As some of you know, I began building my van last year to satisfy my quest for my ultimate mountain bike/kayak shuttle rig.   The van was meant to be the Sherpa, not the actual Mountain Climber.   Then one day while surfin…I mean conducting research for my project van on the internet, I came across a thread by Jerry Horn inviting people to go down and tour Owyhee River Canyon for a few days over Memorial Day Weekend, 2008.

It sounded very interesting, and of course once I actually looked at the map I was done. Hooked.  I had to go.

?  Hmm, lets see, I'm going to post to this Jerry fella and say, “Hello, we’ve never met, but the trip sounds great, we would love to join you, and , oh yeah, I’ll be driving my Astro van.  Oh, don’t worry, its the AWD model Astro.” 

Oh yeah, that’ll work.  Some nutjob on the internet wants to go to Owyhee with us in his Astro van.  So off  I drove down to Yakima to meet Jerry, look at his various rigs, and more or less let him get a look at my Astro and its light modifications. We sipped Lemonade in the shade on his porch and looked at the rigs and talked about trips and such.   It was a great way to spend a couple of hours. 

After that, he was thuroughly  convinced that I was indeed a nutjob alright, and that I’d fit right in with his band of overlanding nutjobs.   

Well, to make a long weekend a short story, Jen and I had a magnificent time.  I was really glad she enjoyed it as much as she did.  While the travel was fun, the gumbo mud was a  fun, the scenery was beautiful, it was ultimately  the people that made the experience great.

Friday morning we had 7 rigs, Saturday, 3 more joined us for a total of ten, then Sunday we had 5, and Monday Jen and I went off on our own way home thru Leslie Gultch.  And I have to admit, I liked that out of ten rigs, there were no two of the same model.  Something about it was just kinda neat.

Jerry did an amazing job of keeping things on some semblance of a schedule.  The nice thing about going that early in the year is that the landscape was nicely green, and there were many more water features to cross.  The downside was that the Owyhee itself was way to deep to cross.  Day time temps were perfect, night time was perfectly cool for sleeping.

Please enjoy the slideshow Jen put together.  Its about one beer long if you have pretzels. 

http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee258/wannahuckmastinky/Owyhee%20May08/?albumview=slideshow

Amazing pics... I want to go!

how long a route was it?

Todd I am with you! That looks like a terrific trip. Tom you ready to lead it this summer? Those are some great pictures but this is one of my favorites.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Todd, one of the reasons I've waited so long to post any type of trip report is because I just met up with and followed along for the most part.  Jerry and Mick (in the Forerunner, aka Ridgerunner) did most of the planning.  I've wanted to retrace the route and get the beta but haven't.  Will try to get some semblance of mileage on this thread for you soon.  It was a load of driving and I loved every mile of it. 

Jen and I left Bellingham at 7:30pm Thursday after work, arrived in Ontario, Or. at 4:30 am Friday (corrected 1 hr earlier for Mountain Time and soon gained the hour back as its only that one little area around Ontario that is a different time zone)), to meet the group and leave at 6:00am.  Drove all day Friday, had a blast, drove all day Saturday, had a blast, and all day Sunday, and all day Monday thru Leslie Gultch and then thru holiday weekend traffic back to Bellingham.  My uncorrected odometer (new 4:10 gears and bigger tires) siad 1850 miles total, FWIW.  Sometimes its tuff being up here in the far corner of the state.

Thanks for picking out a favorite picture Cassidy.  I agree, I really like that one.  Luckily for us, the fullsized extended cab Ram almost slipped off the edge just up ahead and Ryan Mishler had to save the day and jump in the truck and get it around a muddy slippery obstacle for the driver.  While he was doing that,  his ever -reliable co drivers (mainly me) were all off taking pics of the incredible canyon scenery.

Here's a little vid of the return on the same road as the river was too high to cross.  Railbat Rutherford (Sportsmobile Brian) says he laughs everytime he watches this first one.

http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee258/wannahuckmastinky/Owyhee%20May08/?action=view¤t=Owyhee289.flv

http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee258/wannahuckmastinky/Owyhee%20May08/?action=view¤t=Owyhee287.flv

Jen started taking pics and vids.  It was cool.  She would run up to the front of the group and shoot everyone going thru a certain spot, then jump in the last rig and ride with them until the next stop.  Here she jumped in with Mick (Ridgerunner) after shooting everyone going down around to the river.  Jerry drove lead and Mick drove sweep because they both had Ham radios and GPS, while the rest of us had atleast CB.  Mick's narration really makes this vid for me.

http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee258/wannahuckmastinky/Owyhee%20May08/?action=view¤t=Owyhee286.flv

Ryan showing his leadership qualities by establishing the communications policy early on.  http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee258/wannahuckmastinky/Owyhee%20May08/?action=view¤t=Owyhee461.flv

There were more than a few little creek rinses.  Always kinda fun.  http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee258/wannahuckmastinky/Owyhee%20May08/?action=view¤t=Owyhee463.flv

http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee258/wannahuckmastinky/Owyhee%20May08/?action=view¤t=Owyhee462.flv

Overall, its was nothing too challenging but of course it was enough to keep your attention and scenery was almost sensory overload.  We weren't expecting anything of that large of a scale.  Much of the time we were both speechless, just taking it all in and enjoying the (entire)moment.   We've done a certain amount of travelling together, and i recently overheard Jen telling her girlfriends that Owyhee was her favorite out of all.

I have met Jerry and actualy bought his 1977 Jeep cherokee for such expeditions....This is one man who knows about 4x4 and exploring.... he has more offroading experience in his little finger than I do in my 20 years of offroading...He is a very good guy, straight shooter, and would not hesitate to follow him anywhere.

Glad you had a good time...

Steve

PS also know as soggymountain

Milkshakes at Fields Station are well worth the stop. 

Railbat Rutherford told me he had found some (they found him?) while down there the previous August I believe,  but we escaped detection somehow. No tick problems for us.  I wonder if it was too early in the season. (Memorial Day)  Personally, I was real happy with the short bursts of rains we hit that time of year, but of course would have liked to actually cross the Owyhee.

Like, maybe this one?

Sorry, best picture I have

You guys are killing me... I haven't been to the Owyhee except to see the overlook and Three Forks. I really want to head southeast into Idaho and see the Tules area on the Owyhee River. Have a look at the panorama of this area on this site:

http://www.mountainvisions.com/QTVR/IdaQTVR/SWIdaho/OwyhQTVR.html

Scroll down and click on:

“Owyhee River at Tules Area 4 - View Full Screen”

Looks like heaven to me.

Brian