Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, OR

Saturday, Sept 2, 2017

Today we are driving 90+ miles through Hells Canyon Scenic Byway to take a jet-boat ride on the Snake River. There was so much beauty on both the drive and the jet-boat ride that I'm breaking it into 2 posts. The post will be the drive to and from the launch location on the Snake River.

 The picture above and below are of the Hole in the Wall along the Powder River. Look closely at the above picture and you can see what looks like a dirt road along side the river.  That used to be the main highway 86. After a heavy rainfall, the side of the mountain collapsed and covered the highway closing it permanently. They had to reroute the highway.

Above and below are some birds we saw in the naturally dammed area of the Powder River.

The picture above explains what happened to create "The Hole in the Wall".

We are still driving along side the Powder River headed to the Snake River.

This time of year this area is much more arid than we anticipated. We see the grass is dried out and golden and the green pine trees make a beautiful contrast.

We have reached the Snake River. This is a very curvy road that goes right along side the river.

The mountains go straight into the Snake River here. So majestic.

The ruggedness and beauty of Hells Canyon is stunning! The border between Oregon and Idaho runs in the Snake River.

We are standing at the Visitors Center and looking down river. You can see the boat launch area where we will be catching our jet-boat.

We have arrived at the Visitors Center just below the Hells Canyon Dam. I did not include a picture of the dam. The mountain you see are on the opposite side of the Snake River.

We are on our way back to Baker City after our jet-boat ride and it is about 6:30 pm.  The sun is shining on the golden mountain side and reflecting into the Snake River.

The Snake River and the canyon it created are so beautiful!

Above the sun is shining on the top of these mountains just before sunset. Below is a closeup showing the ruggedness of the top of this mountain.

 Another interesting type of mountain peak along the Snake River. 

Our last shot at sunset of the Snake River. The road along side the river is 24 miles long, but takes 50+ minutes to drive because it is so windy that you can only go about 30 mph. We have had another wonderfully blessed day with much of God's wonders!