America's Scenic Byways

Grande Tour Route

80 miles - Four to five hours

'Grande' is French for 'big'; the mountains, farms, and history that compose this byway's valley elucidate the use of this term. The route sits between the Hells Canyon and Elkhorn byways and is an easy swing-by from these byways.

Grande Tour tracks through pine and fir forests to beautiful Birnie Park, where Oregon Trail travelers camped before climbing over the Blue Mountains. A viewpoint from these same mountains overlooks the Ladd Marsh Wildlife Refuge and the snow-capped Wallowa Mountains on the opposite side of the valley. It runs through cherry orchards and mint fields at the base of the Wallowa Mountains and also through the ruins of Hot Lake Resort, a spa/hospital that was thought of as the Mayo Clinic of the West in the early 1900s.