What better way to spend the extra hour gleaned by autumn’s return to standard time than by waking up early to greet the dawn? Most of the Sea Lion’s guests arose as the ship passed through the locks of Lower Granite Dam, and by 6:45 Sunday morning, about a dozen were at the ship’s bow. Although it was a bracing 39 degrees, we stood and watched as the sun’s rays struck the rim of the Snake River’s canyon.
After breakfast, naturalist Karen Copeland regaled us with a “Geology 101” review that set the stage for the day’s main adventure: a jet boat trek through Hells Canyon. This chasm on the Washington-Oregon-Idaho border is the deepest in North America, thanks to the presence of the 9000-foot-plus Seven Devils Mountains on the Idaho side. Karen also told us of J. Harlan Bretz, the visionary geologist who first set forth the radical theory of repeated, catastrophic Ice Age floods that made the Inland Northwest what it is today. When the jet boat pulled up alongside the Sea Lion and we climbed aboard, it was hard not to feel a bit like Lewis and Clark, or perhaps Bretz, or even Jules Verne. “This is an incredible day,” Karen said. “We look inside the earth.”
Indeed, the Hells Canyon field trip proved a treasure trove of geological wonders. We saw columnar basalt, some lined straight as picket fences, others swirled in sweeping patterns. We saw sedimentary layers and rock varnish, feeder dikes, and the Lime Kiln Fault at the boundary of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Lunch found us at Dug Bar, a sandy beach on the Oregon side, where we marveled at the canyon’s depth and enjoyed a quiet respite from the jet boat’s roar. On the way back to Clarkston, we glimpsed the catches of several successful anglers who’d caught steelhead (a large, oceangoing rainbow trout), as well as some of the best rock art on the Snake River. The fall foliage was splendid, too, with red sumac especially vibrant against the canyon’s velvety brown walls.
After a brief break back on the Sea Lion , we headed by bus for the Nez Perce National Historic Park’s nearby headquarters at Spalding, Idaho. There we discovered much about the tribe that was so helpful to the Lewis and Clark expedition after its members emerged, near starvation, from their ordeal on the Lolo Trail through the Bitterroot Mountains. We learned of the tribe’s traditions of horsemanship and hospitality, and how Nez Perce people are “born again” on a daily basis through the sweat ceremonies they’ve practiced for centuries. We even got to taste dried camas, a traditional delicacy that recalls dried prunes.
Of course, that was but an appetizer for yet another fine feast back on the Sea Lion . As dusk fell – along with light rain showers that had held off this mostly cool, overcast day – we sat down to share fine food, wine, and stories of adventures past and present. It was a long day, but a day well spent amid the grandeur of Hells Canyon and the proud history of the Nez Perce. We’ve reached the most inland point of our journey, and tomorrow the Sea Lion heads back west toward the ocean.
