Bruneau-Grasmere Loop Drive

This is another great Owyhee County loop drive. It starts at the confluence of the Bruneau and Snake Rivers, and then heads south to Grasmere, traversing the western border of the Bruneau drainage. The drive then turns east and crosses five tributaries to the Bruneau: Marys Creek, Sheep Creek, the upper Bruneau, and the Jarbidge River and its East Fork. At last the drive turns north and traverses the eastern margin of the Bruneau drainage. After crossing Clover Creek, the last major tributary to the Bruneau, it takes you to the Bruneau Canyon Overlook, where you can see the tremendous gorge cut by the lower Bruneau.

The scenery along the way is fantastic, especially in the spring. The route, however, is not entirely graveled, and the stretch from Rowland to Clover Creek can be muddy in wet weather. The route is covered by the BLM Sheep Creek and Glenns Ferry 100K maps. The Sheep Creek map is an outstanding map that you must purchase!

This drive accesses four hikes detailed in this book: Little Blue Table, Marys Creek, Triplett Butte, and Jarbidge Canyon. It also leads to several smaller hikes. Please remember that all mileages are approximate!

MILES CUM

-- 0.0 I 84 exit 95, US-20, turn right into Mountain Home

1.9 1.9 Turn left on ID-51, go under underpass

0.5 2.4 Turn right on ID-51 (Air Base Road)

1.1 3.5 Turn left on ID 51 and head south (W1); on clear days Jarbidge Range visible at 1100

6.4 9.9 On straightaway aiming southsouthwest, at 0100 you see Sugarloaf, a low dome which was the source of the voluminous Tuff of Little Jacks Creek, on the plateau between Big Jacks (to the left) and Little Jacks Creeks (to the right); next dome to right at 0130 is Wickney Tree Dome; next summit to right is Bald Mountain; next to the right at 0200 is Rough Mountain, a distinctive, jagged topped summit

4.2 14.1 Begin your descent to the Snake River, with Rattlesnake Creek, which flows past Rattlesnake Station, to the left; road leading right in 3/4 mile accesses the Creek's canyon, which offers rugged, normally cow free hiking

3.0 17.1 Lands bordering Strike Reservoir are managed by Fish and Game for waterfowl refuge; some are BLM lands, some are Idaho Power lands under a 99 year lease; alkaline soils here, covered with caliche, support greasewood and not much more

0.6 17.7 ID-78 leads left to Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park and Hammett

3.3 21.0 Summit of Chalk Hills, between Snake and Bruneau drainages

1.4 22.4 One Stop cafe on north edge of Bruneau; road left (W2) leads to Indian Bathtubs and Austin Butte hikes, and to Bruneau Canyon Overlook; your loop drive will end here; just past town, on straightaway, you see Horse Hill at 0930; the Bruneau Canyon is just to its left

1.1 23.5 Note extensive marshy area around Bruneau River; the entire Bruneau system is undammed, and was undoubtedly important for salmon spawning before Swan Falls Dam was built

0.9 24.4 Road to left is far end of Hot Creek Road loop; this provides alternate access to West Side Bruneau Canyon road, if the bridge to Indian Bathtubs ever washes out

0.05 24.45 Junction with ID-78, where that road cuts right to Grandview; bear left towards Grasmere, Riddle, and Elko; road from here climbs beside Little Valley Creek, marked by trees to the right (and diminished by irrigation); its tributaries include both Jacks Creeks and Wickahoney Creek

6.3 30.7 Sugarloaf at 0100; the source of the voluminous Tuff of Little Jacks Creek, which covers much of Owyhee County; this summit has intermittent water and, consequently, good grass; the BLM's proposed Jacks Creek pipeline would build a reservoir at its summit, with stock watering pipelines radiating out, for the greater glory of grazing good grass; Wickney Tree Dome already has such a development, and has become an ecological disaster area; leave Map 1 and begin Map 2

4.9 35.6 Road cuts over next mile reveal lake sediments; you will soon leave these and enter rhyolite

5.6 41.2 Good viewpoint turnout

1.6 42.8 Enter burned area with enormous crested wheatgrass seedings; note lack of forbs or shrubs in this pure stand of grass; wildlife avoids such seedings because they have no cover for protection against heat, cold, and predators; today, most burned areas are being seeded with crested wheatgrass plus shrubs and forbs which are used by wildlife

3.8 46.6 Note pockets of native vegetation in cliffs to left

3.1 49.7 Wickahoney Road to right (W3) leads to Zeno Canyon hike, also Big Jacks Creek hikes from Buncel Place and Parker Trail (see author's Hiking Trails Of Southern Idaho and Margaret Fuller's Western Idaho Hiking Trails).

