About this place
The PO Saddle Trailhead opens onto the Summit Ridge and Western Rim National Recreation Trail #1774. It also reaches the southern end of the Hells Canyon Wilderness.
It is two things at once. A trailhead and a horse camp, with sites for tents and pull-through spaces for a truck and trailer.
There is a big view of the canyon across the road. On the way up you also pass the Hells Canyon Overlook, where the pavement ends.
There is a vault toilet and no drinking water.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Not maintained for ordinary cars
- Drinking water
- No, bring your own
- Toilet
- Yes
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Wallowa Whitman National Forest
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the US Forest Service, who grade every road by the kind of vehicle it is looked after for. 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.
Rules and restrictions
This site sits inside the Hells Canyon Wilderness. Wilderness is a legal label with rules attached, and the main rule is that machinery stays out.
So no motor vehicles, no bicycles, no carts, no hang gliders and no other mechanical equipment.
Getting there
From Halfway, go 1 mile east on Record Road to Highway 86. Go 9 miles to the Wallowa Loop Road, Forest Road 39. Follow it about 19.5 miles to Forest Road 3965. Go 13 miles more to the trailhead, on the left. Forest Road 3965 is paved for its first 3 miles, as far as the Hells Canyon Overlook, and unpaved after that.
Coordinates 45.230298, -116.775229
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing nationally famous is close. These are the landmarks nearby.
- Aneroid Mountain Directions
- Mount Howard Directions
- Sheep Rock Directions
- Hells Canyon 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
- Wallowa Lake, OR Directions
- Joseph, OR Directions
Joseph 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 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. This is Forest Service land, and each forest sets its own rule for how far you have to go, so check before you travel.
The nearest other free campsite in this guide is Gold King Trailhead, Oregon — 31 miles in a straight line, but a 71 mile drive. Twelve more sit closer than 25 miles, if the rule here allows them.
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 Forest Service’s own records, read in August 2026.