There is no cell service and even the closest gas station is an hour and a half away. Through this rugged landscape, the Owyhee River carved a deep canyon and along with several tributaries, great chasms, jagged badlands and geologic wonders are all surrounded by rolling hills and grasslands.

From all that I had read, this is a seldom visited area and we would likely have the place to ourselves. That wasn’t the case but more on that later. In fact, I had the impression that the most populous things in the Owyhee were zillions of rattlesnakes, ticks and goat horns which are those nasty three pronged hard, sharp stickers that look like the head of a Triceratops. Now I know you are thinking that this doesn’t sound like the most hospitable place to spend a vacation. Bridgit had visions of being on a hike, getting bitten by a rattlesnake which would be so frightening she would fall into the tall grass by the side of the trail whereupon she would be impaled by hundreds of goat heads and then the ticks would descend to finish her off. Oh and of course we would be miles and miles from any help with no cell service and no other people. Ahh, good times!

I’ve had my eye on this area for over a year. Bridgit and I were just waiting for the timing to be right to get there and last week was that time. Our friends Greg and Cindy were eager to join us so plans were made. The first thing I realized was that this was no place for the Navibahn. The roads sounded a bit too rugged for an RV so we reverted to what we started out doing which is tent camping. I wasn’t sure if the Jeep would even fit enough supplies for a five night trip but in the end we managed to get everything we needed into it.

It is an eleven hour drive and you lose an hour changing time zones from our home to our destination in Leslie Gulch so we opted to spend a night along the way. Greg and Cindy took their own vehicle since they would have to leave before us to get home. We drove about eight hours to a free camp spot off of I-84 along the Snake River. It’s nothing special but it put us in position for a much shorter drive to Leslie Gulch the following morning. The next day we stopped in Marsing, Idaho to top off our gas tanks and then headed back into Oregon. The landscape changed as soon as we turned off the highway. Being June the hills were still cloaked in a verdant green carpet of grass. Chunks of volcanic basalt stuck up on the hillsides and Greg and I both thought it reminded us of what England must look like.

We drove through the rolling green hills for about fifteen miles before coming to the top of Leslie Gulch. From there it is another eight miles to a free campground called Slocum Creek. This campground is run by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the twelve sites are first come, first serve. We weren’t too concerned about finding a site since it sounded like hardly anyone goes there and especially during the week.

The eight mile drive down through Leslie Gulch to Slocum Creek Campground was stunning. As we drove down the dirt road, which was bumpy but passable to most regular cars, the walls closed in and great pillars of rock rose above the gulch. It was really amazing. The whole way I was calculating where the best spots might be to shoot at sunrise or sunset. The rocks had every color imaginable. Black, purple, pink, orange, red, it was a true rock garden!

Eventually the gulch opens up but is still every bit as beautiful. Arriving at Slocum Creek Campground most of the sites were taken but there were still several open sites so we were in good shape. Most sites had covered picnic tables and a fire ring which is rare for a free campground. It even had a bathroom but it was in horrible shape and not well taken care of at all. The location of the campground was great. Just across from the campground were a row of rock pinnacles capped off by a huge rock pillar that towered over the campground. Behind our camp was a large hill. Above the camp was the mouth of a long valley with a very striking set of rock pillars rising up from the hillside. It truly was a spectacular setting for a campsite.

Below the campground the road dead ended after another third of a mile at a boat launch into Owyhee Reservoir. This reservoir is actually part of the Owyhee River and behind the dam it created a lake fifty two miles long. There were several other campsites along that stretch of road and quite a few people parked at the launch picnicking and fishing. I get the impression that despite reading about how desolate this area is that it is being discovered and isn’t nearly as quiet as it may have been even a year or two ago. Our campground was full every night although several people would leave each morning only to have someone else arrive to grab the vacant spot.

**Pano of the pinnacles across from our campsite**

Once we had our camp set up we still had plenty of time to explore. Leslie Gulch is just one small part of the entire Owyhee Canyonlands. Several other gulches drained into Leslie Gulch and some of them have trails. From the top of the gulch down to Slocum Creek was Upper Leslie Gulch, Dago Gulch, Juniper Gulch and Timber Gulch. Each one had a trail although Timber Gulch wasn’t signed and had no parking lot.

**Map of Leslie Gulch showing most of the main side gulches. Upper Leslie Gulch is just off the map above Dago Gulch.**

We decided to start by checking out Dago Gulch which was the furthest gulch we would explore from camp. The trail was basically an old road bed. We followed it up about a mile until we came to a fenced gate with a No Trespassing sign. The rock formations along the gulch were great. We also found a bit of a side trail that led around the side of the rocks to a spot where it was obvious climbers had been. Personally I’m so against leaving pro in the rocks. If you have to leave a chunk of metal in the rock or deface the rock to climb it than you shouldn’t climb it at all.

After exploring Dago Gulch we killed a few hours back at camp and ate dinner. Around six-thirty we headed back up the road to and unmarked pullout with room for only one car. This was the “trailhead” for Timber Gulch. Not really an official trail and with no signs at the trailhead, the only reason I knew about this gulch was from internet research. It was supposed to be one of the better spots for sunset photography so I was glad we held off until the evening to hike it.

After starting up the gulch through a trickle of water we actually did come upon a trail and followed it for three quarters of a mile up the gulch and into an amphitheater of giant rock walls. This was a tremendously beautiful hike. All the hills off in the distance were glowing green in the evening sun. As we hiked right up into the heart of the pinnacles, many had incredible pockets carved by wind and water covering the face of the rock. The tops were also twisted and jagged and we had fun deciding what the various rock formations looked like. Against the sky some looked like a pair of pig faces, a turtle, a marmot. It was easy to let our imaginations run wild.

The light at this time of the evening was ever-changing. Some spots were already in the shade but that just accented other rock formations that were lit up by the sun. The trail basically went up the gulch and then took a hard left up higher into the amphitheater where we were surrounded on three sides by towering pinnacles and rock faces. At the very upper end of the amphitheater, between two rock pinnacles was a steep rocky section that I believe is where some people scramble to get up above the amphitheater. From there they hike above and across to another gulch called Juniper Gulch and come down back to the road via that gulch. We weren’t feeling that ambitious and were thoroughly satisfied with our evening stroll up Timber Gulch.