2.2 51.9 Table Butte, with extraordinarily flat top, at 0900

7.9 59.8 At 0900, Monument and Catholic Buttes visible, in the Blackstone Desert (which is accessed by the Blackstone Grasmere Road, the world's worst); at 1000, Elk Mountain; at 1100, the Jarbidge Range; at 1130, the Bruneau River gap; at 1145, the Mahoganies; at 0100, Little Blue Table; at 0200, Crab Creek; at 0300, Wickahoney Table

1.8 61.6 Crab Creek Road, at right, accesses Little Blue Table hike

0.4 62.0 Grasmere Station; drink and maybe food

0.4 62.4 Turn left on Grasmere-Rowland High Desert Road (just past airport windsock) (W4)

0.3 62.7 To left, an old crested wheatgrass seeding which has begun to yield to sagebrush; Buster Butte at 1100

3.3 66.0 Three distinctive black buttes are visible on the plateau below the tallest peaks of the Jarbidge Range; the left one is Black Rock, the center one is the Black Rock escarpment, the right one may be Triplett Butte

1.4 67.4 Marys Creek hike access road to the left; Marys Creek is shown on USGS maps as intermittent, and it was completely dry during the 1987 drought

3.8 71.2 You are starting to see Sheep Creek canyon to the left; at 1100, you see the Mahoganies, and to their right, the gap of upper Sheep Creek; to the right of the gap is yet another Rough Mountain, a flat topped summit tilting to the right; that area is in the Sheep Creek West Wilderness Study Area, where the author wanted to do a hike but was turned back by poor roads

2.8 74.0 Road left leads to a ranch, then quickly becomes very bad en route to Indian Hot Springs on the Bruneau River

2.3 76.3 Note prominent cliffs to left as you approach Sheep Creek; crossing area is usually in very poor range condition

5.2 81.5 Cat Creek Crossing; an open ended loop could be hiked up the canyon to the left; summit beyond creek puts you on the J-P Desert

4.8 86.3 Rizzi Table at 1030, with burned and/or seeded area visible

1.2 87.5 Totenkopf Junction (W5); bear left towards Jarbidge Range, noting that it is not one peak, but rather a series of five major summits, all close to 10,700 feet with Matterhorn, the highest, at 10,839; the road to the right gives truck access to Sheep Creek West area; leave Map 3, enter Map 4

2.8 90.3 Just past landing strip, turn left on road to Rowland

0.7 91.0 Cross Cat Creek again

1.3 92.3 Black Rock Crossing road to left; not suitable for cars

1.6 93.9 1987 burn to right

0.3 94.2 Cross cattleguard (W6) at lower Triplett Butte hike trailhead; stone stripes on hills to left are a periglacial feature similar to patterned ground

0.4 94.6 Cross Nevada line just as road left leads to upper Triplett Butte trailhead

1.2 95.8 Descend Road Gulch to upper Bruneau River; this stretch of road can be a bit rough; note good vegetation on canyon walls, Basin big sagebrush on deeper soils of canyon floor; huge cliffs loom as you approach McDonald Creek

2.6 98.4 Turn right, cross McDonald Creek, and drive upstream along the Bruneau; imagine what a miracle the salmon here must have seemed to the Paiutes of the Great Basin

1.7 100.1 Cross Bruneau River, turn right, and quickly leave the river and commence a very steep climb; put your car in low gear, turn on the heater to full blast, and go!

