Jump Creek Falls Trail Head — Attraction in Idaho

WARNINGPLEASE READ* The permissible hours of the Jump Creek Recreation area are STRICTLY enforced. An Owyhee County Sheriff officer said this is because of criminal and/or dangerous incidents that have occurred here in the past: accidental death, officer impersonation, attempted kidnapping, etc.

The current fine for trespassing off-hours is $156 and I’ve heard the judge rarely dismisses them, regardless of the reason. Several times I’ve seen an Owyhee County Sheriff truck parked above the parking lot waiting to issue tickets to anyone who lingers beyond the closing time.

I posted a pic of the hours sign. Although it’s large it can be easy to miss on the drive in if you’re not looking for it.

That being said, the area is lovely during daylight, although it is popular. A lot of families, groups of teens, and young adults frequent here. Most users leave no trace, but you will likely see some litter.

It’s a short, easy hike to the falls/swimming hole. Some sections of the trail are sandy and it’s easy to slip .. watch your footing.

The drive to the area is beautiful, particularly in the Spring. The falls are bigger in the Spring as well, however the trail is likely to be wet and therefore slippery so be careful.

I gave Jump Creek a one star rating so my review would be read (as a friendly warning to my fellow hikers), but my actual...

Jump Creek was an interesting experience. Kinda random place where you wouldn't expect something like that to be. The road down to the parking area is paved but steep, windy and a bit sketchy because of no guard railing. The trail to the falls is pretty well carved out so staying on course is not much of a problem. It's actually very pretty in the area, especially around the creek leading up to the falls. Some areas are pretty steep to traverse over which can be tricky for little ones or people with physical limitations. The falls itself is pretty neat, lots of photo opportunities. However, it's a bit cramped around the water area. And also, not very much space anywhere to sit. When we went there were quite a bit of people which made things a little tricky. I was a little concerned with the water around the falls area because looking closely it was visibly full of hair and I'm not even sure what else. Just imo I probably wouldn't swim in here, but that's just me and I'm picky about where I swim. Overall a neat area, scenic, lots of good hiking in the area and cool photo...

“Where there are rocks, watch out! Watch out, because the rocks are going to eventually come alive and they are going to have people crawling over them. It is only matter of time, just in the same way the acorn is eventually going to turn into the oak because it has the potentiality of that within it. Rocks are not dead. You see, it depends on what kind of attitude you want to take to the world… You cannot get an intelligent organism such as a human being out of an unintelligent universe. So in any lump of rock floating about in space, there is implicit human intelligence. Don’t differentiate yourself and standoff against this and say ‘I am a living organism in a world made of a lot of dead junk, rocks and stuff.’ It all goes together, those rocks are just as much you as your finger...