dry river canyon – wanderingyuncks

Dry River Canyon and Idlewild Loop – 09/02/2023

Our Labor Day Weekend plans came together in June after we’d decided that the featured hike at Dug Bar in Hells Canyon wasn’t going to happen (post). With us not willing to make the drive to that trailhead our quest to hike all 100 featured hikes in one of the editions of William L. Sullivan’s Eastern Oregon guidebooks (post) needed adjusting. We had been working out of his 2015 third edition of the “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon”, but his 2022 “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” did not include Dug Bar as a featured hike. While our Dug Bar problem was resolved by making the switch one of the new featured hikes was located in the Steens Mountain Wilderness in SE Oregon 350 miles from Salem. The long holiday weekend provided us an opportunity to head to Burns and pick up that featured hike.

We decided to stay in Burns, OR and planned on heading to the featured hike, Threemile Canyon, on Sunday. We picked a pair of other hikes for Saturday to fill the time before checking into our room. Our first stop was at the BLM managed Dry River Canyon Trail.

The canyon and trail are closed annually from February 1st through August 31st to protect wildlife, so this was a good option for this weekend having just recently reopened. We opted to park at the far end of the ODOT gravel area at a sign announcing the trail’s status as “Open”.

This left us with a 0.6-mile road walk to the actual trailhead but saved us from having to drive the primitive rocky road.

Open sign at the trailhead.

We set off on the dirt trail into the canyon which in the ancient past was the course of a river flowing from the former Lake Millican.

Rabbit in the sagebrush.

Some of the exposed rocks showed the work of the ancient river.

Shaped by water.

Colorful rock bands along the canyon wall.

While the canyon is closed to protect peregrine falcon nesting there were a number of other birds among the junipers. The most surprising for us were a number of Clark’s nutcrackers which we typically see at much higher elevations where their favorite food, the seeds of whitebark pines, is found.

There is a huge nest up on the cliffs.

The nest

Wren

American kestral

Tall sagebrush in the canyon.

The canyon reaches a depth of approximately 300′.

After just over 2 1/4 miles we arrived a boulder field where it appeared at first that the trail abruptly ended.

We knew the BLM map showed it continuing and eventually emerging from the canyon and curving to meet Highway 20 across from the Evens Well Trailhead

We were just about to turn back when we spotted the continuation of the trail heading to the right up some rock steps.

The trail climbed up and around the boulder field then dropped steeply back down to the canyon floor.

Skipper

I believe this is a ringlet of some sort.

Beyond the boulder field the canyon walls shortened and we were soon veering right out of the canyon onto a sagebrush plateau.

Heading toward the Evens Well Trailhead.

Looking toward the Dry River Canyon from the plateau. It was impossible to tell that there was such a deep canyon out there.

Pine Mountain (post) to the SE.

We returned to the canyon and returned the way we’d come. We started seeing a few hikers on our way back as well as a number of lizards soaking in the Sun’s rays.

The rock steps were more obvious on the way down them.

A sparrow behind the sticks the camera was intent on focusing on.

Bee on buckwheat

Arriving back at the official trailhead. Several SUVs were now parked here.

They’re hard to make out but the Middle and North Sisters were visible from the road walk back to the gravel area.

Including the road walk our hike here came in at 7.9 miles with 550′ of elevation gain.

We hopped in the car and continued East on Highway 20 to Burns. It was too early to check in so we headed for our second stop of the day at the Idlewild Loop Trail in the Malheur National Forest. There are two possible starting points for the hike. We followed the Forest Service directions in the previous link and parked at the Idlewild Campground. The other option would have been to start from the Idlewild Sno Park.
The trailhead at the campground.

Neat map at the trailhead.

The trail began by a small map along the campground road behind the big wooden map.

We followed this path approximately 100 yards to a “T” shaped junction with the Idlewild Loop Trail where we turned right.
Gold flagging on the sagebrush ahead marked the junction.

The trail followed a fence line before turning right along Highway 395.

Tiny frog

The trail crossed this gated road near the highway. A blue diamond marked the trails continuation.

One of several interpretive signs along the loop.

Squirrel

The highway was just out of sight to the left.

Big ponderosa

We initially missed the continuation of the trail toward the Sno Park and headed downhill to the campground road.

We crossed the campground road and quickly realized our mistake and backtracked.

This time we spotted the correct trail and forked right here.

From the unsigned junction we climbed for a tenth of a mile to a signed junction with the Microwave Trail.

There were lots of dragonflies in the area.

We turned right on the Microwave Trail and followed this trail downhill and once again crossed the campground road.

On the far side of the road the trail passed through a fence and followed an old roadbed gently uphill.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel already sporting some of its winter weight.

We followed the roadbed for a third of a mile before arriving at another signed junction.

We turned right here onto the Devine Summit Trail.

The Devine Summit Trail climbed gradually before leveling out and then eventually descending back to the Idlewild Loop Trail after just over a mile.

Deer in the forest.

There was a bit of blowdown to navigate along the trail.

Some maintenance had been done in the past. There were also a good number of benches along the trail, all of which were accompanied by a post with a number.

Another bench near this fence.

Ponderosa forest

White breasted nuthatch

Another post and bench.

Arriving at the Idlewild Loop on the far side of the fence.

We turned left to complete our loop and then took a right onto the spur that led back to the trailhead.

Our little loop here came to 2.7 miles with 300′ of elevation gain.

