Hell's Canyon, August 27, 2004

The trip into and out of Hell's Canyon took the entire day. I had reserved it via the internet several months in advance; good thing to as the boat was packed! We gathered over on the Washington side of the Snake River (in Clarkston, Washington) to board the boat at 8am on a lovely Friday morning. I choose a seat in the very back of the boat; it was pretty chilly in the morning but did warm up in the afternoon.

Hell's Canyon itself is designated a National Recreation area by the National Park Service. Not sure how and from where it is maintained. The Snake River runs through the Canyon; the River starts over in Wyoming, actually, near Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It flows downhill through Idaho and Oregon to Washington where it eventually merges into another River.

The Snake River is actually named after the Shoshone or Snake Indians, and not because it has many twists and turns. (Found that out during my 2005 trip to Yellowstone.)

My trip took me about 100 miles or so up the river into Oregon; that sounds strange as Oregon is south of Washington and you would think it should be "down". As you would expect, it took longer to go "up" the river for the 100 miles than to come back down it to Clarkston. Along the way we stopped several times. Near the turn around point we stopped at an old ranch house for lunch, which was provided by the boat company as part of the trip (I believe I had a ham sandwich). We stayed at the ranch for a while, so there was time to look around the buildings which remained. I believe there was also a museum of sorts there as well.

On the way back, the temperature had warmed up considerably and it was a lot of fun to sit in the back of the boat. Not the least of which was it "bounced" a lot, so it was kind of a cross between a trampoline and a roller coaster. Several times I got splashed. I also got a lot of nice pictures because I did not have plastic sheeting between my seat and the outside (like some of the seats in the front of the boat).

Cathleen at stop during Hell's Canyon boat trip

That did not help with the wildlife pictures, however, as I had to go to the front of the boat to take my pictures through the door. On the way back, the wildlife came out and I got several pictures of beaver, deer and big horn sheep. Only the pictures of the sheep are good enough to share, however. Bummer!

The trip ended about 10 hours after it started right back at the pier in Clarkston. I thoroughly enjoyed myself - it was a good way to spend the day.