Malheur River

Name: Malheur River

Elevation Change: All over the place depending. Sullivan says 200 feet. My Run Keeper said 260. Sarah's Run Keeper said 600. As you'll read, Sarah did a hill that I didn't, but I don't think it was 400 feet...

Distance: 3.8 miles out-and-back

Difficulty: Easy

One of my new favorite trails! I absolutely love the area of Oregon down around John Day and the Strawberry Mountains. In fact, you can learn about my favorite trail, Strawberry Lake, here. In fact, this trip down to that area we did that hike again. It's always gorgeous, always worth it. 

But then we set out to explore other trails in the area. We have done East Canyon Creek (but I haven't written about it yet, makes note to do that) and Baldy Mountain. Baldy ended up being a Forest Service Road hike because a fire the year before had erased the visible trail.

Anyways, we dug out the trusty "100 Hikes of Eastern Oregon" by William Sullivan. There was that one time I called him a liar but he's not. He's just a more seasoned and able-bodied hiker than me. Trail 27 in his book is Malheur River.

At the trail head there are nice (for vault toilets) restrooms and you can evidently camp right there along the river.  Primitive camping, but you can camp.

I'm going to give you slightly different directions than Sullivan, though his will get you there too. Mine are a little more direct, in my opinion.

From John Day, take highway 395 south toward Burns. You'll come to the town? Village? of Seneca. Turn left on 1st Street. After the few blocks that is Seneca, it turns into Forest Service Road 16. Head out FS16 for like 15-ish miles. Just before Logan Valley, turn right on gravel Forest Service Road 1643. There's a sign that says Malheur River 12 miles. Head down 1643 for 8+ miles then head left on Road 1651 and you'll reach an open area with the restrooms and trailhead.

I did label this trail "easy" and it is, but it is also narrow and rocky. For someone with balance issues and only one functioning ankle, narrowness and rocks are definitely tricky. We were also on a tight schedule so I felt rushed to get the hike in before we had to hit the road and didn't fully enjoy it.  It's definitely one I will go back and do again and take the time to look around. The Ponderosa pines with their crazy orange bark are so beautiful. And oh my goodness, the pure beauty of a mountain river. 

It should also be noted that with my lack of balance and a leg brace, I am unable to do very steep climbs. On this short hike the turnaround point is a viewpoint. But to get to it was a very steep hill and a huge pile of shale (?) rocks that I just can maneuver safely. So I didn't make it to the viewpoint. Sarah did and got some great photos. Even she said the hill was killer steep and she's a much more experienced hiker. It's a short hill to get to the viewpoint, but quite steep in that one spot.

Picture time!

If you see this sign, you're in the right spot!

There were two spots that were boggy/muddy/wet. My shoes got quite muddy, thank goodness they're washable.

Thank goodness I could go around this because no way would my leg brace do this hahaha!!

Gorgeous river!

See? Very narrow and rocky. If you have balance issues like me, you really have to watch where to step very closely. Because of our tight schedule, this meant I didn't have a lot of time to stop to just look around at nature instead of my feet.

So much gorgeous Fireweed!

Ponderosas are so beautiful with that orange bark. I love it. And I love it up close, it reminds me of paint-by-numbers.

The panoramic shot Sarah got at the viewpoint. You can see the shale (?) rocks all over the place.