The Oregon Wallowas Part III – Going To Hell (And Back)
It’s not every day you get to go to Hell and see the Devil, well all 7 incarnations of him anyway.
I’d been planning it for a while, seeing as it’s quite a trip to get there, but I was still wavering about whether to go. You see my research had popped up conflicting reports. There are many ways to Hell, as you might expect, but apparently only one where you can really see it. This latter road is a hellish drive, not unexpectedly, requiring 24 grueling miles of single lane dirt, twisting and curving with 16% grades, steep drop offs and very little info. One guy told me it was a piece of cake, another told me I’d be crazy to try it. I didn’t know which side they were on. Plus getting to Hell was going to push me to the very limits of what my feeble car-sick stomach could handle.
What to do, what to do?
We rarely ever do more than 50-mile day trips, and usually even less when dirt roads are involved. Who knows if our car (or me) could even make it? But I’d been assured the rewards for reaching into the depths of Hell would be Heaven on Earth, such as it is. A view beyond all views, a beauty beyond all beauties. Damned if I was going to let that road stop me.
Am I going to ease up on my Devillish analogies? I think not. This is faar too much fun.
So early yesterday morning we packed up the car and off we went. 35 miles of deserted, paved road took us on a beautiful drive deep into the first canyon and to the tiny town on Imnaha, the last call before the start of Hell’s Road (Hat Point Road). Then the pavement ended and the uphill started. The road twisted and turned and rose sharply along the mountains edge following the golden contours of the canyon, revealing ever more heights and folds. The mountain seemed to rise above us into the sky, the canyon appeared to drop and grow beneath us. The gorge pushed ever further into the ground, the sides wrinkling and re-forming as we drove ever higher.
Around 10 miles in we started moving into the trees, dense pine, ash and others I don’t know, many tinged with memories of a burn from long ago. That’s where the windflowers came, oh my the windflowers. Not just a few, but a carpet of dense color blues, purples, reds, yellows all forming a rainbow of visual beauty. Between the trees and the flowers we drove along the ridge, curving towards the fire tower in the distance. The road was good. It was even, dare I say it, extraordinary (I learned later they’d just graded it a few weeks ago). It was certainly narrow, and twisting, and sharp, but none of the bumping and pot holes I’d been expecting and certainly nothing requiring a 4WD. I guess Hell wanted us to have an easy time getting there?
Finally, after what can only be described as one of the very prettiest drives we’ve ever done we got to the end. The perch, the overlook with the 80-foot watchtower and the prize of Hell’s Canyon in front of us.
Oh Holy Mother Earth of wildflower fantasies, I had NEVER seen anything like this!!
It was a purple dream, a panorama of flowers, an intense visual explosion of color. Purple lupines as far as the eye could see, interspersed with crimson reds, brilliant whites and neon yellows. Not a patch of ground was bare from flower giving the impression you were walking through a kaleidoscope, the patterns moving and shifting with the breeze. In the background the sharp, white peaks of the Seven Devils rose towering in defiance against the land and in the depths of the canyon (an interminable, unimaginable distance away) ran the Snake River. The sense of scale is impossible to comprehend. It’s immense and so very vast it completely blows your mind.
This was the prize we’d come to see and it was beyond all my expectations.
Hells Canyon, believe it or not is the deepest river gorge in North America. It deeper than the Grand Canyon, hellishly deep, dropping from He Devil Mountain (what else) at 9,393 feet over 1 1/2 miles to the mouth of Granite Creek 6 miles away. It was formed 150 million years ago from the violence of tectonic plate movement and lava flows. The uplift created the Seven Devils and Eagle Cap Mountains both of which are still rising today. The Snake River has carved the gorge for millennia and over 31.5 miles of it is still designated “wild” today allowing it to run as it did for all history. The name of the canyon is an odd one, appearing for the first time in 1895 in McCurdy’s Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. I guess it’s meant to scare folks away, or entice them depending on their nature. No roads pass through it.
Why doesn’t everyone know about this place? Why isn’t it mobbed with people?
Well as with all things in eastern Oregon it’s remote, very remote. The entire area is protected as a mix of Wilderness and National Recreation Area (625,000 acres in total) with very, very few access points. The rare overlooks that exist (including the most popular one, Hells Canyon Overlook) are miles from the mouth of the river, sometimes only offering the barest glimpse of a distant view. And the canyon is wide, so very wide (10 miles) that it’s sometimes hard to grasp it’s depth even when you’re right up against it.
