My wife and I decided to take a day to see some scenery here in so. Idaho. I took her to a couple places she hasn't seen before. This area is laced with deep canyons. This particular one is Bruneau Canyon, 1/4 mile rim to rim and 800' deep at this point. You really don't want to pack a bighorn up out of there.
It's a crazy area. It's desert but there's actually quite a bit of water out there. The problem is that it's all in the bottoms of canyons like this. You can drive for many miles across fairly flat sagebrush land, then run into one of these.

Wow.

Beautiful place

Quit sharing all our secrets!

Malad Gorge and 1000 springs are pretty, cool too!

Did you see the Malad Punchbowl a couple years ago after that record snowfall on the Wood River? It was wild. I couldn't get a pic that even came close to seeing it for real. You can't get a decent angle and no photo can catch that kind of water.

Beautiful country.

Love to float the Bruneau some time.

Wow...you ain't kidding when you said "hole in the ground".

Yah, that's a gash alright. Just amazing what a bit of moving water can do.

The rivers that formed these canyons all originate in the mountains along the ID-NV border and flow north to the Snake River. All the water just over the ridge and going south goes into the Great Basin where it just dries up, never reaching the ocean.

I was just looking at a Hunt-X topo map of this canyon and I see that there are a couple trails to the bottom. I don't think they're for the faint of heart, though. They cross a whole lot of topo lines. I took the photos from the end of the blue line in the top right where there's a view point. There's a fence there now but in the past, you could hang your toes over the edge and look straight down. It would give you the willies knowing your first bounce wouldn't be for 100' down.

There are bighorns in these canyons. It's not easy hunting as you're always on top hunting down. If you score, there's only 1 way to get it out and that won't be on a pack horse.

edited: My mistake. After further looking, I see that those 'trails' are actually intermittent creeks. They're dry except during the spring runoff.

RC, every time I see those western topo maps, I'm reminded of my cross country elk trek out in Colorado. Come to find out your topo elevation lines and our flat lander topo maps don't use the same scale. Road to road was only a few miles, but I sure didn't figure right for the up and down. One of our guys described it pretty well I thought when he said that it is beautiful country, but don't you ever invite me elk hunting again.

There is, or was, a motor trail down into the canyon not far from there if I'm not mistaking the view. Years ago, I rode that to the bottom and across an old wooden bridge, and then up the other side. Got word not long ago that the bridge is damaged or out. Can't remember. Pretty awesome country. Word is that a recent rock slide raised the whitewater rating a notch.

From what I've read the road to the put-in for floating the Bruneau is pretty steep and dicey, too. Considered a Class V road:

"Put in: The traditional put in for the Bruneau is at Indian Hot Springs, just below the confluence of the Jarbidge and West Fork Bruneau Rivers. Driving there requires a capable 4x4 vehicle with good, mud-terrain tires and an experienced off-road driver. Two spares tires and high lift jack are highly recommended for travelling the Bruneau backcountry. The drive should not be attempted during wet or snowy weather, which is frequent during boating season. To get there, turn off approximataley 30 miles out the Clover Three Creek road (measured from the take out). Watch for a sign on the right after crossing Clover Creek and making a large switchback turn. The first six miles of the road are good, but don't be fooled, it quickly deteriorates into ten miles of treachery thereafter. As a general rule, stay left at the unmarked forks, and mark your turns to avoid getting lost on the way out. There are no landmarks in the flat Sagebrush plain. In the last 1.2 miles, the road drops 1,000 vertical feet to the canyon floor. There are several steep sections with exposed bedrock ledges that require high clearance. Near the bottom is a slippery clay bank that requires sidehilling, and is nearly impassible when wet. Do not underestimate the difficulty of this road. Shuttles can some times be arranged in the town of Bruneau. Due to the diffficult access, many paddlers start on the nearby Jarbidge River "

Idaho has a lot of STEEP.

Trout Creek Mt too.

