0 - Owyhee Plains

For a shakedown hike, I headed to the Southern Idaho, Owyhee Plains. The Idaho Centennial Trail starts at the border of Idaho and Nevada and heads north. Mallory and I drove down Saturday setting out water drops along the way for my to stop at later. We camped the night just past Murphy Hot Springs, on the Bruneau River. Murphy hot springs was a bit of a let down. At one time it was a developed spring with a pool, but it has fallen into disrepair and the community looks like isolationists avoiding the govment'. Sunday we hiked the two miles down to the border and the trail monument. Then back at the car, I grabbed my backpack and started hiking down the trail. I started off great. The road I was hiking on was pretty easy and it was sunny. As the day went on the wind picked up and the clouds drew close. I was concerned that the 30% chance of rain forecasted for Monday, might be coming in a little early. I ended up hiking much further then I intended and ended up covering 29 miles the first day. I had made it to the shelter of a ravine and my first water drop. I woke the next morning to snow starting to come down and was glad I was somewhat protected with water. As the snow came down, I decided to stay there for the day resting my tired body from the long day before. The skies cleared up in the afternoon. Overnight it was clear and still. I woke up and my water was partially frozen. I packed up camp and headed out on the road. The roads were much rougher with cow prints in the dirt and my legs had not fully recovered. After the first 8 miles took me 5 hours, I decided that I shouldn't keep going. It was going to be to hard to get to my next water source and heading onward would just lead to injury. I hit the button on my SPOT to have Mallory come meet me on the road and pick me up.
View Larger Map For future people attempting the Idaho Centennial Trail, I'd recommend finding a river service to float the Bruneau River instead, I think it would be much more scenic and interesting. On the plus side, aside from my legs and feet, all of my gear worked great. Once my body is healed I'll be ready to go.