Hell’s Canyon

Update:  This post was updated to reflect the correct name of the canyon.  I apologize for my error.  It is not Devil’s Canyon.  It is Hell’s Canyon.  The pictures were captioned properly, but the title of this post and the reference in the first paragraph were incorrect.

Dart was at Hell’s Canyon and the Hell’s Canyon reservoir.  Last year, I wanted to visit the Canyon but didn’t want to drive that far.  We were in southeastern Washington at the time.  I was somewhat reluctant to drive from where we were camping in Baker City, Oregon because it is a long drive.  I’m glad we went.  The Canyon is beautiful.  It is very out of the way, so there were few people there.  I definitely want to return and camp there when I get a paddle board.  I think paddle boarding on the reservoir would be fantastic.  Maybe Regis could fish while I am paddle boarding and get us a fresh dinner!

We saw a new bird for us – a Chukar.

We saw a snake in the middle of the road.  After realizing he was alive and getting his picture, Regis tried to get him to leave the road.  He was successful, but the snake blamed me for the inconvenience and hissed at me.  I didn’t know snakes could make a noise like that.  He probably didn’t stay off the road but at least when we left him he was safe.

We also saw a young bear run across the road.  We did not see his momma anywhere.  We were told he was probably a yearling and on his own this year.  He still seems very small to me.

We stopped at the reservoir to eat lunch and noticed a lot of butterflies in this one location.  There were different types of butterflies.  Although a lot of one type were on a tree, there were also butterflies on the ground and on rocks.  I wonder what was so appealing about that place.

On the way back from the Canyon, we stopped at the Hole in the Wall slide that happened in the 1980’s.  It buried the original road and the road had to be rerouted.

Lastly, this is what the landscape looked like during most of our ride to and from the canyon.