Cutoff to the Barlow Road

From the John Day crossing the cutoff left the main trail and ran southwest up Grass Valley Canyon, past the head of the valley where this town grew, then down from Hollenbeck Point into Buck Hollow and the Deschutes. Emigrants floated their wagon boxes across about a mile below Sherar's Bridge and climbed on toward Tygh Valley and Barlow's toll road, five dollars a wagon. Riley Root, on it in 1848, put the canyon walls at up to 15,000 feet, higher than any mountain in Oregon. The cutoff saved as much as a week.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Celilo Village — 22 mi
  The village that stayed on the bluff above the drowned falls, rebuilt half a century late by the government that flooded them, where the salmon season still opens each April.

More markers nearby

• Sherar's Bridge Area — 14 mi
• Deschutes River Crossing — 20 mi
• Ancient Indian Fishing Grounds — 22 mi