Wallowa County Day Trips: Buckhorn Overlook

March 24, 2016
Jon Rombach

Most Bang For Your Buckhorn

You’ve got 24 hours in Wallowa County and are not allergic to awesome things. What to do? The most bang for your Buckhorn could be the scenic drive out through Zumwalt Prairie to the eyeball-widening canyon views of Buckhorn Overlook.

Man Standing on Top of A Hill Looking at The Mountains

Bring the Binoculars and Camera

The trip to Buckhorn makes for a dyno-mite half-day trip with great odds of seeing wildlife, a view impossible to take bad pictures of and you’re still back in town with time to skip a rock across Wallowa Lake and get ready for dinner.

Recommended music for this trip is the Lucinda Williams classic album ‘Car Wheels On a Gravel Road.’ Love that record. Also, there is a fair amount of gravel road you’ll be traveling. Good tires are a good idea for this trip. Bring a picnic, throw in a map and a pair of binoculars for all the hawks, maybe eagles, elk, coyote and other four-leggeds. Wolf sightings are not unheard of out there.

Deer Standing on Top of A Dry Grass Field

Directions

To get to Buckhorn, head south from Enterprise on Highway 82 – toward Joseph – 3.5 miles, then east onto Crow Creek Road. About 5 miles out stay to the right on OK Gulch/Zumwalt-Imnaha Road. 9.5 miles more, this turns into the Zumwalt-Buckhorn Road. We’re getting there. 23 more miles of soothing gravel gets you to the Forest Road 780 turn. Then it’s a short 1.3 miles out to the campground and viewpoint. You won’t even notice the .3.

Bird’s Eye Perspective of Country We See From the River

Field with A Fence and Mountains in The Background

Take a stroll while you’re out there and enjoy this sweet spot for laying eyes on unique Wallowa County geology. Buckhorn is a groovy day trip to bookend your Winding Waters rafting trip in Hells Canyon by allowing for a day to take in this view of the area you’ll be getting to know from the water.

More Information

Here’s a link to good intel from the Forest Service on getting to Buckhorn.

Book your rafting extravaganza through Hells Canyon country  with Winding Waters Rafting to get up close and personal with all this postcard terrain.