I drove into Hells Canyon. I can certainly understand the name of the canyon. It was 108 degrees that day and even at midnight while attempting to sleep it was still about 95 degrees. The *canyon* is breathtaking in places and despite being out of the way it is definitely worth the drive. I took a few short trails (one of which led to an interesting *waterfall*) and noticed a large snake population. I saw at least 8 snakes that day although I didn't see any rattlers. Despite the awesome scenery, there were very few other visitors. There were a few people boating on the Snake River but not many.
The road into the canyon deadends at the Hells Canyon Dam so you have to retrace your "steps". The only other option is a road out of the canyon which switchbacks up the mountain side so obviously I chose that route. It was raining fairly hard while I climbed this steep road (maybe not the brightest idea but oh well..) and this happened to be the first rain on the trip. The road passed through the "towns" of Cuprum and Bear. I am not certain what the people who live there do since they are quite far from even the nearest small town. I did see they all had huge piles of firewood stored up for the winter. I then headed towards "civilization" and the town of Riggins, Idaho. I had some important phone calls to make and since the people I was calling weren't home it gave me an excuse to pass the time at a local bar across the street. I just love those small towns where you can get good beer like Weinhards Dark at a dollar a bottle... I camped that night on a beach by the Salmon River on BLM land.
I headed up into the Seven Devils Mountains which lie above Hells Canyon. The road (Forest Service 517) from Riggins travels 17 miles and climbs about 6500 feet before it deadends. There is a beautiful lookout at the top (elevation about 8200 feet) accessible via a short hike. It provides a wonderful view of the *Seven Devils* (which have names like He-Devil and She-Devil etc.) and the more barren desert territory at lower elevations near the Snake River (the river itself was not visible).
I should remark that the wildflower displays were fantastic here. Indian paintbrush, lupine, *buttercups*, *bellflowers* and dwarf buckwheat are a few that come to mind (and NO I don't which species they were..). Despite not really having the right camera equipment for macro work, I took a bunch of photos anyways.
I took a short but steep hike which led to mirror lake (I am not sure I could count how many lakes named 'mirror' I passed on the trip). The lake was in the bowels of a beautiful glacial cirque. Part of the cirque was one of the Seven Devils but I can't remember which one. I had planned on relaxing there a while but an approaching thunderstorm forced me to hurry back to my tent.
From the Seven Devils area a forest service trail led 14 miles all the way down (literally) to the Snake River. I wasn't exactly up for a 28 mile trip, so I just explored the first few miles. It was a very nice subalpine trail at that point. After this I headed back to Riggins.
I had managed on clogging (irreparably) my water filter after only filtering about 5 gallons (I will be nice and not mention whose filter this was). Being in the middle of nowhere in Idaho as I was, it wasn't exactly trivial to just go get a new cartridge. I called the 1 800 number on the product info sheet and determined that I needed to take a 100 mile detour to Lewiston, Idaho to get a replacement - so off I headed to Lewiston.
Lewiston happens to be on the Washington border with the Snake River being the boundary. Since I had no idea what was in store in the future, I figured I might as well cross into Washington while I was there. (Little did I know that I would be looking out at the Pacific Ocean from the Olympic Peninsula a couple weeks later). Thus, I crossed a bridge to say I had been in Washington. This was my first time in Washington. Prior to this trip, I had not been in Idaho or Oregon either (the west side of the Snake River in Hells Canyon is in Oregon).
I camped at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston and stopped at Barleyhoppers (yea I know a sad name), a local microbrewery. The had something they called a Barleyhopper Brown which was fairly tasty but most of the other stuff was too fruity and weak for my taste.
I headed along R12, the Lewis and Clark Highway, which parallels the Lochsa River. The Lochsa is a very popular whitewater rafting spot during the spring. I headed along a side road which followed the Selway River to Selway Falls. While camping there that night, I met a couple with their kids who offered to take me rafting the next day. Coincidently, the father (their names escape me) knew the area I grew up in in Pennsylvania to within a mile.
I floated down the Selway with them for about nine miles. They had a large raft and an inflatable kayak. I was with the father in the kayak about the last 2.5 miles and it was quite fun.
The road along the Selway was a complete washboard. Eventually, I learned that it was far easier on the car to drive at 30 mph than to drive at 15 mph. I camped that night back along R12 near the Lochsa River.
I began that morning by hiking partway to ?? Point which lies in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. I turned back maybe a mile in since I was beginning to get pretty wet.
I continued on R12 into Montana (where I also had never been before). The speed limit signs are entertaining there since they say
"Daytime: Reasonable and Prudent"
I spent the night camped up in Lolo National Forest near Lolo, Montana. I quickly had my first taste of the often cool summer temperatures in Montana. My tent was on a fairly windswept lightly forested ridge at about 5500 feet and even at 5 pm the temperature was at most 50 degrees when the sun dipped behind the clouds.
I usually avoid staking my tent down but I didn't have that option here. Initially, I had a 30 lb suitcase in the tent and it still almost blew away once the wind picked up near sunset. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.
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December 18, 1997 - ( milsom@physics.arizona.edu.edu)