Hells Canyon

 We left the rolling hills of Walla Walla and within 2 hours were in the still snow covered forests of Oregon.  Just beyond the town of Joseph the "Oregon Alps" reach up scraping the blue skies. Most are 7500-9500 feet tall. Another 30 min around the mountain and we came upon the vast Hells Canyon that rises above the Snake River--miles and miles of canyon.  Our photos do not do justice to the enormity. We couldn't even see the river below. We wove our way up a ribbon of gravel road etched into the hillside-- Really only room for one car at a time so fretted that someone would want to come down when we were going up.  We had a map of the scenic "must see" overlooks.  Got as far as "Granny's Viewpoint" but the snow across the narrow road did not allow us to get to Hat Rock overlook.  We saw about 4 cars the entire day and 3 had no people in sight.  Judd figured they were off ATing into a campsite.  We had made reservations at a camp on the other side of the mountain but a guy traveling outward said the road was still closed to snow.  So we pulled our Northstar off the road and just camped since we're self sufficient and self contained. It was perfect temperature--a light breeze keeping the sluggish (not biting) flies away, a steady thrum of bees in the background. We watched birds. We recorded a songbird and texted it to our real birder friends the Powells. They identified it as a western warbler. We read books and watched the colors change in the canyon as the sun went down across the valley. Next day, after bacon and pancakes, we watched the sun do the magic changing colors and shadows across the landscape. Heading out, we had to stop and let the brakes cool off due to the steep grade. declining the canyon. Judd spotted a snake in the road. Glad we didn't spot it in the grass around camp.  And glad Judd thinks it was a gopher snake and not a rattle snake!

  I think in a future life, Judd will study geology. The variety in landscapes is so interesting here, we always want the back story: how did that get formed? water or ice? how long could it have taken, etc. Maybe in 37 days when I'm retired.....