Owyhee

We boated the lower Owyhee as a group of 5 and one dog, with one 14' raft, one IK and 3 pack rafts. No BLM rangers stationed at the Rome put in. At 3000 cfs, we only scouted Whistling bird (mi 31) and Montgomery (mi 33.5), both on the left. We used Judy Hayward at Owyhee Adventure Shuttles for our shuttle, and her brother in law Luke Hayward for the tow out from mi 57 to the Leslie Gulch take out (mi 68). We were advised not to take out at Birch Creek (mi 50) as the road can be rough and impassable, but that closer take out would have avoided the tow out.

Perhaps useful.  Road in itself is an adventure.

Two routes in from Jordan Valley.  One by Juniper Mtn road, Fenwick Rd - more mud.  One on Three Forks Road - more gravel though a crossing can get deep at Soldier Creek.

With low flows of 300 cfs we elected not to boat the Owyhee but instead set up a base camp at Three Forks and explored the area with colleagues from Friends of the Owyhee, American Whitewater, Oregon Naturual Desert Association, and Conservation Lands Foundation. We did see one group launch on this section with a Creature Craft and raft.

Spring trip on the Owyhee River

Four day trip on the Owyhee as a self support kayak run. Flows were 1900 and 1800 cfs for the first couple days on the water increasing to over 2500 cfs on the last night (after major rapids were passed).

Floated Widowmaker last week (if you can call lining the first part, then boat disassembly/portage then more linings a float) and we didn't see a rope in the rapid. Did see one strung out wedged down in the rocks on river left, but couldn't crawl down far enough to recover. Rope was stretched tight between a couple rocks as well.

Spring 2009, decent flow