By JAYSON JACOBY

Of the Baker City Herald

The sky-piercing stone pinnacles that tower above Northeastern Oregon’s verdant valleys once were invisible.

Twice they have been buried, first beneath the tepid waters of a tropical sea; then, tens of millions of years later, under rock-crushing layers of glacial ice.

Today these peaks stand proudly, obscured only by an occasional itinerant cloud.

But in a single day’s drive you can see the same slopes where, so many millennia earlier, glaciers gouged and waves broke.

Or take the entire Labor Day weekend, and you’ll have time to dangle your feet (or a worm) in a lake or stream, hike to a mountaintop or two, or just imbibe the pupil-dilating vistas for more than a moment.

Baker City lies between two (mostly) paved routes renowned for scenery that ranges from mountains reminiscent of the Swiss Alps, to sagebrush steppe similar to the Mojave Desert.

To the east runs the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, one of three trips in Oregon deemed All-American Roads.

West is the Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway, the second-highest paved road in the state.

Both byways will be open during the long Labor Day weekend.

Elkhorn Drive

This route, the shorter of the pair at 106 miles, traces a roughly circular path around the Elkhorn Mountains.

The byway begins and ends in Baker City.

To travel the circle counter-clockwise, drive north on U.S. Highway 30 to Haines, then turn left at a sign for Anthony Lakes.

The 12 miles between Haines and the North Powder River constitute the only stretch of gravel the section is scheduled to be re-paved starting Sept. 8.

Beyond the river the byway climbs 3,500 feet in 12 miles to Anthony Lakes, an alpine basin that boasts three lakes Anthony, Grande Ronde and Mud each with its own Forest Service campground.

(Although the campgrounds will be open this weekend, campfires are prohibited due to the extreme fire danger.)

Two miles west of Anthony Lakes the byway ascends Elkhorn Summit. At 7,392, this is the second-highest point in Oregon reached by a paved road. Only the Rim Road in Crater Lake National Park climbs higher 7,960-foot Cloud Cap Overlook.

Past Elkhorn Summit the byway descends the west slopes of the Elkhorns and crosses the North Fork John Day River, where some of Oregon’s healthiest runs of salmon and steelhead spawn.

At the junction near the river’s bank, turn left at a sign pointing to Granite (the right fork is the Blue Mountains Scenic Byway, which leads to Ukiah).

Granite and Sumpter, its neighbor 15 miles away, are among Oregon’s liveliest ghost towns.

Sumpter’s centerpiece is a gargantuan five-story, 1250-ton gold-mining dredge. The dredge, which scooped its last bucket of Powder River gravel in 1954, is the main attraction of Sumpter Valley Dredge State Park.

This weekend’s highlight, though, is the last of Sumpter’s three summer flea markets, where the merchandise is as varied as the views.

Three miles past Sumpter, turn left on Ore. Highway 7 for the 25-mile drive back to Baker City.

Along the way you’ll pass Union Creek Campground on the north shore of Phillips Reservoir, then follow the Powder to byway’s end.

Hells Canyon

The official 208-mile byway (250 miles including the drive from La Grande back to Baker City) doesn’t enter this deepest river-carved gorge in North America, but on side roads you can either plunge into its maw or climb to overlooks thousands of feet above the Snake River.

Drive east of Baker City on Ore. Highway 86, following signs to Richland, Halfway and Hells Canyon.

Both Richland, 41 miles east, and Halfway, 12 miles more, serve as the marketplaces for valleys carved by streams flowing south from the nearly 10,000-foot Wallowa Mountains.

Halfway is the site of this weekend’s Baker County Fair and Panhandle Rodeo, with events scheduled Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

About 10 miles east of Halfway, turn left at a sign for Joseph.

This two-lane paved route, known locally as the Wallowa Mountain Loop, winds north through forests with the rim of Hells Canyon to the east, and the high Wallowas to the west.

A paved side road leads five miles to Hells Canyon Overlook.

The grandest view of the canyon, though, is at Hat Point. To get there, turn right at the junction with the road into Joseph and drive to Imnaha. From there a steep, gravel road (passable to passenger cars, but trailers and RVs not recommended) leads to Hat Point.

The byway, meanwhile, bears west to Joseph, at the north end of Wallowa Lake, the largest natural lake in Northeastern Oregon.

Its chilly waters fill the wound carved by a glacier about a million years ago.

From Joseph the byway follows Ore. Highway 82 to route’s end at La Grande. You’ll drive through the towns of Enterprise, Lostine, Wallowa, Elgin, Imbler and Island City before you get to Interstate 84.