9/13/17 - Hells Canyon Scenic Byway

10/16/17 - Another September jaunt.  

Hells Canyon Oregon Scenic Byway is a 200-mile loop in the northeast corner of Oregon, going past America's deepest river gorge, Hells Canyon, and the Wallowa Mountains, nicknamed "Little Switzerland".  

We didn't drive the whole loop, just the southern portion from Baker City to Hells Canyon Dam, then came back the same road. That's still almost the same distance without making the circle. It would have taken longer because we'd have to stop and look.  One day we'll come from the other direction.

The smoke from the Eagle Creek Fire near Portland was visible at the RV park, less so as we headed into the mountains.  We've been in smoke since mid-July and I'm trying to figure out how far south we'll have to go to get out of it.

We followed the Powder River, a twisty little stream that hardly seems to fit the name "river".  We stopped at the site of the 1984 Hole-in-the-Wall Landslide, where millions of tons of rock slid down, dammed the river and buried a portion of Highway 86.

North of Halfway (that's a town, not a part of speech) we took the fork to Copperfield, crossing the Snake River into Idaho, then stopped at Hells Canyon Park for lunch.  

Although the road to the dam is a Forest Service road, it's paved, which is the only reason I could talk George into doing it.  It winds along the river through the canyon below the dam.  (Or is that above the dam?  I get confused trying to figure out which way the river runs...north is downstream but that just doesn't seem right.)

 

The Snake River originates in Yellowstone National Park, winds through southern Idaho, then turns north to form the boundary between Idaho and Oregon, and finally joins the Columbia at Pasco, Washington.  The Snake is designated a "Wild and Scenic River", and although the stretch we were driving along is beautiful, it's not wild, and apparently not as scenic as it gets. 

About 67 miles of the Snake River from Hells Canyon Dam downstream are designated Wild and Scenic.  The first 30 are "wild" and the next 36 are "scenic".  The rest of the river to the Oregon-Washington border is designated "study river".  Weird...

We crossed the dam back into Oregon. View upstream:

Dam:

Downstream from the top of the dam:

We stopped at the Hells Canyon Creek Visitor Center.  I don't think the river builds up to "wild" until it gets around the bend...but if you look closely, there's a tiny bit of white water.  Next time I want to plan ahead a little and take a boat trip--the jet boat kind, not the raft kind.  We won't be here in the summer, so although I don't mind getting wet, I don't want to get cold and wet!  

Heading back west, the sun and the smoke made contrasts of the hills.

And I still want to see the Wallowas--they're one of  the 7 Wonders of Oregon. 

More pictures?  Click here:  Hells Canyon Oregon Scenic Byway