39 – Pelota Fronton
From WikiPedia:
The Pelota Fronton is a Basque pelota ball court and landmark in Jordan Valley, Oregon, United States. The court was built in 1915 and finished in 1917. It was last used regularly in 1935. This was caused by the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934. Jordan Valley had numerous Basque immigrants that came to herd sheep. After the act passed, the court gradually lost usage, and it started falling into disrepair over a span of roughly 4 decades. In 1972, the court was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1997, the court underwent a full renovation. Restoration included installation of a covered interpretive sign and a stone representation of the Zazpiak Bat, the coat of arms for the seven Basque provinces. A sign reads: “Jordan Valley Ko Frontoia restored 1997 danok etorri” in recognition of the inauguration of the restored pelota fronton in September 1997.
In Jordan Valley games, the wicker racket, or cesta, is not used. To this day, the court remains a symbol of Basque culture in the region.
More Information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelota_Fronton
Coordinates: 42.97465, -117.05273
Elevation: 4410 ft
Difficulty: 1
What to Expect: No info
Check In
Please read before attempting challenge site or checking in:
Use the form below to check in. Check in’s must include a photo of you or your bike, at the challenge site, with the 2024 bandanna. To check in, all participants must be registered IAMC Challenge Members. Be sure to leave a description about the ride, and share any road conditions as snow, water, or obstacles. Please provide any other information that might help future visitors navigate to this site safely. Replying or commenting on another persons Check In is encouraged, but take care not to create your own Check In on accident.
The stated ride difficulty is just an estimate. By rating the ride difficulty in your experience according to this scale you can help future riders stay safe. You, and you alone are responsible for the safety of your ride. While we do our best to accurately convey the challenge level for each site, it is up to you to make sure you have the skills needed to reach each destination. If you feel the trail exceeds your skill level please turn around immediately.
NOTE: We have been having some issues uploading images. We are working on this. If you are having trouble, try resizing your images to less than 1280×1280 pixels and keep files sizes down to a minimum. If the problem persists, please reach out on the Forums under “Website Tips and Questions.” This should just be a temporary issue as we get the tech figured out. Thank you.
All paved. Easy peasey Not much to see. It is a 1 unless you hit a lot of other sites that day and don’t get gas in Jordan Valley 😉 Barely made it back to civilization! Thanks to Dean W. for hanging with me just in case!
Cool stop. Also checked out the Charbonneau gravesite not too far from here.
Last stop on my Murphy to Jordan Valley loop. It was a great day for a ride.
Cool day, nice easy ride
I took the day off to knock of several outstanding challenge sites. Rode the back country byway for the first time. Rained last night, roads soupy and slippy. I was 2-up with my wife. We had a great time.
I always stop at Rockhouse when coming through Jorden Valley. Missed this challenge site the last 4 times we came through this year. Got it this time 🙂
Also visit Rockhouse Coffee.
Last stop for the day. I have been by this a few times.
Stopped on the shady side like a couple others.
The backside of the ball court and a shady tree. Time to roll back to Boise. 80 sure feels fast after the long gravel road trek from the east.
I couldn’t help but think that if I grew up in Jordan Valley I would have spent considerable time throwing (pitching) or hitting a tennis ball at this thing. Very odd and interesting piece of architecture. I wonder if anyone (Basque or otherwise) knows how to play the game this thing was built for. Chicken Tenders at the food truck across the street are pretty good.
Enjoyed all that Jordan Valley offers…..snacks and some fuel as we made decisions to attempt Coffee Pot and Birch Creek with the threat of rain. We were denied the latter.
Stop 5 on our Owyhee/Jordan Valley/Silver city overnighter. Came in from the south via Owhyee Uplands Byway. Stopped for fuel and a bite to eat from Mrs Z”s C store. Rain and more rain thwarted ride into Coffee Pot and Birch Creek Ranch. Jordan Craters road was a slip and slide mud fest. Turned back half way in and headed for Silver City.
I took Mud Flat Road from Grand View to Jordan Valley, and stopped for fuel and to grab this site. Then I headed over to Silver City… much better than heading home on 95.hwy
Fuel stop before heading home
Last stop on a fun ride through Succor creek and the Jordan Craters area.
It’s always a relief to roll into town and know there’s at least a fuel stop….I was running right up to the limit. This was a good final stop on my tour through Owyhee.
no sheep
Always funny to see the cops “shootin’ fish in a barrel’ in Jorden Valley” 🙂
This was the tail end of our ride before we headed home, and yes I slept good that night.
Was a bit colder than I thought it was gonna be
Obvious gas stop for this region. Route 95 northbound is 10/10 pavement and incredibly scenic. Food truck on the right hand side coming from the north.
Food, Gas, and coffee are nearby. This is a nice stop on the way to somewhere else.
This was the last stop for Dan’s ride. The ride back on 95 is about as smooth as you can ask for. The pavement is just about perfect, and you can just sail on those roads. It was fun really opening up my GS and flying through the canyon. While going exactly the speed limit…naturally.
There is a little food truck just a couple of blocks away. They had a good burger.
We adjusted our rout at the end of day 1 of our ride and added the only few miles of slab of our trip to hit Jordan Valley early for fuel and supplies for day two. Then it was off to the Birch Creek Ranch about an hour and a half away. We got lucky and skirted two thunderstorms even though we suited up and were ready for some wet. Unfortunately, this cut our hangout time in JV short and we high tailed to make camp for the night.
Visited this site on 4/12 briefly. Topped off our fuel and supplies around the bend. Neat bit of history. A big storm was inbound so we did not have the luxury of time to look around. The Jordan Big Loop Rodeo is fun to watch if you time it right.
Still lots of snow in the Owyhee mountains. Encountered several micro burst flurries along highway 95, all were brief but scary as I had a bunch of accumulation on face shield. Jordan Valley still has about 4″ of snow on the ground.