The Meek Cutoff was a covered wagon road that branched off the Oregon Trail in northeastern  Oregon. First used in 1845, it left the main trail at Vale, Oregon, and followed the Malheur River to head into the Harney Basin. It then turned west towards Wagontire Mountain, and north to the south fork of the Crooked River where it split into two routes. Each path led to the Deschutes River. The two routes reunited north of where the Crooked River empties into the Deschutes and then continued to The Dalles, Oregon.

Meek's Cutoff is a 2010 American western film directed by Kelly Reichardt. The film was shown in competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. The story is loosely based on a historical incident on the Oregon Trail in 1845, in which frontier guide Stephen Meek led a wagon train on an ill-fated journey through the Oregon desert along the route later known as the Meek Cutoff in the western United States.