Wisconsin Escapees: Hells Canyon!

Oh did we have a day yesterday! It was undescribably fantastic! We booked a full day with Snake Dancer Excursions out of Clarkston, WA with Sally and Ross (http://www.snakedancerexcursions.com/). I suprised John and was up and dressed before the alarm went off at 4:30 am. Had everything ready and was taking fresh hummingbird nectar out to the feeder when Kaylee decided to join me outside. Of All Mornings for her to demand to be out! So while chasing her around, I tripped over Sally and Rosses water line, which of course started spraying ice cold water at me and drenched my pants. Ok, Kaylee is out; Nothing to be done about that, but have to change into something dry, and those were my most comfortable pair of jeans! - khakis would have to do. I got all our stuff loaded - camera, digital audio recorder (which I wish I could have used cause I had was humming a new song out on the boat, but the motors were too loud to get any kind of recording), 2 pair binoculars, 2 jackets, 4 hats (opps, how did I manage that, only needed 2), phones (oh, no, just one -John's was in my jeans pocket- which I had to change due to the first outside shower of the day), and 2 big bottles of gatorade. Sally and Ross were equiped with about the same, but they had the sun screen! Good idea!!!

Our Great Friends Sally and Ross Giacomo and us, before the trip.

We had a jolly ride to Clarkston arriving about 6:15 - yes a bit early, but we weren't about to miss the boat! Gabe was our captain, and we left the dock at 7 am. There were 8 of us in all, but being with Sally and Ross made all the difference in the world, we had a blast. The boat would accomodate probably 20 people when full, though there were 18 of us on the way back (a boat from another company blew an engine out on the river, and we waited about an hour for them and brought them back with us.) We hadn't paid to go all the way to the dam, but another couple paid the extra $100 each to go that far, so we all got to go! Yes, it was expensive (with taxes it came to $175 each), but it was worth every single penny! John and I started by sitting inside the covered part of the boat, but then Sally and Ross went to the high seats way in the back above the 2 - 350 horsepower Johnson motors. After our second stop, John and I joined them on the other side. In the back you have a better view (Oh the views! The pictures look like nothing at all compared to the real thing), and you have a more interesting ride, Wind, Sun, Water! The 4 of us were all laughing so hard, every time Gabe did a little fish tail or something, and the more we laughed, the more he did it. Sally still had wet pants when we got home, and she had to wring out her socks! After one little soaking, I had to unroll the cuff on my jacket to let the water run out! It was a gas! The other two couples weren't as goofy as we were, but I think Gabe appreciated our joy. One lady couldn't swim and was uncomfortable being around the water, but she did great and overcame her fear. So here we are in the back, sun beating down on us, wind whipping us, water coming at us, and we just roared. Everytime the water hit I became a squeeky toy and squeeled with joy. Sally's laughter reminded Gabe of his mom, so that was sweet too, and he enjoyed it. On the way back we discovered the other tour boat wasn't as... jolly? as ours. When we laughed and squeeled, they turned around and looked at us as if we were out of our minds. Too bad they didn't have as much fun as we did! We finally had enough though and surrendered our seats to a couple fellows, a father and son I think, and shortly we heard more laughter from behind us. At least they got into the spirit of it!

Gabe is a Coast Guard certified boat captain for inland waterways, and I've never seen a waterway like this one. Nothing to fool around with. The water was running at over 22,000 cubic feet per second in the river yesterday which is high (17,000 is about normal, and at 17,000 cfs the 2 big rapids by the dam are class 4) Yesterday they were class 5, which is crazy. I didn't want to go through anything worse than a class 3, but Gabe was extremely professional and knew exactly what he was doing and how to go about mastering those wicked, wild, rolling rapids. Our boat only needs 5 to 6 inches of water, and is flat bottomed and quite wide - it sat 4 across comfortably plus the center isle. Never once did I feel any fear at what we were going through, even when one of the last 2 really big ones - one of the class 5-'s was an 18 foot difference between top and bottom and we went through it sideways on the way down! The trip upstream was incredible, and that's when I took all of the pictures (having too much fun getting wet to take pics on the way back, besides, my camera is water shy:) You can go out to Google, images - and do a search on Hells Canyon - there are great pictures out there that others have posted too.

The deepest point has 9000+' peaks above it. We could see the peak at 7000+" while we were at 1200 feet above sea level. Hells canyon is nothing like the Grand Canyon with it's straight walled sides and many colors. Hells canyon, (the deepest canyon in the world) is very rugged. - We saw 1 huge Black Bear way over on the side of the mountain, 8 Big horn sheep (one was a young one), 3 Bald Eagles, and 2 mule deer on our trip. The big horn sheep were really neat. We were docked at Kirby's waiting on the other group and across the river something moved. First people were saying there were elk and big horn sheep, but the binoculars gave it away. A family of big horns (one with a tracking collar) were having lunch just across the river along the CCC trail.

My bitty camera wouldn't zoom in that far, but Sally's could, so the wildlife pics are her's!

now, here's some more of the canyon.

the stream at Kirkwood's Ranch

Hells Canyon Dam - Small by Dworshak standards, but still...

Gabe did a great job telling us about the history of the area, pointing out historic spots and watching for and pointing out wildlife. He was also a wonderful host for our coninental breakfast - yummy muffins and juice/coffee, lunch of chicken, pasta salad, beans, a vegie tray and soda or water for lunch which was at one of the historic ranches now owned by the forest service, and our cookie snack. Although there was not a potty on this particular boat, we made ample stops to take care of necessities and stretch our legs along the way. It's 110 miles from the marina in Clarkston to the Hells Canyon Dam, so we went 220 miles round trip! The shadows were giving the canyon different dimensions on the way back and it was truely beautiful.

Kittie and Krystal, here's something you and your fellas would enjoy -

We saw many, many rafters - this one was funny due to the umbrella! There are quite a few companies that offer rafting trips. Primitive campsites with sandy beaches can be found all along the river at special spots. I'd love you to experience this!