Day 40, September 21

Day 40, September 21

Locations: Hells Canyon; Silver City; Owyhee Uplands Scenic Byway

Miles driven: 389

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I set the alarm for 6:30 not knowing when sunrise was, so I figure I'd reset it every 15 minutes until I saw light. I got up at 7:05 and went back up to Kinney Point. There was a bit of color off to the east along with a layer of clouds and a clear band of sky at the bottom at the horizon. I took some shots, but had no color and no real light. Smoke rolled in the north end of the canyon as there was a strong northerly wind, which was perfect as I'd be heading south today! Love that smoke! Fortunately, this was the last I saw of it. It was so cold this morning that I even had to put pants on! I think it was only the second time on the trip that I did so, otherwise shorts were the name of the game. I suppose it wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the 20 degrees with a 30 mph wind.

After I shot at Kinney, I walked the short Sheep Rock loop trail with the point-and-shoot, and while I was finishing up I was debating if I should get the Rebel and re-shoot some the amazing reds on the early part of the trail again. I decided I would, so I started running back to the 4Runner just to move things along (had a lot of ground to cover today) and just as I got back to the truck, I did a nice head-first dive. I had a smooth-sliding landing, though, which was good enough to earn a 9.4 for style! Good thing I was only carrying the P&S. After I took some more shots of the colorful forest, I drove back into Cuprum and down the Kleinschmidt Grade which descends into Hells Canyon. Once at river level, I took the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway to the end at the dam. After taking a few snaps along the route, I circled back and started for the Owyhee Mountains in the southwest part of the state.

Onions were being harvested in a number of fields on the drive south, and every time I passed a truck load of onions or a field, their scent was strong, and smelled really good. I didn’t realize prior to this that this is onion country, but it most certainly is. I also thought about the possibility/probability of crying farmers which garnered a bit of a chuckle!

I took the road out of Sheaville, Oregon, off Highway 95 into Silver City which lies in the low Owyhee Mountains. I wanted to check it out a bit as I had heard from a number of sources that it lies in a cool area. The drive in was pretty neat as you travel through the bottom of a short canyon. I left the settlement that is Silver City almost as soon as I arrived and headed back out towards Jordan Valley to start the Owyhee Uplands Scenic Back Country Byway.

I got to Pleasant Valley Road at the start of the byway at 4:32. The weather was beautiful with clear skies and no smoke. I hoped I could find a spot to shoot at sunset. This byway was actually one of the things I was most looking forward to on the trip as a number of people had highly recommended it to me, but mainly, it was the scene from page 12 of Idaho’s guide to scenic drives that really had my interest piqued. I thought that a Utah-esque scene like that would be perfect to shoot. So, this is what I was really aiming for tonight if at all possible, though I didn’t know if it was a sunrise or sunset spot. After a number of miles of nothing, I came to a sign that points the way to the Owyhee Canyon Overlook, which you have to drive a road off to seemingly nowhere to get there. The canyon was pretty neat, and certainly offered more diversity than anything else around. At this time of day, the far wall was dark. It is rather barren and desolate as well.

Back out on the main drive, I was 45 miles into the byway and not very impressed at all to this point. The road to Silver City was nice, but this just isn't doing it. There is a lot of junipers on flat land with views to the Owyhee Mountains, the term mountains being a generous term as they're very low hills, and from this distance, are really low and insignificant. I thought the scenery better pick up the pace. Sure, the views really open up and are expansive, but they don't go anywhere. From all the good things I had heard about this route, I was second-guessing everyone! Yeah, it's a nice and long drive away from any civilization, but the scenery really has nothing to offer—for me anyway. To each their own. Owyhee Canyon was the best (read, only) thing to this point and it isn't even part of the byway!

About 15-20 miles from Grand View at the eastern terminus of the byway, there is a road that heads to Oreanna Lake(s), which I believe the sign indicated at the turnoff. I went down this road a mile or so where it descends into the first gully. I took a spur at the bottom of that gully that takes off to the left and parked on the most level spot I could find and fixed some tortellini around 9:40. Then, while sitting in the truck looking at maps, I looked out the window and saw some light in the corner of my eye. “Is that the moon?” Sure enough. I wasn't expecting it to be out as I thought I had just seen it earlier in the day, but apparently not. It was very large and red as it was just above the horizon. That was the second or third time on the trip where it came out sooner than expected. I hurried and got the camera and tripod out and took some shots.

Being at virtually the end of the Owyhee byway from here, I cannot recommend this route to anyone at all, unless you think Owyhee Canyon would be worth checking out. Visit it at sunrise if you do. Oh, do you remember the picture that I mentioned above in the guide that drew me to this place to begin with? Guess what? It wasn’t along this road! Unbelievable! I still have yet to write the publisher as of this writing, but there was no scenery along the way that remotely looked like that, and there was certainly no reddish-brown colored rock. Maybe they took that shot in Utah after all! This was very disappointing, but at least I know what is out this way now.

7:50 AM — Hells Canyon and the Walla Walla Range from Kinney Point