Leslie Gulch is a beautiful area located in the Owyhee country of southeast Oregon, not far from the Idaho border. The high desert terrain is home to a ton on geological diversity, with some really spectacular volcanic rock formations. One of the best family friendly spots to explore is Juniper Gulch. Start from the well-marked trailhead, then hike up the trail as far as you want, or head cross-country to explore some really neat side canyons. Be prepared to take lots of photos, the scenery is amazing. The hike can be done mostly year round, but the best time to visit is probably late spring when the wildflowers are blooming and the weather is cooler. Summer can be okay too, just go early before it gets too hot, and bring lots of water.

Every year in mid-April, my kids have a teacher in-service day off from school. We use that as an opportunity for some spring family adventures. It has turned into our “not bad for a Wednesday” yearly tradition. This year we decided to go check out Leslie Gulch, including a hike on the highly acclaimed Juniper Gulch trial. It took us about 2.5 hours of driving from Boise, through Marsing, to the well-marked trailhead.

The start of the trail follows a dry and kind of sandy creek bottom. Part of this early section clings to the side of neat overhanging rock face. In the distance, we could see lots of very cool rock formations in all directions, so the hike was great from the start. After a half mile or so, the terrain opens up a bit. The drainage seemed to fork, and we headed right (east). After going through a tighter rock section, we got to a sandy slope with a tall yellow rock spire on top above some honeycomb. We couldn’t resist the temptation to explore some more up close, and climbed up to the base of the spire then around to a great lunch spot in the shade.

After a short PB&J lunch break, we decided to scramble up a neat bumpy rock formation, then circled back around to the base of the spire. My wife and our dog led us in scrambling up and over a little ridge to the right of the spire, then down the other side.

We were off trail at this point, and looking for a slot canyon I’d read about. It wasn’t long before we found it, and we had a blast exploring the hidden slot canyon. After that, we found another side canyon that wasn’t as tight, but had a neat amphitheater with some really neat tall walls all around it.

After exploring the side canyons, we dropped back down to the trail, and continued our way up the valley for a while. If you go far enough, you can gain the ridge at the head of the valley, and climb a mountain called “The Yellow Jacket”. But we decided to stop and turn around about a mile and a half from the trailhead.

On the way back down the valley, we used the other more obvious trail down the center of the valley. The trail was very cool, but there was a little route-finding involved in a few places to get past scramble sections that were a little too challenging for our aging dog.

Once back at the car, we took a drive down to check out the reservoir. For the drive home, we took the scenic route past Succor Creek State Park, and then stopped at the Frosty Palace in Homedale for some well-deserved dinner. All in all, definitely not bad for a Wednesday.

Map of the route we took, just over 3 miles and 500' elevation gain, round trip.	View near the start of the hike.	Hiking next to an overhanging rock face.	Early section of trail.	Neat spires and honey comb rock.
Our lunch spot in the shade.	Getting ready to explore after lunch.	Looking back down the valley.	We did a fun scramble up these rocks.	Three boys having fun.
Climbing up next to the prominent spire.	Crazy looking rock.	Trying to coax our dog up a ledge.	Not sure if I'd be standing under that if I were you guys…	Crawling through a tight spot.
Heading back down the side canyon.	More crazy looking rock.	Green grass growing at the entrance of a side canyon.	Heading in.	From dark back into the light.
Surrounded by tall rock walls.	Fun exploring.	Otherworldly mushroom swiss cheese rock.	Starting back down the main trail.	Desert paintbrush.
Taking a break in the shade.	Hustling back down the sandy trail.	Bridging the gap.	Lizard in the sun.	Almost back to the trailhead.