Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway opens early after lingering snowdrifts

A single lane cut through lingering snowdrifts on the Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway on May 21, opening Baker County’s highest paved road about a month earlier than the route usually becomes passable. For Memorial Day travelers, it meant earlier access into the Elkhorn Mountains west of Baker City, even if the road was still only partly open.

The bottleneck remains the high country above Anthony Lakes, where snow settles late and shade keeps drifts alive well after spring has arrived in Baker Valley. In earlier seasonal openings, Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort crews have had to punch one full lane through the higher elevations of the byway after working with the U.S. Forest Service, and the trouble spot has centered on the stretch over Elkhorn Summit, about 7,392 feet above sea level and a couple of miles west of the ski area. A Baker County opening in late May is notable precisely because that section often stays blocked into mid or late June.

That matters far beyond the pass itself. The Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway is a 106-mile loop that ties together Baker City, Granite, Anthony Lakes, Sumpter and the broader Elkhorn high country. It is part of the county’s tourism economy and a road people use to reach trailheads, campgrounds and mountain recreation, while also carrying visitors past historic mining country and the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area. Oregon has 29 designated scenic byways and tour routes, and state tourism officials say travelers on scenic byways spend an average of $104 a day, money that filters into rural gas stations, cafes, lodging and outfitters.

Anthony Lakes also explains why the byway can open so early one year and sit buried the next. Travel Oregon places Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort about 35 miles northwest of Baker City and notes that snow can linger there into July, while Anthony Lake, around 7,000 feet, is sometimes frozen until mid-June. Last year, the byway did not open for the season until June 10, after workers pushed through remaining drifts, so the May 21 opening marked a clear step ahead of the recent norm. Even now, the road’s reliability still belongs to the mountain weather, not the calendar.