Except here, except this one spot. Hat Point Overlook is the ONE place that shows it all, from the mountains to the canyon to the wild, crazy Snake River. This is where you can see the steepness of the canyon walls, where you can gasp at the size of the mountains, where you take it all in, where you can truly feel the deep impact of Hell. Assuming you survive the drive of course bwahahahaha.
We spent over an hour at the summit breathing in the view, photographing and just in general being blown away by the beauty and scale of the canyon. It….was….astounding. By the time we got back home we were in a daze from the intensity of the experience. We both agreed that this was one of the most amazing day drives we’ve ever done, and the 120-mile round trip was so scenic it blew by in what seemed like mere minutes. The road was so good that I didn’t even get car sick (imagine that), and we only saw one other person at the summit making the experience all the more magical.
If this is Hell, sign me up….
Bring doggie? YES, as long as doggie is ok with longer drives. The trails at the overlook are all dog friendly.
More Info: The drive from Joseph to Hat Point involves 35 miles of paved road, followed by 24 miles of single-lane dirt. Check with the Forest Service to get the current condition of the road before you go, especially if it’s been raining. For those of you who love long drives you can extend your experience by taking the 218-mile round trip Hells Canyon Scenic Byway which takes you completely around the Wallowa Mountains. There are also river rafting and fishing opportunities on the Snake River itself.
I’ve been following your blog for about 2 years now and it’s great!! Incredible pics! My husband and I travel in our Rv 6 months out of the year. Going west this winter and all your posts and pictures have been a great help to us. Especially the boon docking info. Thank you
So happy the blog has been helpful!
Nina
It sure looks like a special area worth the drive. And I love the idea of minimal crowds. Somewhere during our Great Escape travels we will visit this area. Thanks for bringing a glimpse of the Wallowas to us.
It’s like the Grand Canyon without the crowds. Pretty amazing.
Nina
Thanks guys. Headed up the east coast this year. Headed west next year. Great pictures. Thanks for all your contributions.
We LOVE the west, as you can tell. I wish you a great trip out here.
Nina
Great flashback pictures! We visited there last August for sunrise!!! Amazing experience. Almost missed it, thankfully happened to wake up for some reason making the connection that it was Mountain time over there and instead of leaving Joseph at 3 AM we needed to leave like now at 2 AM
Wow, sunrise!! Not sure I’d have enough guts to drive that dirt road in the dark, but that must have been totally magical.
Nina
“Hell” looks pretty heavenly to me. I hope that if I’m not judged worthy of Heaven, this is where I’m sent.
Chip
Me too, me too 🙂
Nina
What an awesome trip this must have been ! Your pictures are gorgeous ! Zsuzsa
Glad you went for it! What a great excursion! Did you get the geocache there at the lookout?
My photog wife would be going gaga over that flower laden scene!
According to the Northwest Interagency Communication Center (forest fire info center) there is a fire just north of Imnaha.
Gosh, I missed the geocache AND the fire. My lack of Internet here at the park has kept me out of the loop on lots of stuff. Sure hope it’s not serious.
Nina
What a gift to be able to read your blog, Nina. Thank you so much for the journey!
Jim
Thank you for the lovely compliment 🙂
Nina
LOL! I love your photos and description of your trip! I was with a F/S Fire Team assigned to Memaloose Mtn.
The fire burned all around us while we sat in the meadow. We arrived late at night and I slept through the climb up the mountain. Two of us made a trip to Joseph for supplies and I was “petrified” when we drove off the mountain! I contacted Dispatch and asked if I could catch a helicopter flight back to our mountain camp. They complied and I had to wear a flight suit that was about five sizes too big. Oh..for the memories. I climbed Hat Point Lookout twice during time off. The scenery is gorgeous. When we left camp, we flew off the mountain on a dirt runway. Our stomachs churned because at the end of the runway was Hells Canyon!! Thanks for the walk down memory lane.
Oh my gosh! That’s an incredible, and completely terrifying story Bev! I can only imagine the scene, the fire and everything else. Thanks so much for sharing it. What a memory of the place!
Nina
“The sense of scale is impossible to comprehend.”
I agree. You’ve said it better than I did when I was there.. I loved the place and the scenery. When I was there a number of years back, it appeared there was dispersed camping allowed in some of the areas leading to the lookout. Do you know if that’s the case now? If so, it would be an incomparable car camping experience.
I’d wondered if you would venture to the long road trip destination or not. I’m so glad you did, and more importantly, happy for you that you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed it myself on my trip there some years ago.
