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

It began to rain during the night after we had gone to bed and continued to rain pretty steadily the following morning. Greg and Cindy decided to head for home early so Bridgit and I were on our own for the remainder of the trip. We didn’t think the rain would last too long so we decided to take a drive to kill some time. I was eager to check out another part of the Owyhee Canyonlands in a gulch called Succor Creek. It is about twenty-one miles from our camp to Succor Creek but it took us close to an hour and a half to get there. For one thing the rain had caused the dirt road which was mostly clay-based to become much more slippery so we had to really watch it on hills and curves. Another thing that slowed us down was a large number of cows standing in the road. We would come around a corner and there would be a few cows. We would slowly inch towards them until they would scamper off to the side of the road. Occasionally we got a stubborn bull who would stare us down before finally mooving along. Before getting to Succor Creek we were up high and had good views down into the creek valley. More rock walls and canyons greeted us as we descended to the creek. At the bottom we came to Succor Creek Campground. This campground was bigger than Slocum. It had the creek running right through it with sites nestled under Cottonwood trees on both sides of the creek. A small bridge connected the two sides of the creek. From my research I was interested in climbing a Jeep track on the far side of the creek up to a high vista point that provided great views back down the length of Succor Creek Canyon. We found the Jeep track but it was so slippery from the rain that I couldn’t get enough traction to climb the hill. Despite that being a bust, it was an interesting drive and by the time we got back to Slocum Creek the rain had stopped.

It was still a bit cloudy but it looked like it would begin to clear off so we took a short hike. The valley above our campsite looked intriguing. There was a trail heading up the valley but we had been told that the rattlesnakes were out there. That meant I had to go first and stomp my way up the trail to scare them off before Bridgit might step on one. For the record, we never heard or saw a rattlesnake on this trip but that’s not to say they were all out there waiting for Bridgit to come by.

For being an unnamed trail up an unnamed valley, this turned out to be a really nice little hike. We dubbed it “The Valley of the Snakes”. We gradually ascended the valley through grasses and sage until we came to a wall of basalt. At the wall the trail turned to the right and went past several great looking rock pinnacles before ending at a gap between two pillars. The whole hike was only two miles round trip but that was just what we were looking for to fill up the afternoon.

Keeping a leisurely pace, after we had dinner we decided to just drive up Leslie Gulch to look at the evening light. Canyons and gulches are tricky when it comes to light. The inner portions of a canyon can be immersed in shadow fairly early on but the upper walls and open areas tend to bathe in the evening glow for much longer. This provided some nice viewing as we drove around.

**Incredible light right from our campsite looking up the Valley of the Snakes**

The dawn of our final full day in Leslie Gulch was clear, sunny and warm. I got up early to watch the sunrise from down at the reservoir.

After breakfast we headed back up the Leslie Gulch Road and parked at the trailhead for Juniper Gulch. I had saved this trail for last as it was supposed to be the creme de la creme of hikes in Leslie Gulch. The total hike is only three and a half miles gaining maybe seven hundred feet but at a gradual pace. On the map it showed that the main trail heads up the gulch and then has three branches further up to different points in the upper gulch. The weather was perfect, we were the only ones on the trail and it was just one of those hikes where everything is just a joy.

**The trail hugs this wall for a ways before climbing onto a ridge opposite the wall**

We wanted to stay on the trail to the left because it was the longest and looked like it went to the upper reaches of Juniper Gulch. Keeping left at a fork we came to a fairly large chockstone that didn’t match the “easy” rating this trail had. I was able to scale the rock and found a trail above but it made more sense for Bridgit to take the right hand fork. It climbed up onto a spine in the middle of the gulch and provided much better views than if we had stayed in the lower reaches of the left hand gulch. Later on in the hike we were able to reconnect with the left hand trail which did lead us to the upper gulch basin.

**From the spine looking across the deep left hand trail**

**Bridgit and I both thought this looked like a witches hat**

**Crazy rock formations all up and down Juniper Gulch**

**The trail on the ridge approaching the main branch off. We went to the left.**

**Sorry to be sappy but we just love to explore together**

**Lots of California quail. Most have a plume on their head. Not sure why this one didn’t.**

**Looking back to where we hiked up from**

**Took a short side trip off the trail to a really cool rock bowl full of weird rocks**

**Back where the left fork branched off we followed a short spur to this amazing pinnacle**

**This formation almost glowed in the sun**

Our Juniper Gulch hike was really a great one. We saw a couple of people coming up just as we were almost back to the Jeep so for the most part we had the entire hike to ourselves which I love.

Like we had done every day, we headed back to relax awhile and then went back up the gulch for one last look at the evening light on all the incredible rock in Leslie Gulch. There was a hill covered in pinnacles that I had been eying the whole time we’d been there so on this last evening I parked in front of it, got out and climbed the steep hill to have a closer look.

**“Pinnacle Hill” from the road. Can you spot me up on the hill? (Bridgit pic)**

On day five we packed up and said goodbye to Leslie Gulch. Taking an entirely new and different way home, we headed west and then north past The Pillars of Rome, Steens Mountain and the Alvord Desert. We drove up through Burns and John Day before heading even further north to Cottonwood Canyon State Park. Lone Tree Campground is on the banks of the beautiful John Day River and not far from the Columbia River and the Oregon/Washington border. We had no plan here other than relax and enjoy our last day before heading back home.

The Owyhee Canyonlands is a really special place. It has scenic value every bit a s good as the best I’ve ever seen in a national park, yet it is completely unprotected. There is currently a fierce battle going on between those who want to keep it wild and those who want to see it become a National Monument. I love the idea of having wild places and fear that turning it into a national monument would only draw more people to the area but it is clear that the area is very quickly becoming a popular place to visit and without some sort of protective status my concern is that the area could be badly abused. There are no easy answers to this dilemma but I was so impressed with the Owyhee Canyonlands that I want to learn more about the pros and cons of protecting it.

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

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

Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23. Part 1 of 8: Anza-Borrego State Park