The goal of this ride was to find the road from Silver City to Jordan Valley through the tops of the Owyhee Mountains. Google Maps showed a route and I figured my GPS could get me there. I sort of failed at that part, but had a great ride anyway with lots of beautiful scenery.
This is the turnoff from Silver City Rd to F483 (a.k.a., Flint Creek Rd).
For the third year in a row, there are crickets all over the place up in those hills.
They're thick enough in some places that you can't help squishing a bunch of them.
The scenery up there is beautiful once you get up high.
I saw the antenna on the top of this hill, but this side road looked a bit too rough for me riding solo.
On the way back out I realized that there was an easier road up to the top, so I went up there. A couple guys in a side by side were just about to head down. I asked if they knew the name of the mountain. War Eagle Mountain, and that's what Google Maps says it's called as well.
Headed south, snow covered the road in a few spots. Fortunately it was flat enough to work my way around the edge. These are the two worst spots.
Once up high, my GPS got confused and I wasn't sure of the route through to Jordan Valley, so I turned around and headed back out. I didn't want to go back the same way on Silver City Rd, so I headed toward Oregon. However, instead of taking the usual southern route to Jordan Valley, I took the northern split that comes out on Highway 95 many miles closer to home. Heading back into Idaho on Highway 95 there were six separate Owyhee County Sheriff cars running radar. Welcome to Idaho. I just waved at most of them. Two were busy writing tickets. I've never seen enforcement there before, but when they do it, they are pretty serious about it.