Hardtrigger Volcano of the Owyhee Mountains

On June 21st, 2010 we headed back to the area south of Marsing, Idaho. This rock hounding trip included our Arctic Cat ATV and a completely new area for us. While we have some experience with the Owyhee’s we’ve never been into the western portions of them. There is little or no information about rock hounding in this area and even old mining claims along our route are pretty sparse. But this is the way we learn, find cool rock and have a ball exploring.

The route we took was up Coyote Grade Road and hooked into Hardtrigger Road and back to our truck. At about the mid-point of our trip we started noticing a large lava domed mountain in the distance. It looked cool from a distance and even more impressive the closer we got. At least to me it looks like an old inactive / extinct volcano. While this 4020 foot mountain has no known name, we didn’t think it was fitting that such a majestic looking feature should remain nameless. We named it Hardtrigger Volcano as it sits close to Hardtrigger Creek.

Hardtrigger Volcano

Click on the picture for a link to a much bigger photo.

I’m no geologist but if the mountain in this picture isn’t a volcano, then I’ll eat my hat AND a lava rock we brought home with us. But I’m secure enough in the strength of my stomach to admit when I’m wrong so if anyone has a difference of opinion, let me know.

Map of the Hardtrigger Volcano
Coordinates: 43.358919 -116.806064

The loop we took on our ATV was about 20 miles. For the most part, the rock hounding was rather grim. It’s mostly rhyolite and huge old lava fields with some places showing weak seams of old dried out opal. But some of the scenery is quite amazing and we got to see a few wild horses and our first rattlesnake of the season.

Here is a link to a few more picture taken on this trip.

Thanks for visiting and commenting on this outdoor article.

Tim Bondy
The Bondyweb.Com author