Hell's Canyon

On Mother's Day weekend I took a little trip to the Idaho side of Hell's Canyon.  It started as a plan for backpacking to Kirkwood Ranch along the Snake River Trail.  I had been having a lot of knee pain and went to get a cortisone shot and some x-rays.  Lo and behold, I don't have any cartilage left on the medial side.  That would explain why it has been hurting like hell.  So I went ahead and packed my stuff as if I were going to hike into the canyon but I also threw in my bigger tent (as opposed to just the tarp I use when packing) and my big cushy Thermarest just in case.  Priority #1 was getting away by myself to someplace warm and sunny.  (and remember, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them...highly recommended).

The best place to access the canyon is south of White Bird, Idaho.  From Grangeville you have to go over the White Bird Pass and then down the other side into the valley.  This is from the top of the pass.  It was amazing.  I had never been past Grangeville before so it was all new sights and sounds for me!

Then after you get down to the Salmon River you have to go back over another pass to get to the Snake River.  I was driving with my mouth hanging open because it was so beautiful.

It was snowing way in the distance.

From the grass land into the forest.

Why are all the signs full of bullet holes?

Top of pass #2 (I think it is called Deer Creek Pass) and a look down into the canyon.

Visuals are deceptive.  It looks close but it took me over 45 minutes to get to where you can't see the road.  Of course I was driving my clown car so I was not driving fast.

Amazing strata on the canyon walls.  Hell's canyon is deeper from the highest point to the lowest point than the Grand Canyon, or that is what they say anyway.

The flowers were awesome.

The rain was spectacular.

The campground at Pittsburgh Landing had shade shelters that kept me dry.  I spent my first night at the campground because I got there so late.  There were only a few people there.  The water was shut off so I had to get my water from a creek.  I was not going to drink from the river.  And yes, I treat my water.  But still, the river has a lot of suspended cow poo in it.

On the way to get water.  It was like the African bush.

Sublime

The big tent.  It is actually pretty small but gives me more privacy in campgrounds.

So the next morning I was all packed up and ready to hit the trail at 9:00am.  I felt very unsure about my knee.  It felt fine but one twist and sometimes it hurts for days.  I decided to walk about half way and then re-assess how it felt.

The trail was not in too bad of shape.

Rhubarb and poison ivy.

I love cactus.

The views up and down the river were fabulous.  This was about the 3 mile mark.  I sat up here and released some of Walter's ashes (the first picture has a smaller bottle in it).  I sat there for about a half an hour just taking pictures and enjoying the quiet.  An older couple came up the hill from the direction of the ranch.  They looked really tired.  They had spent the last few days at Kirkwood and there were quite a few people camped there.  We started talking and I told them I was trying to figure out what my knee was going to do.  My fears were that I would not be able to hike out the next day or it would hurt so bad I could not push on my clutch and would have to live in the canyon forever.  The guy told me that the last 1/4 mile of the trail goes down a big hill (which I could see from my map) and that it was really rocky with loose gravel.  I had already pretty much made up my mind that I was just out for a day hike but that clinched the deal for me.

So I stayed up on the top of the ridge a bit longer and then hiked out.  I figured that I would just stay at the campground again even though I wanted to be more inside of the closer canyon.  Then when I got back to the trail head I realized that the picnic area was really a walk in camping area.  And best of all, there was no one there!!!!  That is my tent and tarp in the distance from the creek where I got water.  It turned into the best thing ever!

Seriously, I got a huge dose of solitude.  There were 3 cars that went by the entire 24 hours I was at the spot.  I did not hear another human voice for over 24 hours.  It was great.  I spent about 5 hours under my tarp doing absolutely nothing but thinking, watching ants and listening to the sage grouse.  I never would have had that experience if I had hiked to the ranch.  There was not much wood around to burn but I found a pile of pine that someone had brought down from the higher elevations so I had a nice little fire.  After the sun set I was able to star and planet gaze in between the clouds.  I fell asleep to the sound of coyotes and the river and did not wake up for 9 hours.

On the hike I had found a few lithic scatters where some Indian folks had been banging rocks along the river.  There were also some pictographs.  They had mowed the grass for the pathway and I was thinking "huh, this is boring" when I went around a bend in the trail and saw these rocks.  The big one is very worn from the water and has little basins of rain water in it.  Not that I believe in this stuff unless I do, but it felt very sacred to me.  I could see this as a special place of power for the people.  I wish I knew what the carvings were saying.  Stopping at the rocks was the end of my time in the canyon and it was a fitting end to my extraordinary time there.