Did you know the Owyhee river and region were named after a couple of Hawaiians?

From wikipedia:

“Owyhee” and “Hawaii” are two different spellings for the same word. When Captain James Cook discovered what he named the Sandwich Islands (known more recently as the Hawaiian Islands) in 1778, he found them inhabited by people called Owyhees. The spelling “Owyhee” is simplified a little from its original form: “Owyhee” is the spelling that British and American traders used during the early nineteenth century in referring to natives of the Sandwich Islands, and a number of Owyhees sailed on to the Columbia, where they joined trapping expeditions or worked at some of the fur trade posts.

Three of the Owyhees joined Donald MacKenzie’s Snake expedition, which went out annually into the Snake country for the North West Company–a Montreal organization of Canadian fur traders. Unluckily, those three Owyhees left the main party during the winter of 1819-20; they set out to explore the then unknown terrain of what since has been called the Owyhee river and mountains, and have not been heard from since. Because of their disappearance, the British fur trappers started to call the region “Owyhee,” and the name stuck.

Just at the time the Owyhees disappeared into the Owyhee country, American missionaries came to the Sandwich Islands and worked out an alphabet for the native language in order to print the Bible and other missionary literature. In the alphabet they adopted, the word “Owyhee” turn out to be “Hawaii.”

Now you know it.  I did not know either… but it was time to explore a new area of the state of Oregon.  My new friends (from last year’s Ochoco Rally) invited me to join them on this other ride.  What a beautiful place.  We camped at the shore of the Owyhee Dam.

We spent some four days there, each day riding to a different location.  View of Homedale, Idaho.

One of the many irrigation systems in the area. Ken was really impressed by the tubes and the canals.

Big sky.

Leslie Gulch

More Leslie Gulch

Helmet parking.

I like this picture.  Friends having a great time.

Taking a break on one of the many rides

More big sky

A view of the Owyhee River

All in all, great times.