Camas Trail Loop Drive
This drive takes you through an area conservationists have named "The Camas Trail". It includes the Bennett Hills, which stretch from Mount Bennett near Mountain Home, all the way to Magic Reservoir and ID-75. To drive the area, you need the BLM's Mountain Home 100K map; a Boise National Forest south half map would also help.
It's called "The Camas Trail" in honor of its importance to Idaho's native Americans. There were few places in Idaho with such an abundance of food that groups could encamp for a long period of trading, feasting, and celebrating. The camas bulbs of the Camas Prairie provided the necessary food, and all trails lead there.
The starting point of this drive is I-84 Exit 120 (Bennett Road, the western exit to Glenns Ferry). Unfortunately, you can't exit here if you're coming from the east. To get here from the east, take I-84 Exit 121 (the eastern exit to Glenns Ferry) and turn left onto the main drag, First Street; go 1 1/4 miles to Bannock Street, and turn right; and 1/2 mile brings you to I-84 at Exit 120, which is the official starting point.
MILES CUM
| -- | 0.0 | I-84 Exit 120 (Bennett Road), in the bottom of Little Canyon Creek (W1); head north |
| 0.2 | 0.2 | Turn left (west) on Bennett Road |
| 2.7 | 2.9 | Reach plateau; note the lack of a grass understory between the sagebrush here, indicating fair to poor condition range; but at this low elevation ANY unburned vegetation looks terrific |
| 1.3 | 4.2 | Junction with Bennett Mountain Road (W2); turn right |
| 1.5 | 5.7 | Glenns Ferry area is below you to the right |
| 1.5 | 7.2 | Teapot Dome is visible to the left; you can see that Bennett Mountain is not one sheer scarp, but rather a series of ridges and valleys |
| 0.5 | 7.7 | You must be near the Oregon Trail; proof is a powerline, one of many that always seem to parallel the route |
| 1.5 | 9.2 | End pavement |
| 1.7 | 10.9 | Alkali Road to the left, one of many roads in the Bennett Road system |
| 1.9 | 12.8 | Several forks of Alkali Creek head to the left; you have your last views of the western Snake River Plain and the Owyhee Range to the left; soon after, you reenter the Canyon Creek drainage |
| 2.2 | 15.0 | Good views east into the remote King Hill Wilderness Study Area |
| 0.8 | 15.8 | Good opportunities for a short hike to the left, to gather panoramic views of western Idaho |
| 0.8 | 16.6 | Canyon Creek close to the right; good opportunities to explore, fish |
| 1.5 | 18.1 | Longs Crossing; above here, the canyon opens up and reveals a magnificent riparian area; this is private land |
| 1.1 | 19.2 | Enter public land, with many easy access points to the creek |
| 1.2 | 20.4 | Outstanding views up the forks of Little Canyon Creek, with an outstanding mix of sagebrush, rhyolite, aspen, and Douglas fir; that country, especially beautiful in spring and fall, is private property |
| 3.7 | 24.1 | Crest what is really a triple divide: Little Canyon Creek behind you, flowing to the Snake; Little Camas Creek to the left, flowing to the South Fork of the Boise (near the Trinities, which are now visible); and Camas Creek to the right, tributary to the Big Wood River |
| 0.5 | 24.6 | Junction with Old Hill City Road, which leads to right; a pleasant drive, but too many curves, so continue straight/left |
| 0.6 | 25.2 | Excellent views of Bennett Mountain to the left; the author thinks this mix of Douglas fir and aspen is what much of the Snake River Plain looked like during the last Ice Age |
| 2.9 | 28.1 | These overgrazed meadows are at the head of Camas Creek; much of this area is private ground |
| 1.5 | 29.6 | Junction with the old highway (W3); branch to left descends to base of Cat Creek Summit; you should turn right, and follow the old highway to the east |
| 1.3 | 30.9 | Old highway goes right, you go left for US-20 |
| 1.1 | 32.0 | Turn right on US-20 (W4); foothills to north are critical elk winter range; leave Map 1, enter Map 2 |
