[Jerry]

Joseph to Hells Canyon
September 29, 2007

What crazy weather we've had. It snowed all over the northeastern corner of Oregon on Friday, but Saturday's weather was great - sunshine all day. Ten people met at Denny's Restaurant in La Grande, Oregon for a scenic loop drive to Hells Canyon. Hosts Randy & Ann from Meacham and grandsons J.R. and Dylan were in their Ford Bronco II; Heather, her daughter LeeAnnette, her friend Craig and her brother Scott, all from La Grande, were riding in her Dodge Caravan; and we, Jerry & Evelyn from Yakima, were driving our Ford Escape.

After waiting a respectable amount of time for stragglers we drove through the Grande Ronde Valley with Mt. Emily to one side and Mt. Harris to the other, both covered with a dusting of snow. Very pretty country. We followed the highway through Elgin, Wallowa and Lostine before arriving in Enterprise. Wallowa is pronounced "wa-la-wa". The dusting of snow followed us all the way and in some places reached down to the highway. The roadway was clear, dry in fact, but snow lingered to the sides of the road in shady areas.

Our first stop was at a quilt shop the girls wanted to check out. While the gals were in the shop the guys checked out a second hand store/antique store next door. Next door to the antique shop was the local radio station that I tuned into our car radio. After shopping we drove from Enterprise through the trendy town of Joseph and on to the south end of Wallowa Lake, listening to polka music on the local radio station. The area was all geared up for their annual Bavarian Festival. They had tents set up to serve pancakes and sausage, sell wares and entertain the visitors. With or without a festival Wallowa Lake is a gem nestled against the edge of the Eagle Cap Mountains and Wilderness Area.



From the town of Joseph, burial place of Chief Joseph and home of painters, sculptors and other artists of renown, we followed the Wallowa Mountain Road into the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. The road climbed in elevation until we reached a winter wonderland of snow covered pines and bright colors of fall foliage. The landscape was mountainous as our road twisted its way between steep, forested, snow covered hillsides to more rounded, dry hills in the shrub steppe at lower elevations. We made a few stops, took some photos, threw a couple of snowballs and especially enjoyed snack-time at the Hells Canyon Overlook.



Randy & Ann surprised us with snacks for everybody at the overlook. What a neat thing to do! And the view of the border between Oregon and Idaho was awesome. We couldn't see the Snake River in the bottom of the canyon, but the part we could see was splendid. It was National Public Lands Day and we celebrated by cleaning up litter at the overlook. Randy had a garbage bag for everybody. The temperature was on the cool side with Idaho's snow covered Seven Devils Mountains directly across the canyon, but we bundled up and enjoyed our visit.



We had made longer stops than originally planned so when we reached the road that runs between Halfway and Oxbow Dam in Hells Canyon we unanimously voted to drive a few miles out of our way to have lunch in Halfway. It was a good choice. Mmmm, good food, but time was dwindling away. It was 4:00 PM and another quilt shop was just down the street from the restaurant. It was decided that Oxbow and Hells Canyon Dam could wait until the next trip. Quilt shop, here we come! This shop had a neat little second hand store in the back so it gave the guys something to do.



We were still 50 miles from Baker City and a hundred miles from La Grande and it was time to call it a day. But, not without making one more stop. We checked out the entrance to the Virtue Flat ORV Area east of Baker. Any further into the ORV area with our Ford Escape would have been our last trip and we would rather save it for more neat tours like this one.

Thanks to Randy & Ann for a wonderful road trip and to all who came for making it a fun day.

Jerry & Evelyn from Yakima