Traveling Down the Snake River

Saturday, June 13
We woke this morning to this gorgeous view of the Snake River with beautiful clear skies and the promise of warm weather.

But the best part was, we were going to jet down the river too!  Yes, we jetted 54 miles down the Snake River in this boat - 6 hours of being out on the water and seeing the sites

with our guide telling us about sites on the Washington side, on the Idaho side and later on the Oregon side.  Yes, this river is the border line for these three states as it travels from Wyoming south of Yellowstone Park up to the Columbia River in Washington.  The area we were in is referred to as Hells Canyon.  And canyon it is with mountains on each side sometimes rising to 4000-5000 feet above sea level.

The area was created by volcanoes so there is a lot of lava rock and unusual shaped rocks that create the mountains.

Like dummies, Ken and I did not take along a jacket as we figured it would be warm enough it wouldn't be needed not thinking of the speed we'd be going and the cool breeze that would be created with all that cold water.  So when we stopped for lunch we bought ourselves a souvenir - matching sweatshirts! (we weren't the only ones)

Hells Canyon is home to many big horn sheep. We saw one with a beautiful set of horns but too high for me to get a good picture.  (Larry Basden, ace photographer on our caravan shared this with me)

But this one was a bit closer.

and this one (mom is keeping an eye on us while the baby peeks out between the rocks in the center and another two walk downhill away)

 We could see lots of ospry flying and finally we spotted this one in its nest.

We saw a few horses way up in the hills

and when we stopped for a picnic lunch this deer family was discovered among the trees.

I missed both opportunities we had to snap pictures of the wild turkeys but did enjoy seeing all the wonderful fruit trees, bushes and vines.  Here is Ken picking some black cherries that we enjoyed after our picnic lunch

We also saw blackberry bushes, apricots, apples and grape vines.

Our guide told us there was a lot of sturgeon and silver bass and some lamprey eels (though they are trying to get rid of them) in the water and we did see fishermen out trying to capture a good meal.

One person created a ranch in a small area of rather level ground.

There are lots of rapids which our boat skimmed over sometimes spraying us with cold water.

This little water fall is a favorite place to get cool.

There is a road part of the way on the Washington side so that people can get to the little pocket beaches along the river

but on the Idaho side there is no road system so only those with boats can access it.

That means even these little cottages had to be brought in by barges or all the materials carted in so they could be built on site.  They require chemical toilets, creative means for water, and solar panels for electricity.

These people chose to put up a yurt which would be easier to carry in :-)

Being RVers, it was fun to see a few parked off the road enjoying all the benefits of the RV as well as enjoying the gorgeous views.

Since this was a weekend we saw all kinds of boaters out enjoying the day - canoers, kyakers, jet-skiers, rafters and speed boaters.

And look at this wonderful "find" probably left by a Nez Perce Indian many many years ago

All in all, it was a terrific day.  God sure has created some unusual beauty for us to enjoy!