About this place
The North Fork Owyhee Wilderness covers over 43,000 acres. Its canyons drop more than 1,000 feet, with sheer walls of rhyolite and basalt.
This corner of the West has been called the largest gathering of canyons like these anywhere in the western United States. The law that made it wilderness was signed on 30 March 2009.
These canyons belong to the Owyhee Canyonlands. That region takes in a great deal of empty high desert in northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon. The rivers that did the cutting are the Jarbidge, the Bruneau and the Owyhee.
Boaters of most abilities can find a stretch of river to suit them, and hardly anyone else on it. The water runs from still to wild. The canyon sides run from straight up to gently grassed. Bighorn sheep of the California kind live here, and the Bruneau River phlox, a wildflower, grows here.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Roads around it
- Recorded as four-wheel drive
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the Bureau of Land Management, who record the kind of vehicle that uses each route. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Getting there
From Jordan Valley, Oregon, follow the Mud Flat Road 27 miles to the North Fork Owyhee River campground. The same road is also signed as the Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway.
Coordinates 42.61194444, -116.7891667
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
A few more of our own spots are within reach of this one, along with some better-known places.
- Pole Creek Wilderness Area Directions
- Dickshooter Creek Wild and Scenic River Directions
- Deep Creek Wild and Scenic River Directions
- Jordan Craters Directions
- Mahogany Mountain Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Jordan Valley, OR Directions
- 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.
Why “at least”: this route is hard to measure. We worked the drive out twice, with two separate mapping tools, and they gave different answers. That usually means there is no road close to the campsite, so the drive doubles back a long way. The figure above is the longer of the two. The real drive could be further still, so check the route before you set off.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. When you move on, the Bureau of Land Management usually wants you at least 25 to 30 miles away. So the free campsites closest to you are the ones you cannot use.
Six in this guide sit inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Little Jacks Creek Wilderness Area, Idaho — 26 miles in a straight line, but at least a 30 mile drive.
Why “at least”: there is no road right at this campsite, so the drive is hard to measure and the real one could be further. Check the route before you set off.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
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.