Day 6 - Hells Canyon
21 06 2009Each day I was gone, I found a spot of cell reception and called my kids. Each day, this is how it went:
To Sarah - “Hey, how’s the farm?” “Fine, don’t worry” “I’m not worried. Have you talked to your sister?” “Bye Mom”
To Katie - “Hey, have you been home this week?” “No.” “You should stop by, talk to your sister.” “Bye Mom”
To Jake - “How are you?” “Fine. And no, I haven’t talked to my sisters”
See, my girls had a big gigantic stupid fight on Memorial Day weekend. They haven’t spoken to each other since. Katie actually packed all her stuff and moved out. Jake was in the process of moving out anyway, and the fight quickened his pace - and now he’s avoiding both girls because he doesn’t want to take sides - like me, he thinks they’re both wrong. Their older brother is not as diplomatic, calling them both repeatedly and telling them they’re acting like children.
Sigh.
So, day 6 ended up as a stay put day. I decided there was more to see around Wallowa Lake, and with the kids still fighting, no reason to head home. I paid for another night of camping. I wonder how much this guy pays - he hung out with his buddies day and night in the campground. There were signs up saying not to feed them as a few injuries has resulted, but there were still idiots going up and and petting him, feeding him cookies.

Deer
Anyway, there’s a lot to do around Wallowa Lake. A reasonable person could spend a couple weeks there and not see/do everything. Fishing, hiking, horseback riding, para-sailing, galleries, foundry tours, micro-brews, the tram, white water rafting, and Hells Canyon. I quickly ruled out horseback riding, as I can do that at home, para-sailing because I think its ridiculous, and white water rafting, as I’d passed all the rivers on the way up and they were WAY HIGH with melt off. No thanks.
First thing in the morning, I did a little fishing, and caught a 20″ Kokanee from the shore with a wet black gnat, the cheap kind that comes in a 10 pack at Walmart. A Kokanee is a land locked salmon. In a lot of east Oregon lakes, they are an invasive species and there’s usually a high limit, like 15 or 20 fish.

Doc’s fish
After breakfast, the neighbor camper, Bob, and I did the tram. Mrs Bob didn’t want any part of it, preferring to stay in camp and babysit Baby. Baby was absolutely fine with that, as she still hadn’t forgiven me for the fire incident.
The ride up to the tram was awesome. From the top, there are hiking trails that go to different points on the summit and you can see as far as Montana, if it’s clear, which it wasn’t as soon as we reached the top. The trails were still mostly socked in with snow too. We had about 20 minutes of dry weather and then the clouds rolled in and started to pour down rain. The tram ride down was less awesome as there was lightning streaking all around the cars.

View of Seven Devils

View of the lake
After the tram ride, I collected Baby and went into Joseph for a little art and beer. After two galleries and two beers I was bored. There are only so many pictures of mountain scenes and horses peeking out of the birch trees, and indian maidens I can handle. The beer was slightly better but I am totally not into beer so all the talk involved in tasting was lost on me. Shut up and give me a glass already. In one of the local stores, I inquired about road conditions up to Hat Point, the nearest point at which Hells Canyon is visible. It’s about 40 miles from Joseph, some of it paved, some of it well maintained gravel. You travel through the small town of Imnaha and then past a few really, really isolated ranches. My mini van had no problem negotiating it. The view included the 7 Devils range in Idaho. Hells Canyon is deeper and wider than the Grand Canyon.

Road to Imnaha

Imnaha (A very scary little town)
Road to Hat Point

Viewpoint on road to Hat Point

The next view point
Just before Hat Point - Seven Devils
Hat Point view of Hells Canyon (And Snake River)

Sign at Hat Point
Text: “A horse bucked. A cowboy lost his hat. It was later found and hung from a tree, where it remained for a year unclaimed. And sometime in the 1800’s,”Hat Point” got its name.”
Lookout tower
Then it was back to camp. Another day down.
Day 7 - Ukiah
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