North Fork John Day Trailhead

Michael Skourtes

The North Fork John Day Wilderness along the North Fork John Day River Trail deep in Oregon’s Blue Mountain gold rush country is prime backpacking country. The 25 mile-long trail follows the John Day River downstream through a rimrock canyon featuring forests of Douglas Fir and lodgepole pines, rocky outcrops, smooth meadows, and decaying log cabins of Oregon’s gold rush pioneers. The North Fork John Day drainage was a bustling gold and silver mining area in the middle to late 1800s. Old mines, log cabins, water-worn rock, dredged ditches, and other traces are still visible of people who mined an estimated 10 million in gold and silver in the early days of Oregon. The North Fork John Day Wilderness was established by the Oregon Wilderness Act of 1984 and is comprised of 121,800 acres. A 39 mile segment of the North Fork John Day River has been designated as a Wild and Scenic River. The river is “Wild” meaning it is undammed along its entire length and is the third longest free-flowing river in the lower 48 of the United States. The area’s fish population includes large numbers of Chinook salmon and steelhead, with runs that peak in August. This area is well known for big-game animals, which currently include a herd of Rocky Mountain elk estimated to number beyond 50,000 and a herd of mule deer that reportedly exceeds 150,000. The wilderness also has its fair share of black bears and mountain lions and in the fall, the North Fork John Day River Trail is a prime trail for big-game hunters. Hikers can access roughly 133 miles of trails, three of which, Elkhorn Crest, Winom Creek, and North Fork John Day, are National Recreation Trails. The campground is the trailhead location for the North Fork John Day River Trail #3022 which runs 25 miles down the river. There are primitive tent sites, no water, an outhouse style bathroom, and parking for trailers and horses.

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