Day 16: Touring Hell's Canyon

July 5, 2006

Today is a non-travel day to see the sights of Hell's Canyon. I got on the road at 9, leaving the tent set up in the campground. The sky was overcast but it was still warm. It was an easy ride on the unloaded bike to the end of the road. It was mostly flat except for one 400 foot climb that has fantastic views at the top.

A view of Hell's Canyon looking upstream from 400 feet above the lake.

The 25-mile road from Oxbow bridge to Hell's Canyon dam is privately owned by Idaho Power but open to the public. The road crosses the top of the dam, back into Oregon. Then it drops down to the Snake river and ends 1 mile downriver. At the end of the road is a boat dock, a trailhead, and the visitor center for Hell's Canyon National Recreation Area.

Hell's Canyon Dam is the last of 3 dams built by Idaho Power on the Snake River.

I parked the bike at the visitor center and hiked to the end of the 1-mile hiking trail. It has great views of the Snake river and I had a nice swim in the river.

View at the end of the 1-mile Snake River trail.

After the hike I bought a ticket for the jet boat tour. The normal 1.5 hour tour goes only 6 miles downstream. But I was lucky enough to get on a 2 hour extended tour that goes 20 miles downstream to pick up a rafting party. The extended tour goes down several Class IV rapids that I wouldn't have experienced in the standard tour. One rapid drops 13 vertical feet in a horizontal distance of 75 feet. Quite a gradient. Going down the rapids was a very rough ride with lots of water splashing on the passengers. Passengers were warned to pack away their cameras before each rapid. Going back up the rapids was smoother with less splashing, but even more exciting to feel the big turbine engines revving intensely to slowly push the boat up the rapid. Boating past huge mountains was also awe-inspiring. Hell's Canyon is regarded to be the deepest canyon in North America. The boat tour cost $40 but was one of the highlights of this tour. I highly recommend it.

I rode this jet boat downstream for 20 miles, then back up the class IV rapids.

There were far more rafts than jet boats on the Snake River.

The jet boat was about to go up this wall of water, a class IV rapid.

The sun came out during the boat tour. So it was quite warm when I biked 17.5 miles back to the campground. That included a 200 foot climb to the top of the dam, and of course the 400 foot climb to the great overlook. I got back to the campground at 7 PM after a long swim break in the lake.

A creek cascades steeply down to the Snake River.

Afternoon view of Hell's Canyon, with very different light than the morning photo from the same spot.

I had a pleasant evening at the campground. I'm glad I camped far away from the droning air conditioners of the motor homes. I got a flat tire 4 miles before I returned to the campground. The culprit was a thorn. It was my second flat tire on this tour.

Distance: 35.8 mi. (57.3 km)

Climbing: 1770 ft. (536 m)

Average Speed: 9.7 mph (15.5 km/h)

Maximum Speed: 37 mph (59.2 km/h)

Hiking: 2 mi. (3.2 km)

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 691 miles (1,112 km)

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