Last week a friend and I decided to visit the Bruneau River Canyon overlook about 80 miles SE of Boise in the Owyhee Desert also referred to as the Owyhee Outback. This area is undeveloped and there is only one road that leads to the canyon rim. To see the remainder of this nearly 90 mile long canyon you would either have to hike along the rim or float the river during Spring and early Summer.
The deepest area of the canyon is 1200 feet straight down into the earth and some areas the canyon walls are so narrow you get the impression you could run and jump to the other side.
Earlier this year Prez Obama made official the Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness which is over half a million acres and includes over 380 miles of wild and scenic rivers that run through the largest concentration of sheer walled canyons in North America. This area also includes some of the oldest evidence of human activity in North American as well as what is called the largest concentration of petroglyphs. The great thing is that this area is so remote, so undeveloped, that a good number of the ancient places are never touched or seen except by a few people each year.
The afternoon I took these pictures it rained, thunderstormed, hailed and was sunny all within a couple of hours which explains the lighting effect in some of the pics.
This map includes the box which shows the area of the Bruneau River system but the entire area of the Owyhee Canyonlands stretch all of the way West into areas of Oregon and South into parts of Nevada. The entire area of the Canyonlands is nearly 14,000 square miles.
Looking away from the edge of the gorge.
I looked down and saw this little rattler. The temps were only in the 50's so I think he was feeling sluggish and trying to get warm on the rock.
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🌲Keep Idaho Green🌲
🌳The City of Trees #boise🌳
Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains.-Hermann Hesse
Awesome photos! The geologist in me approves! Besides, columnar jointing is awesome! (It's what happens when volcanic rock (ie: basalt) rapidly cools, it forms joint patterns that look like long columns. For the best example, look up Devil's Tower in Wyoming.
Aaron (Glowrock)
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"Deeply corrupt but still semi-functional - it's the Chicago way." -- Barrelfish
Thanks everyone. The desert canyonlands area South of Boise is really an amazing place. Here are links to some interactive virtual tours of the Owyhee Canyonlands.
One of the best aspects of the Canyonlands besides the obvious fact these canyons are out of this world, is that they are protected as Wilderness and not exploited as a lower grade National Park and over run and polluted by bus loads and car loads of tourists. The Canyonlands are also a World Heritage Site.
__________________
🌲Keep Idaho Green🌲
🌳The City of Trees #boise🌳
Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains.-Hermann Hesse
Besides, columnar jointing is awesome! (It's what happens when volcanic rock (ie: basalt) rapidly cools, it forms joint patterns that look like long columns. For the best example, look up Devil's Tower in Wyoming.
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