GREENHORN, OREGON

Visiting Greenhorn:

This is not a hike. Visiting Greenhorn requires a drive on gravel roads to a ghost town that still has houses that are occasionally occupied. Please be respectful of private property and do not linger long in the town. If you wish to visit, there are no signs on the highway to direct you to town. You can follow the directions at this link, which also has more information on the history of the town.

When I was a kid, I would sit and look at maps for hours. Before too long I would note something that looked like an interesting place to visit. This was especially true whenever we would plan some sort of trip.

In the summer of 1993, my stepdad and I planned a road trip across northeast Oregon. We planned on visiting the Painted Hills, Strawberry Mountain, the Wallowas, and Hells Canyon over the span of a week. By this point, my stepdad had put me in charge of organizing the trip, finding the hikes, figuring out distances between our various stops, and making sure there were places to camp. I was 12, and this was before the internet age, so we needed all the maps we could get. This started with a state road map of Oregon.

While planning this trip, I noted that Oregon’s smallest town was not far off the state highway that connected the Strawberry Mountains near John Day with the Wallowas. The town was called Greenhorn. It sounded like a random and interesting place to check out!

With that seed planted, my stepdad and I set out for Eastern Oregon. Our first stop was the Painted Hills:

After a night spent at a small campground near the Strawberry Mountain Trailhead, we set off towards the Wallowas the next morning. On the way, I suggested that we stop in Greenhorn, and my stepdad thought that sounded like an interesting idea. So off we went from John Day, and before long, I saw a sign for Greenhorn. We turned off the highway and drove up a dusty gravel road until we reached Greenhorn.

Greenhorn is a ghost town, but not a true ghost town. There are still cabins there, as well as active mining claims, and the town claimed 3 on its census when we visited. The official population of the town has been anywhere from 0 to 3 since we visited in 1993. As you can see on the sign above, Greenhorn is both Oregon’s smallest and highest incorporated town. At an elevation of 6,500 feet (1,981 meters) above sea level, it would be an inhospitable place to live in the winter. The town site is only reliably accessible from June to October, and in many years that is more like July to October. I am glad we visited when we did.