OH YES! As far as I could tell there were multiple dispersed camping opportunities in the area. I haven’t checked the FS rules to make sure, but I think the area allows it? I totally forgot to mention this in the blog post although I made a mental note of it as we traveled up the road. I can’t tell you how many potential campsites we passed where I turned to Paul and said “wouldn’t this be an amazing place to camp?”.
None of the area is do-able in “the beast” of course, but it would be an AMAZING place for car camping, van or truck camping.
Nina
Yes, Beast, or most any RV for that matter, wouldn’t be possible there. But recall the many possible camp spots, and when I was there 8-10 years ago it was plainly obvious that people did camp in some places. There was also ample evidence back then that there were hunting camps in the area too, so that seemed to be allowed there too, at least back then.
Grab the car camp gear or the loaded backpack and head on in for a few days would be amazing. And it would make the sunrise experience mentioned above easy and enjoyable too!
OMG I would have died…but we did take parts of the scenic Highway you mention…bravo for you doing this..it is gorgeous and very well worth it…I now have to go and look exactly where we went in that area….but we also saw tons of wildflowers..
This seems to be the perfect time for wildflowers, depending on how high you go. It definitely wasn’t “your” type of road Jil…far too many curves and steep drop-offs on this one.
Nina
Absolutely beautiful! We were there in September of last year and loved it, but you have made me want to return next May/June to catch all of the beauty of spring in that area. There is a really cool little brewery in town called The Embers Brew House, I highly recommend! 🙂 Thank you for all of your wonderful blogs! You really inspire us! Happy trails!
I’m sure Sept is just a beautiful time to be here, although the wildflowers right now are pretty darn amazing. Both seasons are worth doing. And YES we’re very familiar with the Brew House. In fact we went there (for the 2nd time) today LOL. It’ll be featured in my next blog post.
Nina
I’ve never heard of this location but am adding it our list! Thanks for the great description:) So many of these places must be seen because photos don’t do them justice. The depth of the gorge must have been incredible. The wildflowers are beautiful. We are experiencing fields of gorgeous color here in the foorhills, as well.
We’d never really heard of this until I started researching the area either. Still can’t believe it’s the deepest river gorge in N.A. Who knew?
I remember the wildflowers in the Colorado foothills from our trip there several years back. I honestly thought nothing could compare until I saw them here too. I LOVE wildflowers!!
Nina
This one will be added to our list as well. This place looks amazing Nina and those wildflowers…wow. The wildflowers in the Sisters area are not nearly as prolific as they should be, certainly not what you are seeing. Gorgeous images!
You guys would LOVE this area, just love it!!
Nina
Love the pictures. I went to Hood and Bend skiing in the early 90.s and the most cleanest, bike friendly (Portland area) state in the USA. I hope you go to Bend sometime cause I would love to see it in the summer and before I meet my maker I will. Ronnie, from N.C.,.(sorry-est bike friendly state in the USA but perfect weather and beautiful country). Hope we could take lesson from your politics in the future for helping the eco system.
Oh we love Bend and it is one of our other FAVORITE towns. We’ve been a few times already. Here’s some of the posts I did about the area:
Beautiful Bend Part I – Outdoor Adventures
Beautiful Bend Part II – Drinking Escapades
And our post from just a few weeks ago:
Meet-Ups, Love & Beer – Bend, OR
Nina
Wow, you can’t imagine how much this series about the Wallowas has meant to us! In one week we start hosting at the Ollokot Campground on the Imnaha River. We have not been to this area before and you are filling our two days off each week with so many ideas it makes our head spin. We have read about all this for months in anticipation of coming here, but NO ONE has made it come alive like you have. We are in Pendleson, OR right now to check on some RV’s (at Emigrant Springs State Park w/4G )then will head to Hell on Thursday. We will then have two months + to explore Hell. Talk about living the dream. Thank you for all you share, especially the boon docking info. Barb and Dave
HOW COOOOOOL! You guys are going to fall in LOVE with this area!!! So much amazing stuff to see. I have one more blog post coming and then I’ll finally be “done”, although there is still plenty of stuff we haven’t managed to see and do. ENJOY your time here! I have no doubt you will.
Nina
Are there places to primitive car camp along the 219 mi byway? If so, what restrictions (distance from center of road, etc.)?
