Hells Canyon
This morning the Sea Lion made its way up the Snake River to the twin cities of Lewiston and Clarkston. Our excursion for the day would be in powerful jetboats as they took us over 60 miles south of town into the wondrous Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. The day had started out a little damp but the rain had stopped by midmorning and we enjoyed a stop at Cache Creek among the dozen or so fruit and nut trees. Cache Creek is run by the Fish & Game department and is a mandatory stop for private boaters. We continued on to Dug Bar where Chief Joseph and his tribe were forced to cross the roaring Snake over 100 years ago in an attempt to escape the cavalry. They were being pursued for supposed crimes against white settlers. The boats brought us back down river a few miles for our lunch stop at China Bar. It was here that some Chinese miners had set up a hard rock gold mine. Eating lunch on the small sandy beach was very enjoyable once the boat engines were silenced.
After lunch we quickly made our way back down river with a short stop at Buffalo Eddy, a famous spot to look at pictographs and petroglyphs, two forms of rock art that have existed here for close to 2,000 years. We then returned to the Sea Lion where some of us went on a further trip to the Nez Perce National Historical Monument in Idaho.
The day was filled with great sights. The most prominent were the incredible displays of geology. There are exposures of old sea floor sediments over 250 million years old in the canyon. The incredibly detailed columnar basalts were also a treat. There were also biological treats on the trip. These included looks at osprey, mule deer, wild turkey, great blue herons and the always sought after rocky mountain big horn sheep. The sheep were mostly wiped out in the canyon due to diseases transferred from domestic sheep. The big horn sheep are now thriving in the canyon after being reintroduced from other populations. It was a great day in the deepest gorge in North America.
This morning the Sea Lion made its way up the Snake River to the twin cities of Lewiston and Clarkston. Our excursion for the day would be in powerful jetboats as they took us over 60 miles south of town into the wondrous Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. The day had started out a little damp but the rain had stopped by midmorning and we enjoyed a stop at Cache Creek among the dozen or so fruit and nut trees. Cache Creek is run by the Fish & Game department and is a mandatory stop for private boaters. We continued on to Dug Bar where Chief Joseph and his tribe were forced to cross the roaring Snake over 100 years ago in an attempt to escape the cavalry. They were being pursued for supposed crimes against white settlers. The boats brought us back down river a few miles for our lunch stop at China Bar. It was here that some Chinese miners had set up a hard rock gold mine. Eating lunch on the small sandy beach was very enjoyable once the boat engines were silenced.
After lunch we quickly made our way back down river with a short stop at Buffalo Eddy, a famous spot to look at pictographs and petroglyphs, two forms of rock art that have existed here for close to 2,000 years. We then returned to the Sea Lion where some of us went on a further trip to the Nez Perce National Historical Monument in Idaho.
The day was filled with great sights. The most prominent were the incredible displays of geology. There are exposures of old sea floor sediments over 250 million years old in the canyon. The incredibly detailed columnar basalts were also a treat. There were also biological treats on the trip. These included looks at osprey, mule deer, wild turkey, great blue herons and the always sought after rocky mountain big horn sheep. The sheep were mostly wiped out in the canyon due to diseases transferred from domestic sheep. The big horn sheep are now thriving in the canyon after being reintroduced from other populations. It was a great day in the deepest gorge in North America.