1.9 102.0 Turn left at major junction (W7) for Jarbidge; going straight brings you back to ID 51

1.3 103.3 Trail Gulch to the right gives last views down to the Bruneau

3.7 107.0 Major summit at 6895; good jumpoff point for climbing several summits to the left at 7300 feet; from here descend Deep Creek through beautiful meadows, which are heavily grazed but appear somewhat more resistant than lower elevation riparian areas

2.4 109.4 Summit at 6916; Bearpaw Mountain, to the left, looks very climbable at 7450 feet; it's all downhill from here to the Diamond A Desert, along Dorsea Creek

3.9 113.3 Bear right at junction

2.1 115.4 Climb from Dorsea Creek, aiming due south; Triplett Butte is at 0300; Elk Mountain, a cluster of buttes, is at 0900; in the mid 1980's a cooperative effort between Idaho and Nevada Fish and Game, the BLM, and the Forest Service to restock elk on Elk Mountain and the Owyhee Plateau was defeated by rancher opposition

0.9 116.3 Columbet Creek, a tributary to the Jarbidge River; portions of the riparian area have been fenced

1.8 118.1 Park and hike to the left onto Columbet Table; a very nice, quick climb up from Buck Creek; walk to the east and look down into area of juniper and aspens; observe Jarbidge Canyon

0.9 119.0 Go straight on road to Murphys Hot Springs

1.0 120.0 Bear left; road improves, but Buck Creek descent demands cautious driving

2.2 122.2 Cross Jarbidge River; Jarbidge town and Forest Service campgrounds with probably the best camping on the loop are to the right; turn left for Murphys Hot Springs

2.4 124.6 Parking area for foot/stock bridge

0.8 125.4 Trailhead for Jarbidge River hike; scheduled for improvement with better campsites

2.5 127.9 Murphys Hot Springs Resort; hot water pools and baths, plus food

0.6 128.5 Climbing from Murphys; in late season, you could park here, and take a public land route descending to the creek (avoiding cliffs), and make a tennis shoe hike up the East Fork of the Jarbidge, a major bighorn sheep area

1.5 130.0 Blessed pavement as you reach Big Flat; Pence Butte is at 1030, with a well at its summit

6.6 136.6 Turn left on Bruneau High Desert Road (W8); views east into the Three Creek drainage; once you start on the desert road Middle Butte is straight ahead; you should see antelope along this drive; leave Map 4 for Map 5

7.8 144.4 Large crested wheatgrass seeding, the first of many along this road; note that this seeding is so heavily grazed that it can't fulfill its primary purpose of erosion control; Mosquito Butte is at 0100; Middle Butte at 1000

3.0 147.4 From the flanks of Mosquito Butte, you can look left across the Bruneau River drainage; at 1030 you can see back to Little Blue and Wickahoney Tables, which are prominent because they are close to the source of the Tuff of Little Jacks Creek

2.1 149.5 Three Creek Well Road, requiring four wheel drive, leads to the Bruneau Canyon's east rim; at 0330, the South Hills

2.9 152.4 Straight ahead and to the left you see dark green unburned, unseeded areas of sagebrush; Clover Butte just beyond, at 1130

4.6 157.0 Prominent dark unburned butte to the right is Coonskin Butte, across the East Fork Bruneau Canyon, through which (paradoxically) flows Clover Creek

8.2 165.2 Cross Clover Creek; you are now on Map 6

2.6 167.8 Turn left for Bruneau (W9)

0.9 168.7 Catholic Butte at 0930; you have circled all the way around it

8.5 176.9 Major road left leads to Winter Camp on Clover Creek, offers access to the canyon and Clover Creek hike; go straight; Winter Camp Butte at 0300

6.2 183.1 Sign mentions low-flying planes; don't be surprised if your car becomes the target for a strafing run! Somewhere near here you cross Big Flat Creek, a noble drainage; leave Map 6, enter Map 7.

