Pillars of Rome

Thirty-three miles down US-95 from Jordan Valley, columns of chalk-white clay rise a hundred feet off the desert floor, fluted and eroded until early travelers on the wagon roads swore they were looking at the ruins of a Roman temple. The name stuck — to the formations, and to the tiny river outpost of Rome nearby.

The pillars run for roughly five miles, banded in white and buff, and they change character with every hour of light: stark at noon, golden and shadow-carved toward evening. Photographers should come late in the day.

Seeing them

The formations sit on the edge of the Rome basin and are easily viewed from the public gravel roads off US-95 — you can be out of the car and staring up at them within a few minutes of pavement. There are no signs, no fees, no crowds; this is Owyhee sightseeing in its natural state. Respect any private land fences and leave the soft clay unclimbed (it’s fragile, and it crumbles).

Rome is also the main put-in for Owyhee River float trips — see the Owyhee Canyonlands page — so river parties often get their first look at the pillars on launch morning after a night’s sleep back in Jordan Valley.