Little Blue Table

Hikes: D.
Total Distance, D: 5 1/2 miles.
Difficulty: Level II.
Season: April 1-June 15.
USGS Map: Little Blue Table.
BLM 100K Maps: Riddle, Sheep Creek.
Dirt Road Miles: 3 good dirt, 5 fair dirt.
PLSS Location: Section 30, T12S R4E.

Introduction: Owyhee County's backcountry is studded with "tables", free standing plateaus-within-a-plateau. These tables offer the type of scenery we visit the desert for: views across scores of miles to mountains, canyons, basins, cliffs, and ridges. The cliffs bordering many tables were used as "jumps" by the Indians: places where wildlife were driven across open terrain, little suspecting that a fatal leap or a hunter's blind lay ahead where the table ended at a cliff.
  Little Blue Table caught the author's fancy because the BLM rated it as the only large area of excellent condition range in the Bruneau Resource Area. It remains excellent because, to the stockman's eye, it has little to offer. The table's surface is dry and rocky, with thin soil supporting only low sage and sparse grasses. It doesn't merit the investment in "range improvements" needed to water cattle so the area can be grazed.
  Since including it in his book, the author has been gratified to see it become a favorite of many of his friends, who've explored it extensively--and found stuff the author missed.

The Hike: From the trailhead, at the junction with a faint road to the left, look south to the Table; your goal is to climb up on it. Take the road that leads left (south), toward the notch in the cliff. After 200 yards, a faint way leaves the road to the right. Take that way, climbing to a view of the largest brushy area below the table.
  You now have a choice of routes to the top of Little Blue Table. The easier way goes right and follows a grassier route to the cliffs. The harder route follows the way to the mountain mahogany/aspen grove, and then climbs to the cliff, staying to the right of the drainage. With either route, you may find yourself crawling on hands and knees through the last brush stands.
  Then, you are at the base of the cliffs. It's amazing how tall they are when you stand below them! It's also amazing how there is a clear zone between cliff and brush, apparently due to late lingering snowdrifts. Walk along this zone, and carefully pick a place to scramble up.
  Once on top (W1), you'll quickly spot the windmills to the west. These power a repeating station, and at night their red light is visible for miles around. They are a BLM mistake and should be replaced with something less obvious.
  To hike to the petroglyphs, continue southsoutheast until you come to an unusual recessed basin, which can be seen on the USGS map in the northeast corner of Section 30. (This basin is very worthy of a tour of exploration.) Skirt its southern side and then head southeast, generally staying north of the drainage the map shows in the southern part of Sections 30 and 29. The petroglyphs are on a low cliff which is fairly prominent. The author found mint growing there--a product of Nature or Man?
  From here, walk east towards the road and the cow zone, following cow trails. When you hit the road, turn left and cross the open area. On your descent, you'll pass Little Blue Reservoir (W2), one of thousands of "range improvements" in Owyhee County. Their original purpose was to distribute cows across the desert, to promote more even use. But time after time, these range improvements simply increase the number of cattle on the range--not distribute the existing use. Crab Creek remains devastated--yet the author bets that "relieving pressure on the Crab Creek riparian area" was a major justification for building the reservoir.

Access: Drive to the junction of ID-51 and ID-78, south of Bruneau. Continue 27 1/2 miles south on ID-51, to a gravel road about 1/2 mile north of Grasmere. Turn right (west) on that road, which will climb up to high country over an increasingly rough stretch, going straight along the best road at all junctions. After 6 3/4 miles, at a road divide (W3), bear left and descend to a creek crossing which may stop you. Cross the creek if you can, and continue for another 1/4 mile, until you reach a junction with a faint road that cuts left. This is the junction at 5771, at the top of the USGS Little Blue Table map--the trailhead.