To hell and back

More birthday surprises!

Anne and Allen surprised me yet again with a jet trip in the heart of Hell's Canyon on the snake river in about the middle of Idaho. The biggest part of the surprise was when we met for breakfast, I thought we were just the four of us... but "OH!" Chris and Daniel, Sinnead and Vanessa popped in! What a great surprise! They had a stressful time trying to keep that secret, but I apparently didn't have my radar up, thinking all the surprises were done.

So all 8 of us set out for our new adventure... from a little town called Whitebird, we turned off the highway and proceeded 17 miles going up, over the summit, and then almost straight down a gravel road into the canyon to meet our boat.

To tell you this trip was amazing would be a huge understatement. It was absolutely gorgeous with the bluest of skies as the backdrop to the rugged canyon walls. The water was surprisingly warm.

We met our boat about 30 miles downriver from the dam. Our destination was the deepest part of the gorge, which is the deepest canyon in the U.S. at Gravel Creek, and about 5 miles downriver from the dam. We packed our lunches… there are no accommodations on this journey except for a few places with outhouses, including a couple of parks created from old homesteads. Pretty amazing to think that folks actually lived down there. No roads in, but on either side of the river are trails. One side of the river is Idaho, and the other side is Oregon.

Our big excitement, other than blasting through class three white water rapids, was stopping to watch some fishermen who had snagged a sturgeon. We waited for them to bring him to the surface. That was amazing! A HUGE fish… so prehistoric looking. It is all catch and release there, and they only use barbless hooks. It was wild watching the guide stick his arm down the fish’s throat to remove the hook.

Chris, Daniel, Vanessa, and Kevin all took the challenge to climb Sturgeon rock in the middle of the river and jump in. They provided the entertainment for everyone on board.

I would highly recommend this adventure into the beautiful wildlands of Idaho!