A Helluva Canyon

This is Hells Canyon, seen from the viewpoint off forest road 39. This access is much easier than the one Dick and I took in 1972, when we rode gawd only knows how many miles on rough dirt roads to Hat Point, north of here. The old Olds Cutlass overheated about five times and we had to keep filling the radiator first from the ice chest, then from puddles alongside the road. This view is almost as nice and you don't have to leave the pavement now, though I think back in '72 it was almost as tough a trip as the drive to Hat Point. Hells Canyon is over a mile deep...it's deeper than the Grand Canyon, but not as steep. Still, it's spectacular and wild.

These are the Seven Devils mountains, on the Idaho side of Hells Canyon. I'm not sure I can count exactly seven, but they are certainly jagged and primeval looking, and aptly named.