This was a very enjoyable hike and we didn’t see another person until we were back at our car and another couple pulled up to the trailhead. We both imagined ticks could be an issue at certain times of the year but on this day the coast was clear. We made the 25 minute drive back into Burns and checked into our room and prepared for another canyon hike the following day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Dry River Canyon and Idlewild Loop

Oregon Badlands Wilderness

You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men…..they often go awry. After putting together a multi-year hiking schedule, much of it will need to be rearranged after our first vacation. We had planned on spending the week in SE Oregon hiking some of the most remote trails in the State, but the weather had other thoughts. Many of the trailheads in that area become inaccessible if it rains which is what the forecast was threatening heading into our vacation week.

Our original plan was to visit family in Bend on Saturday then hike in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness on the way to Jordan Valley on Sunday. We were hopeful that the forecast would clear up and headed to Bend for the visit but by Saturday night the chance of precipitation had increased so we decided not to risk traveling all that way and not being able reach the trails. We instead turned to Plan B which was to spend the week on the Southern Oregon Coast in Gold Beach. Since we were already in Bend though we stuck with our planned hike in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness before heading home to repack for a trip to the coast.

It was a drizzly morning when we arrived at the Flatiron Rock Trailhead fifteen miles east of Bend along Highway 20.

Our planned 13.5 mile hike was to start on the 1.9 mile Ancient Juniper Trail then take the Flatiron Rock Trail to Flatiron Rock. We’d then make a loop by taking the Castle Trail to Badlands Rock and the Badlands Rock Trail which we could follow to a junction with the Dry River and Homestead Trails. After taking a side trip on the Dry River Trail to visit the Dry River Channel we would use the Homestead Trail to get back to the Flatiron Rock Trail and return to the trailhead. Of course the best laid plans of mice and men……

There were a fair amount of wildflowers along the Ancient Juniper Trail as well as plenty of juniper trees. We’ve always enjoyed the uniqueness of junipers and that uniqueness was on display here.

We also spotted a couple of rabbits and bluebirds along the way.

The signage was good at the first junction pointing us in the direction of Flatiron Rock.

After 1.5 miles on the Flatiron Rock Trail we came to the junction with the Castle Trail.

Flatiron Rock was also at this junction. One of the highlights of the Oregon Badlands Wilderness are the explore-able volcanic rock formations that dot the landscape. We followed a path between the pressure ridges and explored.

After wandering around Flatiron Rock we took the Castle Trail, which passed another explore-able rock formation, before arriving at Badlands Rock which towered above the surrounding area.

We attempted to pass through Badlands Rock from the east side but a pile of large boulders made it impossible to get through without some extra effort.

We went back around to the west end and after a fairly easy scramble managed to get inside the walls of Badlands Rock.

At this point our plans began to go awry. Looking at the map we were using we were expecting a trail to bend slightly to the right after passing Badlands Rock but we didn’t see a trail sign and the openness of the area and profusion of old dirt roads and game trails have left paths all over. We had briefly taken a right hand turn at the rock formation along the Castle Trail and were now thinking that maybe that had been the correct path after all. We decided to head back to that spot and inspect it more thoroughly.

This time we explored the rock formation. It had some interesting features and a nice view of Badlands Rock.

It also, apparently, had a Turkey Vulture living in it. As we were passing by, we heard a ruckus coming from the rocks and saw something moving in a crevice. A vulture popped out and stood on the rocks a short distance from us.

We excused ourselves and headed back down to what we believed was the correct trail while the vulture circled overhead to make sure we left. Upon further review of the map and our GPS we decided that the trail we wanted was not here and was in fact back at Badlands Rock. We turned around and returned to Badlands Rock going a little further around it this time where we finally spotted a lone trail sign.

We made our next mistake here following the pointer even though it didn’t seem to agree with what our map indicated. Instead of bending right it went left/straight but the only thing to the right appeared to be an old dirt track that made a sharp turn. We thought that the trail we decided on probably bent back around to the right just a bit further on, which it did convincing us that we were on the right track. We thought we were on a 2.7 mile stretch of the Badlands Rock Trail that led to the junction with the Dry River and Homestead Trails so we settled in and enjoyed the scenery.

After awhile we started to feel like we should have reached that junction already. We were once again questioning our route when we did spot a sign post at a trail junction.

The problem was we had no idea what the Tumulus Trail was. Our map did not show it (it didn’t extend out as far as we’d gone). We hummed and hawed for awhile looking at the map and GPS before finally deciding we had gone the wrong way at Badlands Rock. We didn’t know where the Tumulus Trail went and we weren’t sure about trying to navigate cross country, so we headed back the way we’d come, which turned out to be 3.3 miles in the wrong direction.

We picked up the correct path at Badlands Rock and headed south passing through a more open landscape to the correct trail junction. This area was full of birds.

We turned up the Dry River Trail for .8 miles turning off at three boulders to find the Dry River Canyon.

Once upon a time the canyon was home to a tributary of the Deschutes River. The rocks provided proof of the vanished river.

We passed through the canyon for a ways then climbed out and cut cross country back to the Dry River Trail and returned to the junction with the Homestead Trail. It was another 2.2 miles on the Homestead Trail back to the Flatiron Rock Trail then an additional 1.2 miles to the car. When it was all said and done the GPS showed a total of 22.6 miles and it had taken us a little of 9 hours. We were leaving the trailhead about the time we had planned on being back home to repack for our trip to Gold Beach. Our plans had truly gone awry.

We ate dinner at Pilot Butte Drive In before leaving Bend then drove back to Salem to get ready for our next adventure in the morning. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157667960760550