NV-140: The Denio Crossing
From Winnemucca up the Quinn River Valley on NV-140 to Denio and the Oregon line, then through Fields and the Catlow Valley to Frenchglen and Steens Mountain.
The Route at a Glance
Fill the tank in Winnemucca before setting out; there is little between here and Frenchglen. US-95 runs north up the valley with the Santa Rosa Range to the east, and about thirty-two miles out NV-140 turns west into the Quinn River Valley. This is Northern Paiute country, Numu land, on both sides of the state line; the Fort McDermitt reservation lies farther up US-95, where that highway crosses into Oregon.
NV-140 runs beside the Quinn River for about ten miles as it rounds the north end of the Jackson Mountains; then the river turns away southeast to die out in the Black Rock Desert, and the highway carries on northwest up the valley between the Bilk Creek Mountains to the east and the Pine Forest Range to the west. It was not fully paved until 1953. About a hundred miles from Winnemucca it reaches Denio Junction, and a three-mile spur runs north to Denio, just short of the Oregon line.
Across the line, the Fields–Denio road runs about twenty miles north, under the east side of the Pueblo Mountains, to Fields. Here a gravel road leaves north along the east foot of Steens Mountain past the Alvord Desert, a side trip on gravel. The paved way, OR-205, goes north instead through the Catlow Valley, along the long western slope of the mountain, and comes down into Frenchglen, the start of the loop road over Steens Mountain.
The run is about 175 miles, four hours or more, most of it on two-lane roads with no town on NV-140 itself. Services are few and keep short hours. The Steens loop opens only from early July to mid-October.
The Drive, Stop by Stop
3 stops along the route, in driving order from Winnemucca, Nevada to Frenchglen, Oregon. 2 of them sit off the road itself — the distance is noted on each.
- 1
- 2
- 3
That's the drive. Take your time, pull over often, and let NV-140: The Denio Crossing do what it does best.
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