2001 Hells Canyon
This country is so vast that its easy to loose oneself in contemplation conjuring up the former occupants of this now empty land. Scattered across the miles of hiking were animal bones and broken plows, remains of broken farms, and an ancient burned forest. We hiked the whole trip on a stock trail and in retrospect I will have to say that riding this country on horseback is probably a better way to cover these great distances.
One difficult aspect of this trip, taken in early May, was just getting into Hells canyon. We started our assault driving into the high country at a place called Promontory Point but were turned back by snow clogged roads. A bitter cold night at high altitude proved to be no indication of what we were to face in terms of weather. Re-planning our trip route, with some help from a local at the Imnaha Store, we decided to hike in from a small canyon off of the Imnaha river and break the ridge on a trail called The Fingerboard. Then we would approach the Snake River, the lowest point of the canyon, from the southwest and descend to the river itself. Our return would then be at Dug Bar, at the outskirts of the reserve. Leaving a shuttle there we could drive out, recovering our other vehicles left in the Imnaha River canyon on the way out.
Wow. The narrow, cattle choked, Imnaha road was a days adventure itself. Fortunately the road was pretty dry and we had 3 vehicles with 4 wheel drive and good ground clearance. Once everything was settled with the shuttle, we started out in the late afternoon and hiked into the waning light of evening, setting down camp at the edge of a cow pasture.
The second day was consumed in mounting heat climbing the Fingerboard and descending through an old forest burn into Deep Creek valley. This was quite a huff but resulted in some greatly satisfying views . Along the way we passed a couple of guys in coveralls with a burrow who seemed to be right out of the movie Deliverance. We hiked far into the evening , taking advantage of every bit of light as we topped the ridge and descended into the neighboring valley. Then we had the logistical problem of crossing the raging Deep Creek in a burn area. Setting camp that night we had to deliver first aid to our Alaskan Husky dog who had worn the pads on her feet through. Booties we had brought along to protect Shadows feet had just worn torn the fur from her ankles and created big sores there instead. Our camp that night was in a forest near a raging stream. A great contrast to our long day out on the barren slopes of the Fingerboard. Here's Caren mugging the camera. Here is our tents pitched in a nice grassy meadow, and yours truly happy to be done hiking for the day.
On day 3 we looked close to the river on the map, so we anticipated a short haul down to the refreshing waters of the Snake. The day turned out long and arduous however as the terrain proved steep and undulating. Here is a shot of a rattle snake we encountered along the way. Only after spanning several ridges did we get a glimpse of the river far off in the distance. Stock trails in the high elevation grasslands faded into nothingness as the horses and donkeys that travel these trails usually fan out for grazing. Dried bones and fallen barbed wire fences revealed a past age of despair. On the edge of this ridge Rich and Mark are stopped by an old plow left rusting along the trail. We continued along in a mixture of thick old growth fir trees interspersed with wildflower meadows . Crossing through the old Deep Creek Ranch we read the sign that must have been the last straw for these cattle ranchers in the last century. It said "Property of the US Government." The ranch was taken over by the government when the land became a National Reserve.
Descending the final few yards into Deep River Canyon
Climbing back out of DC Valley
Wild flowers in bloom everywhere.
Dan looks over the ridge we just climbed up.
Somewhere in there is the Snake River.
A lizard shades under our trash bag.
Games and dinner -we fashioned a real table out of old stock yard gates.
Sunset at Christmas Creek Ranch.
"Jiffy Dog" beds down for the night.
Back on the trail the next morning.
Mark begins another descent to the river.
...and back up the ridge again.
Mark carries the dog (who then ran back across).
Dan cools his feet while everyone is fording.
We zinc up to cut down on sun burn.
The river goes to complete calm.
Trail forks and drops to Dug Bar.
But still lots of high country ahead.
Rich comes to the park boundary.
Loading into Dans truck for the trip back to our insertion point.
Finally reaching the river we laid over a day at another ranch from the past. The Christmas Creek Ranch. The cattle barns and horse pens still stood proudly here. A resident out of Clarkston, Washington, under permission from the government, had fixed up the old house to rent it as a weekend get away and there was a real outhouse too. We set up camp in an old over grown stockyard and rested our sore feet before the hike out. A couple of the guys tried fishing in the Snake but didn't catch anything.
The last days hike out again took us up to over 3500 feet and back down to the level of the river over and over. From long grass swept highlands to a narrow little trail along the river, the last days hike was just as eventful as either of the days before. And just as long too. Finally we reached the border to the reserve and let ourselves out of the gate in a high mountain meadow. We reached Dug Bar late in the afternoon and camped on the scrubby ground. The river cooled our hot feet.
We learned some valuable lessons from this trip. The days were long and hot, nothing like what we had experienced on our first night car camping. The Forest Service map was great for knowing whether or not we were on what kind of land, but really didn't help much for determining distances. Indeed, we had originally planned a much longer trip and had reeled it in to this trip as a compromise. At Dug Bar, loading up to drive out we met a couple of guys from Vancouver Washington hiking in. They were going in on the high ridge trail and coming back on the "lower" river trail. They were in sneakers with heavy packs, so we gave them all of our moleskin and duct tape. I hope they did okay.
Russ