5.2 188.3 Bruneau Canyon Overlook Road (W0), access to Robeson Trail East hike; you may turn left and drive through some of the ugliest crested wheatgrass wasteland in Idaho; overlook is 3 miles from main road, and offers superb views downcanyon to the Indian Bathtubs hike; also views to the pristine vegetation on the benches just below the rim; this deep canyon is a manifestation of the Bruneau system's need to carry water from the Jarbidge Mountains at 10,800 feet to the Snake River at 2500 feet, across a plateau which is being uplifted; the author has camped here at the Overlook, but it's not much better than anywhere else on the Plateau

5.2 193.5 Along descent, reenter lake sediments

2.9 196.4 Pavement returns; road to left crosses Bruneau, goes to Indian Bathtubs and Austin Trail hikes; enter civilization as it is known in Owyhee County; Bruneau Sand Dunes is due north of here, across hills to right

7.5 203.9 One Stop Cafe in Bruneau (W2); end of drive; congratulations!

Desert Book Home Page | Top of Owyhee County
How to Use this Site | Send a Comment on this Hike

--	0.0	I 84 exit 95, US-20, turn right into Mountain Home
1.9	1.9	Turn left on ID-51, go under underpass
0.5	2.4	Turn right on ID-51 (Air Base Road)
1.1	3.5	Turn left on ID 51 and head south (W1); on clear days Jarbidge Range visible at 1100
6.4	9.9	On straightaway aiming southsouthwest, at 0100 you see Sugarloaf, a low dome which was the source of the voluminous Tuff of Little Jacks Creek, on the plateau between Big Jacks (to the left) and Little Jacks Creeks (to the right); next dome to right at 0130 is Wickney Tree Dome; next summit to right is Bald Mountain; next to the right at 0200 is Rough Mountain, a distinctive, jagged topped summit
4.2	14.1	Begin your descent to the Snake River, with Rattlesnake Creek, which flows past Rattlesnake Station, to the left; road leading right in 3/4 mile accesses the Creek's canyon, which offers rugged, normally cow free hiking
3.0	17.1	Lands bordering Strike Reservoir are managed by Fish and Game for waterfowl refuge; some are BLM lands, some are Idaho Power lands under a 99 year lease; alkaline soils here, covered with caliche, support greasewood and not much more
0.6	17.7	ID-78 leads left to Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park and Hammett
3.3	21.0	Summit of Chalk Hills, between Snake and Bruneau drainages
1.4	22.4	One Stop cafe on north edge of Bruneau; road left (W2) leads to Indian Bathtubs and Austin Butte hikes, and to Bruneau Canyon Overlook; your loop drive will end here; just past town, on straightaway, you see Horse Hill at 0930; the Bruneau Canyon is just to its left
1.1	23.5	Note extensive marshy area around Bruneau River; the entire Bruneau system is undammed, and was undoubtedly important for salmon spawning before Swan Falls Dam was built
0.9	24.4	Road to left is far end of Hot Creek Road loop; this provides alternate access to West Side Bruneau Canyon road, if the bridge to Indian Bathtubs ever washes out
0.05	24.45	Junction with ID-78, where that road cuts right to Grandview; bear left towards Grasmere, Riddle, and Elko; road from here climbs beside Little Valley Creek, marked by trees to the right (and diminished by irrigation); its tributaries include both Jacks Creeks and Wickahoney Creek
6.3	30.7	Sugarloaf at 0100; the source of the voluminous Tuff of Little Jacks Creek, which covers much of Owyhee County; this summit has intermittent water and, consequently, good grass; the BLM's proposed Jacks Creek pipeline would build a reservoir at its summit, with stock watering pipelines radiating out, for the greater glory of grazing good grass; Wickney Tree Dome already has such a development, and has become an ecological disaster area; leave Map 1 and begin Map 2
4.9	35.6	Road cuts over next mile reveal lake sediments; you will soon leave these and enter rhyolite
5.6	41.2	Good viewpoint turnout
1.6	42.8	Enter burned area with enormous crested wheatgrass seedings; note lack of forbs or shrubs in this pure stand of grass; wildlife avoids such seedings because they have no cover for protection against heat, cold, and predators; today, most burned areas are being seeded with crested wheatgrass plus shrubs and forbs which are used by wildlife