| 3.6 | 35.6 | Superb camas meadows to the left; camas and bighorn sheep were the staple foods of Idaho's Indians, and the Camas Prairie is strewn with prehistoric sites; Idaho's last Indian war, the Bannock War of 1878, was fought (in part) because of white settlement on these camas gathering grounds |
| 1.0 | 36.6 | Steel Mountain, 9730, visible to the left with its distinctive three-point summit |
| 8.2 | 44.8 | Junction on east side of Hill City (W5); turn right on signed gravel road that heads due south, quickly crossing the abandoned Hill City Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad; on your way south, you pass some very wet meadows, many of which now belong to Fish and Game's Hill City Marsh Wildlife Management Area |
| 3.2 | 48.0 | Turn left |
| 0.8 | 48.8 | Turn right (W6); begin climb up Monument Gulch Creek, with poor condition range along creek, better grasses along hillsides where cows don't like to climb; leave Map 2, enter Map 3 |
| 3.0 | 51.8 | Divide between Monument Gulch and Clover Creek; excellent take-off point for a hike to the east or west |
| 2.0 | 53.8 | Junction with good dirt road (W7) which leads 3 miles to Dempsey Meadows area; many cows there, but good hiking and scenery |
| 1.6 | 55.4 | Exit high desert of Camas Trail country; enter medium desert! |
| 1.0 | 56.4 | Climb high to the right of the emerging canyon of Clover Creek; watch to the left for views up Deer Creek, and ahead for the Cassia Mountains: Cache, Harrison, and Independence Peaks |
| 0.5 | 56.9 | Bad dirt road leads left into Deer Creek area; views up Deer Creek show part of Davis Mountain, the highest in the Bennett Hills; through the Deer Creek gap |
| 2.1 | 59.0 | View to Soldier Mountains; road goes down to canyon |
| 1.5 | 60.5 | To left, you can see the Twin Peaks, east of Davis Mountain, and the east fork of Clover Creek |
| 1.1 | 61.6 | Gently descend on a gentle curve to the left; on a clear day, the view across the Snake River Plain from here is one of Idaho's very finest |
| 1.6 | 63.2 | Begin descent; you are looking in to Clover Creek's canyon; how could such a small creek cut such a wide, deep canyon? The author has heard two answers: one, that this is a former canyon of the Snake River, filled in by basalt from McKinney Butte; and two, that this is the canyon of a river that used to flow down from the Soldier Mountain area, but was cut off by the uplift of the Bennett Hills |
| 2.9 | 66.1 | Be alert for curve to right that starts a steep descent into this ancestral canyon of the Snake; watch for differences between burned and unburned sides of the road |
| 1.5 | 67.6 | Pavement starts; go straight across Clover Creek which is clearly a misfit stream (much too small for its present canyon) |
| 4.3 | 71.9 | At top of a series of sharp curves, look back across Clover Creek to an epic view of the Bennett Hills |
| 3.3 | 75.2 | Hummocky terrain in recent lava flows of McKinney Basalt |
| 2.0 | 77.2 | Cross the railroad tracks and drive through a part of Bliss you probably haven't seen before; turn right on old US-30 (W8); leave Map 3, enter Map 4 |
| 2.5 | 79.7 | Junction with I-84; go straight (bear right) on Pioneer Road |
| 2.2 | 81.9 | Pioneer Road joins old US-30 on an especially well preserved stretch of the old highway; Kings Crown and Teapot Dome are prominent at 0100 |
| 5.9 | 87.8 | Begin sweeping descent to valley of Clover Creek |
| 1.3 | 89.1 | Turn right on King Hill stretch of old US-30 |
| 0.5 | 89.6 | Famous Fearless Farris "Petrified Watermelons" sign (W9); this is a bar of Melon Gravel, deposited by the Bonneville Flood; The Pasture hike is to your left along the Snake River |
| 2.2 | 91.8 | Cross Clover Creek as you approach King Hill |
| 5.1 | 96.9 | Pass road cuts in Glenns Ferry Formation lake sediments; these are capped by lavas, some of which are pillow lavas, formed when lava flowed into lakes |
| 1.8 | 98.7 | I-84 Exit 121; end of trip |