Day 7 – 8/31/19
25.5 miles / 142.2 total

We quickly finished up the rim walking and got down to Three Forks, a popular boat launch site in the spring, with a BLM campground and access to hot springs. A bunch of people were there, presumably to camp and go to the hot springs, which has absolutely zero appeal to us in this 98F heat. Sadly none of them offered us soda pops (Dan and I both really suck at yogi-ing).

We breaked early for lunch in the shade of a dilapidated old shed/barn thing. The heat and sun just never lets up here. We are so looking forward to getting into the Owyhee canyon, daydreaming about all the shade the steep canyon walls will provide and perpetual availability of water!

There were 9 more miles of jeep road walking up from Three Forks and then down again to Five Bar. Yesterday while looking ahead at our maps, we noticed a “storage bin” marked on the map, and talked it up all day, imagining the shade it might provide. Indeed! The storage bin materialized, and we enjoyed a half hour break lying in the shade among the cow pies.

It was early evening when we finally reached the promised land: the West Little Owyhee.

Who cares if we have to bushwhack through a bunch of pokey brush? Shady walls! Views that aren’t endless flat expanses of sagebrush! So much water! That is, until there wasn’t. As it turns out, the West Little Owyhee isn’t actually a flowing river this time of year, just a series of intermittent stagnant pools of water. We ended up having to walk a little later than intended to reach another pool of water for camping. I’ll take it!