3.8	46.6	Note pockets of native vegetation in cliffs to left
3.1	49.7	Wickahoney Road to right (W3) leads to Zeno Canyon hike, also Big Jacks Creek hikes from Buncel Place and Parker Trail (see author's Hiking Trails Of Southern Idaho and Margaret Fuller's Western Idaho Hiking Trails).
2.2	51.9	Table Butte, with extraordinarily flat top, at 0900
7.9	59.8	At 0900, Monument and Catholic Buttes visible, in the Blackstone Desert (which is accessed by the Blackstone Grasmere Road, the world's worst); at 1000, Elk Mountain; at 1100, the Jarbidge Range; at 1130, the Bruneau River gap; at 1145, the Mahoganies; at 0100, Little Blue Table; at 0200, Crab Creek; at 0300, Wickahoney Table
1.8	61.6	Crab Creek Road, at right, accesses Little Blue Table hike
0.4	62.0	Grasmere Station; drink and maybe food
0.4	62.4	Turn left on Grasmere-Rowland High Desert Road (just past airport windsock) (W4)
0.3	62.7	To left, an old crested wheatgrass seeding which has begun to yield to sagebrush; Buster Butte at 1100
3.3	66.0	Three distinctive black buttes are visible on the plateau below the tallest peaks of the Jarbidge Range; the left one is Black Rock, the center one is the Black Rock escarpment, the right one may be Triplett Butte
1.4	67.4	Marys Creek hike access road to the left; Marys Creek is shown on USGS maps as intermittent, and it was completely dry during the 1987 drought
3.8	71.2	You are starting to see Sheep Creek canyon to the left; at 1100, you see the Mahoganies, and to their right, the gap of upper Sheep Creek; to the right of the gap is yet another Rough Mountain, a flat topped summit tilting to the right; that area is in the Sheep Creek West Wilderness Study Area, where the author wanted to do a hike but was turned back by poor roads
2.8	74.0	Road left leads to a ranch, then quickly becomes very bad en route to Indian Hot Springs on the Bruneau River
2.3	76.3	Note prominent cliffs to left as you approach Sheep Creek; crossing area is usually in very poor range condition
5.2	81.5	Cat Creek Crossing; an open ended loop could be hiked up the canyon to the left; summit beyond creek puts you on the J-P Desert
4.8	86.3	Rizzi Table at 1030, with burned and/or seeded area visible
1.2	87.5	Totenkopf Junction (W5); bear left towards Jarbidge Range, noting that it is not one peak, but rather a series of five major summits, all close to 10,700 feet with Matterhorn, the highest, at 10,839; the road to the right gives truck access to Sheep Creek West area; leave Map 3, enter Map 4
2.8	90.3	Just past landing strip, turn left on road to Rowland
0.7	91.0	Cross Cat Creek again
1.3	92.3	Black Rock Crossing road to left; not suitable for cars
1.6	93.9	1987 burn to right
0.3	94.2	Cross cattleguard (W6) at lower Triplett Butte hike trailhead; stone stripes on hills to left are a periglacial feature similar to patterned ground
0.4	94.6	Cross Nevada line just as road left leads to upper Triplett Butte trailhead
1.2	95.8	Descend Road Gulch to upper Bruneau River; this stretch of road can be a bit rough; note good vegetation on canyon walls, Basin big sagebrush on deeper soils of canyon floor; huge cliffs loom as you approach McDonald Creek
2.6	98.4	Turn right, cross McDonald Creek, and drive upstream along the Bruneau; imagine what a miracle the salmon here must have seemed to the Paiutes of the Great Basin
1.7	100.1	Cross Bruneau River, turn right, and quickly leave the river and commence a very steep climb; put your car in low gear, turn on the heater to full blast, and go!
1.9	102.0	Turn left at major junction (W7) for Jarbidge; going straight brings you back to ID 51
1.3	103.3	Trail Gulch to the right gives last views down to the Bruneau
3.7	107.0	Major summit at 6895; good jumpoff point for climbing several summits to the left at 7300 feet; from here descend Deep Creek through beautiful meadows, which are heavily grazed but appear somewhat more resistant than lower elevation riparian areas
2.4	109.4	Summit at 6916; Bearpaw Mountain, to the left, looks very climbable at 7450 feet; it's all downhill from here to the Diamond A Desert, along Dorsea Creek