The Bruneau and Jarbidge canyons are now a wilderness area. I couldn't find any access roads for floaters on either the HuntX map or on another topo map. They all show ending at the rim. I know there's one that goes down somewhere as it's a popular spot for floaters.

Going out there when it's wet is a way to get your knuckles white. I've hunted out there in wet weather and the roads can be something else. Usually you don't sink in that far but there's enough clay in the soil to make it super greasy. 4 chains are a must.

Most of the flat land maps use 20' contour intervals. When it gets steep, they use 40' to give you a better idea whether you need to carry ropes and pitons when elk hunting.

edited to add: HuntX in Idaho uses a 20' interval for some reason. That adds a lot of lines to a map in steep country.

NM has the Rio Grande gorge near Tres Piedras,. Colorado has the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas near Canyon City. All are in the sage brush semi desert country. It is amazing of all the great scenery in this great country.Some day I hope to get to Idaho to see some of that

jnyork's Rules for Life, #39: If you cant back your pickup up to the carcass, dont shoot the elk.

Pretty dang spectacular.

Beautiful, thanks for sharing.

Nice photo! Looks like 'Thelma and Louise' country.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hole-in-the-Ground

Thought you were talking about Oregon.

Been there many times. It's one of our hunting areas.

Not too far from Crack-in-the-Ground.

https://www.blm.gov/visit/crack-in-the-ground

My grandpa killed a monster non-typical mulie near China Hat, not far from HIG. 11x15 iirc. .30 WCF.




P

One of the biggest deer I ever shot was near Sand Springs. Not a 11x15, but a dandy none-the-less. Shot quite a few out there in the jack pine and sage brush.

Thought the same as Pharm...
Not going to go into too much detail, but, the biggest muley buck I have ever seen, insanely frickin huge for Oregon, was out there abouts in the Oregon Desert. Hell, near thirty years ago.... Hole in the Ground was always on my list but didn't make it. Well, that I can recall. Been in the Crack though and some of the caves... Lost Forest, Fossil Lake...


If you haven't read, you need too...
https://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Desert-R-Jackman/dp/0870044346

How do you get into those canyons, besides parachuting.

Good push would do it, getting out may be a little different.

Deepest canyon in north America is Hells canyon and the Snake River flows through it. It forms the state line between Idaho and Oregon

Hells Canyon is the deepest, to be sure. It's a different kind of canyon than the Bruneau, though, or the other desert canyons in Owyhee and Twin Falls counties. Hells is steep enough to make you suck air but it doesn't have the sheer vertical walls of the smaller ones. This pic is the Snake River canyon near Twin Falls, 200 miles before it reaches Hells canyon.

There's dozen's of smaller gorges around the state. This is the Black Canyon gorge near Grace. Like most other gorges, it was formed in a flood event. In this case the last eruption at China Hat blocked the flow of the Bear river north (into the Snake river), and diverted it South (into the Great Salt Lake ) about 15,000 years ago.

The Owyhee is the only river I've floated that I felt that the walls were tipping in on me. Just a slot of sky above you. Rock formations are spectacular. Surreal.

Start before the rivers get into canyons. On the Owyhee at Rome the river literally cuts into the side of a mountain. After you get past that entry you're committed for several miles.

RC

You might want to take her to see "Cauldron Linn" during spring runoff... The Snake River is funneled down to about 40-feet wide! Pretty interesting history, being as we are telling secrets!

Craig

The Bruneau and the Jarbidge Canyons are no joke...nor are some of the lesser known drainages that flow into the Snake from the North near Bliss, King Hill and the like.

Love blasting chukar off those rims...It usually takes all day and easily 10+ miles of hiking to get a limit, but the birds are there. Crazy country. Been putting in for that bighorn tag there since I was in Jr. High.

The Owyhee is another of the canyons that starts in northern NV and flows north to the Snake River. It just misses Idaho, though, and stays in SE Oregon.

images shamelessly stolen from the web...

If you're in the area, this is worth a stop.

https://www.scenicusa.net/090208.html