Jerry
The Wallowa Whitman National Forest definitely allows dispersed camping (see THIS) and it completely surrounds the Wallowa Mountains, so you should be able to find camps in there. I’m just not sure whether they restrict boondocking to certain roads or whether the NRA (National Recreation Area) is managed differently. I would recommend contacting the National Forest office. I’m sure they’ll be able to assist you.
Nina
I’ve been to Hell……I’m back. Now shhhhhhhhh for it will look like the Grand Canyon!!
We’ll keep the secret amongst us girls, OK ? 🙂
Nina
We have also seen the incredible Hell’s Canyon from the water. We have taken 2 jet boat excursions up to 90 miles long for an exhilarating and breathtaking ride over huge rapids and incredible scenery. Fantastic time!
The river excursion sounds fabulous. Definitely something we’d like to do if/when we come back to the area.
Nina
Wow, Nina, your photos are stunning! If we were to do this, I am sure you know the cowboy would have to drive the 218 mile round trip!! :)))
Oh totally. The longer drive would be right up your alley, plus there are lots more “crazy” dirt roads into the canyon/forest area that we would never consider, but that you’d probably love.
Nina
indeed astounding! Oregon is such a wonderland!
We camped (tent) up there a number of years ago. We got 2 flat tires, overheated the engine and encountered a nest of angry yellow jackets while fixing one of the flats, Good times!
Have you hung out at Terminal Gravity yet? It’s one of our favorite places to spend a summer afternoon/evening.
Sounds like a blast LOL.
Yup, we’ve definitely been to TG. I’ll be doing a final blog post with all the brews and various other foodie items we’ve ingested these past 2 weeks. A lot of good beer stuff around here.
Nina
You two have it going on! Never thought we would see you in hell, but hey it’s magnificent there we see!
We never thought we’d be there either, but I have to admit it’s nicer than I imagined tee hee.
Nina
The lure of adventure and beauty ending in Hell……I think I’ve read that story somewhere else 🙂 This definitely looks like a trip for us – maybe even the longer scenic route as well. The photos are amazing, as are all the pictures you draw with your words. Taking nothing away from the challenge of the drive, the wildflowers and the canyon certainly require a visit.
Love the quote!
Nina
welcome to the NW… the Wallowas and area are great and has much to see. another area is the North Cascades hwy in northern washington. Great writing you have done
There’s lots in WA we haven’t explored including the entire eastern part of the state. We’ve certainly got to do that at some point.
Nina
you can also run the river in jet boats too
bruce
Yup, I read that (and linked to a provider in the post). Won’t make it this time around, but that’s a worthy reason to come back.
Nina
We made it as far as Hat Point a couple of years ago and were stunned by the gorgeousness of the wildflowers. You captured them so beautifully! Next time we’ll continue on that crazy single lane dirt road to hell. 🙂
I haven’t seen windflowers this intense since we went to the high mountains of CO several years ago. Such a special experience to see them bloom!
Nina
Woodhead Park on the Snake River is operated by Idaho Power and is very nice. Big rigs fit there. It is also possible to boondock right along the Snake River on the road on the Idaho side that runs out to Hells Canyon Dam.
Excellent tips! Thank you. I do want to see the canyon from the ID side at some point.
Nina
Hells Canyon looks heavenly. Those wildflowers are simply divine!
A buddy at work was in the backcountry of the Wallowas last week backpacking with his boys; never saw another body. 5 days in the wilderness, no people, awesome!
It’s soooo wild out there. Honestly I’d love to backpack this area. It’s the perfect way to really get into that wilderness and see it.
Nina
He did say they had seen fresh wolf tracks :0)
Wonderful wildflower shots, Nina, especially the red Indian Paintbrush with the lupines around it. We didn’t get to Hat Point and now I see we need to go back!!
Your posts about this area were a huge inspiration to me when I researched around here. I’ll be linking to some of the stuff you did (which we didn’t manage) in one of my next posts.
Nina
What a reward for you and Paul’s 15-20 yrs of hard work. I’m truly envious of your lifestyle and hope to replicate it in a few years in our own retirement. Great job on your blog and enjoy your posts. I’ll have to donate to the Beer fund soon for consuming all this quality content. Happy Travels!
Chris
Well I hope your retirement is as fulfilling as ours has been (so far). Those many frugal years have served us well. I couldn’t have asked for a better life.
Nina
The secret is out, but only the brave ones proceed to Hell and back. Im so taken by your descriptions and pictures of wildflowers. This has to be in our list!
The brave or the crazy? Or maybe both….it was sure a lot of fun.
Nina
I can’t wait to visit all of the places in your blog series.
thanks for the inspiration.