3.9	113.3	Bear right at junction
2.1	115.4	Climb from Dorsea Creek, aiming due south; Triplett Butte is at 0300; Elk Mountain, a cluster of buttes, is at 0900; in the mid 1980's a cooperative effort between Idaho and Nevada Fish and Game, the BLM, and the Forest Service to restock elk on Elk Mountain and the Owyhee Plateau was defeated by rancher opposition
0.9	116.3	Columbet Creek, a tributary to the Jarbidge River; portions of the riparian area have been fenced
1.8	118.1	Park and hike to the left onto Columbet Table; a very nice, quick climb up from Buck Creek; walk to the east and look down into area of juniper and aspens; observe Jarbidge Canyon
0.9	119.0	Go straight on road to Murphys Hot Springs
1.0	120.0	Bear left; road improves, but Buck Creek descent demands cautious driving
2.2	122.2	Cross Jarbidge River; Jarbidge town and Forest Service campgrounds with probably the best camping on the loop are to the right; turn left for Murphys Hot Springs
2.4	124.6	Parking area for foot/stock bridge
0.8	125.4	Trailhead for Jarbidge River hike; scheduled for improvement with better campsites
2.5	127.9	Murphys Hot Springs Resort; hot water pools and baths, plus food
0.6	128.5	Climbing from Murphys; in late season, you could park here, and take a public land route descending to the creek (avoiding cliffs), and make a tennis shoe hike up the East Fork of the Jarbidge, a major bighorn sheep area
1.5	130.0	Blessed pavement as you reach Big Flat; Pence Butte is at 1030, with a well at its summit
6.6	136.6	Turn left on Bruneau High Desert Road (W8); views east into the Three Creek drainage; once you start on the desert road Middle Butte is straight ahead; you should see antelope along this drive; leave Map 4 for Map 5
7.8	144.4	Large crested wheatgrass seeding, the first of many along this road; note that this seeding is so heavily grazed that it can't fulfill its primary purpose of erosion control; Mosquito Butte is at 0100; Middle Butte at 1000
3.0	147.4	From the flanks of Mosquito Butte, you can look left across the Bruneau River drainage; at 1030 you can see back to Little Blue and Wickahoney Tables, which are prominent because they are close to the source of the Tuff of Little Jacks Creek
2.1	149.5	Three Creek Well Road, requiring four wheel drive, leads to the Bruneau Canyon's east rim; at 0330, the South Hills
2.9	152.4	Straight ahead and to the left you see dark green unburned, unseeded areas of sagebrush; Clover Butte just beyond, at 1130
4.6	157.0	Prominent dark unburned butte to the right is Coonskin Butte, across the East Fork Bruneau Canyon, through which (paradoxically) flows Clover Creek
8.2	165.2	Cross Clover Creek; you are now on Map 6
2.6	167.8	Turn left for Bruneau (W9)
0.9	168.7	Catholic Butte at 0930; you have circled all the way around it
8.5	176.9	Major road left leads to Winter Camp on Clover Creek, offers access to the canyon and Clover Creek hike; go straight; Winter Camp Butte at 0300
6.2	183.1	Sign mentions low-flying planes; don't be surprised if your car becomes the target for a strafing run! Somewhere near here you cross Big Flat Creek, a noble drainage; leave Map 6, enter Map 7.
5.2	188.3	Bruneau Canyon Overlook Road (W0), access to Robeson Trail East hike; you may turn left and drive through some of the ugliest crested wheatgrass wasteland in Idaho; overlook is 3 miles from main road, and offers superb views downcanyon to the Indian Bathtubs hike; also views to the pristine vegetation on the benches just below the rim; this deep canyon is a manifestation of the Bruneau system's need to carry water from the Jarbidge Mountains at 10,800 feet to the Snake River at 2500 feet, across a plateau which is being uplifted; the author has camped here at the Overlook, but it's not much better than anywhere else on the Plateau
5.2	193.5	Along descent, reenter lake sediments
2.9	196.4	Pavement returns; road to left crosses Bruneau, goes to Indian Bathtubs and Austin Trail hikes; enter civilization as it is known in Owyhee County; Bruneau Sand Dunes is due north of here, across hills to right
7.5	203.9	One Stop Cafe in Bruneau (W2); end of drive; congratulations!