The terrain in the Trout Creek Mountains varies from broad , flat basins and rolling ridges to high rock escarpments cut by deep canyons . The canyons have steep walls with loose talus slopes at the bottoms . It are meadows around springs in the mountains , although most streams in the range do not flow year @-@ round . Major streams that flow off the north slopes of the mountains include ( from west to east ) Cottonwood Creek , Trout Creek , Willow Creek , and Whitehorse Creek . These streams all flow into endorheic basins in Harney County , Oregon . Trout Creek and Whitehorse Creek are the largest of the four . The Kings River and McDermitt Creek each drain an area on the south slopes of the Trout Creek Mountains . The Kings River begins in The Granites and flows south into Nevada , where it meets the Quinn River , which evaporates in the Black Rock Desert . McDermitt Creek begins in Oregon a few miles north of The Granites and flows generally east , crossing the Oregon – Nevada border five times before disappearing into the floor of the Quinn River Valley south of McDermitt .