Hell's Canyon and the Wallowas

After living in the great American West for the last several months, I can now see why in general it continues to be one of the fastest growing areas of the country. Within a few hours in any direction there is almost limitless world class outdoor recreational opportunities and majestic scenery. Here's the next installment in the documentation of my explorations.


This last weekend I explored the Snake River and Hell's Canyon by jet boat (see above). This canyon is about one and a half miles deep (deeper than the grand canyon) and forms part of the border between Idaho and Oregon. It was a pretty wild ride navigating through class 3 and class 4 rapids on the almost 200 mile round trip from Lewiston, ID to a dam deep in the canyon. Cool wildlife sightings included deer, bald eagles, and big horn sheep.

The next day I drove a couple of hours further on the most winding road I've ever driven (see above) crossing into Washington and then into the northeast corner of Oregon. The photo above is actually looking back north over the border between Washington and Oregon. Once in Oregon, my expectations were pleasantly surprised by not only the scenery, but also the small towns residing there.

The Wallowa mountains of northeastern Oregon rise without foothills some 5,000 feet further above gently rolling sheep grazing country (see above). The small towns of Enterprise and Joseph sit ideally at the feet of these mountains. Both of these towns were full of character, good restaurants, quaint shops, and tons of art galleries (including sculpture exhibits).

After exploring the towns for a little while, I took a gondola ride with about a 4,000 vertical feet rise from the valley floor to the top of one of the mountains (see above). It had snowed the day before and about 8 inches still remained on top (allowing me to continue my streak of touching snow at least once each month this year so far).

The Wallowa mountains (see above) are supposed to resemble the Swiss Alps, and the local tourism industry does try to play this up. I've not been to Switzerland yet to compare, but I thought these mountains were majestic enough in their own way. Of course a fresh dusting of snow always helps.

From the top of the mountain, I had a 360 degree vista of surrounding country, including three states and the view to the east (see above) where some of the Snake River's tributaries can be seen starting to carve side canyons toward the larger Hell's Canyon in the distance. That night I slept in a rustic cabin near Wallowa Lake. While going out to get more firewood I almost ran into an 8 point buck that was grazing near the front steps. He was surprisingly tame and took the apple I offered him from my hand. If I could have spoken deer language, I would have warned him of the imminent onset of hunting season.

The following morning was damp and gray with snow mixing with rain showers. However this made the drive home all the more scenic with numerous photo opportunities as above. I drove up over one pass where the snow was starting to get about 6 inches deep and was able to enjoy my first automotive donuts of the season in a wayside parking area there. Ah, the joys of autumn in the mountains. I still miss the foliage of the Midwest, but snow always makes me smile.