About this place
More than 267,000 acres of public land make up the Owyhee River Wilderness.
The Owyhee Canyonlands is a huge, remote area spread across eastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho and northern Nevada. Deep canyons are cut into that high desert plateau by the Owyhee, the Bruneau and the Jarbidge Rivers.
Those rivers suit boaters of nearly every level, and they offer solitude that is hard to match anywhere, in canyons of unusual shape and beauty.
There are placid pools and turbulent whitewater. There are vertical cliffs and steep grassy slopes. There are California bighorn sheep. There is the Bruneau River phlox.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Roads around it
- Hard going even in a high clearance four-wheel drive
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
From Bruneau, head south on highway 51 to the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, on the Idaho and Nevada state line. A quarter mile south of the gas station and grocery store, take Boney Lane. Stay on Boney Lane onto the 45 Ranch Road. That leads either to Crutchers Crossing or to the 45 Ranch, both signed for the East Fork Owyhee.
This wilderness is very remote. The roads in are hard going even in a high clearance four wheel drive. The drive from Bruneau takes about 4 to 5 hours one way. Take extra maps and emergency supplies, and fill the tank at Duck Valley.
Coordinates 42.26361111, -116.7
Open in Google Maps Agency page
Nearest town and supplies
- Owyhee, NV Directions
Owyhee is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.