thelawgoddess Posted May 23, 2005 Posted May 23, 2005 thinking of taking a short trip to hell's canyon. i bought a trail guide but am wondering if anybody's got any must-do/see recommendations. (we'll only be there a couple of days.) also, is there any technical climbing or cool peaks out there? Quote
minx Posted May 23, 2005 Posted May 23, 2005 TLG Â do a search of the site. i remember a thread maybe last summer about some climbing in the canyon. Quote
RuMR Posted May 23, 2005 Posted May 23, 2005 Riggin's canyon is the shit...pretty hard stuff though... Â get ahold of Marty through this site...he can point you in the right direction... Quote
chelle Posted May 24, 2005 Posted May 24, 2005 send Terminal Gravity a pm. I'm sure he has some recommendations. Or stop by his brewery on the way. Quote
shapp Posted May 24, 2005 Posted May 24, 2005 That brewery would make a long detour unless you were traveling from Lewiston, but the beer might be worth it. Quote
shapp Posted May 25, 2005 Posted May 25, 2005 I have not gone to hells canyon this way cause I was always coming from NE oregon, but I know freinds from boise go north towards payette and head off west eventually hitting a gravel road that drops down to hells canyon, which is more direct than going to Baker then over to Oxbow. Should be able to find it on the Gazetter. Also, if you are going from boise then the TG Brewery is defenitely out unless you are making a detour to go repeat some Steve House route our going to the dihedrals  p.s. anyone know anything about the dihedrals upstream a couple miles from Wallawa Lake. I found directions in a hiking book. Went and checked it out about 7 years ago. There were a bunch of bolts and I climb a few pitches. Not too bad. Quote
Roadstead1 Posted May 30, 2005 Posted May 30, 2005 Hell's Canyon is one of the best unkown crags, I have aver been too. Quote
nolanr Posted June 1, 2005 Posted June 1, 2005 The Seven Devils Range just east of Hell's Canyon (access from Riggins, ID if I remember correctly) offers some good diversions. Plenty of hiking, a bunch of 9,000'+ peaks that you can scramble, and I'm sure plenty of technical routes, as well. There's a decent sized face on He Devil (the tallest in the range) from Sheep Lake. There's another peak, name escapes me, by the outlet of Sheep Lake that looks pretty cool. Quote
MCash Posted June 1, 2005 Posted June 1, 2005 That's the Devils Tooth you're thinking of (lower center of below photo) The lower (technical) spire has only seen a few ascents. Â Â There are many good technical first ascent opportunities in the Seven Devils. The south spire of He Devil has decent rock and several lines. The south ridge on the south spire is obvious and looks like about 6 pitches on good rock. No ascents according to local sources. Â The North Ridge of the Devil's Throne is unclimbed according to my sources. A 5.10 fingercrack stopped Paul Klenke and I last summer on the first ascent attempt (we did not have enough gear). Â The northeast wall of the main spire of He Devil(facing Sheep Lake) did not look too promising to me. Pretty chossy rock. Â Â Bring lots of pins as cracks are few and far between. Quote
thelawgoddess Posted June 1, 2005 Author Posted June 1, 2005 hmm ... yeah ... we might just make this a non-technical outing this go around since we're pressed for time, but i'll definitely be keeping my eyes open! Quote
nolanr Posted June 1, 2005 Posted June 1, 2005 Sounds like you've got the area well scouted out MCash. I've only been in there once, several years ago, I remember thoroughly enjoying it. I got to the trailhead fairly late and had to hightail it to a campsite. I can't remember the name of the lake, I think there was 1 other lake between it and Goat. I spent 2 nights, during my 1 full day I rambled up to Goat L., traversed most of the way around, then ascended a rock slide/gully to a saddle between She Devil and I believe Mt. Baal. Both were easy scrambles. I was going to traverse She Devil to the saddle between it and He Devil, but it started looking like there might be some gendarme problems or I might get cliffed out, so I descended onto the face above Goat Lake. That proved interesting. It was a maze of ramps, ledges, gulleys, and dead end cliffy sections. Wasn't sure I was going to get off of their for a while, but I finally found my way down. Traversed below He Devil, then eventually scrambled up the northwestish (?) side of He Devil. That was fun. Got to do a little bit of chimneying, there was even an au cheval move across the top of a flake. Good day of peak bagging. Anyway there's plenty of nontechnical alpine playing to be had and great scenery TLG. If I remember right the temp. difference was 20 to 30 degrees between the Seven Devils and down in the Salmon River canyon around Riggins. Too freakin' hot, and the river wasn't even particularly cold. I'll tell you, there are some backwards ass looking yahoos running around down there. Quote
thelawgoddess Posted June 1, 2005 Author Posted June 1, 2005 thanks, nolanr. looking forward to it! Quote
Ireneo_Funes Posted June 1, 2005 Posted June 1, 2005 I just got back from a 3-day backpacking trip on the Oregon side of Hell's Canyon. It's fantastic country, very rugged, and not too crowded (that's an understatement). Â The rock I saw all looked super chossy, but I was mostly on the high trails, well above the river. If you just want to do some hiking and get away from it all, you couldn't pick a better spot. Though it is pretty warm out there right now. Â I didn't see any backward ass yahoos where I was, but maybe there's more of them on the Idaho side. Quote
Ed_Seedhouse Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 >Bring lots of pins as cracks are few and far between. Â Er, and here I thought you used pins *in* cracks. Quote
MCash Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 Bad wording on my part. Instead of cracks, most of the joints are thin seams. Knifeblades and similar gear would be very useful in protecting it. Quote
shapp Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 Those crags in the seven devils are a long way from the limestone climbing on the idaho side of the Snake River just upstream from Oxbow. Likewise Riggins is far away. This thread ain't about the littly bitty rock near Riggins, but the fast amout of limestone near oxbow. Quote
thelawgoddess Posted June 2, 2005 Author Posted June 2, 2005 I just got back from a 3-day backpacking trip on the Oregon side of Hell's Canyon. It's fantastic country, very rugged, and not too crowded (that's an understatement). The rock I saw all looked super chossy, but I was mostly on the high trails, well above the river. If you just want to do some hiking and get away from it all, you couldn't pick a better spot. Though it is pretty warm out there right now.  I didn't see any backward ass yahoos where I was, but maybe there's more of them on the Idaho side. where were you hiking? have any spots in particular you'd recommend? it is so huge and we have so little time we're still not sure what to do. Quote
fheimerd Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 I went did a nice trip to hells canyon a couple of years ago. We drove in past imnaha and the down into the canyon close to the nee-mo-poh trail. There is a ranch down in the canyon and we started out hike there. It is awsome country. We hiked in to dug bar. A nice grassy knoll above a sandy beach with a toilet that has the best view I have ever seen. The trail continues on down the canyon over rolling hills and beutiful vistas. I have not gone back mainly due to a nasty case of poisen oak that covered my whole body in a rash for four weeks afterward and huge amounts of ticks. A little bit of heaven and a little bit of hell. Quote
Ireneo_Funes Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 I just got back from a 3-day backpacking trip on the Oregon side of Hell's Canyon. It's fantastic country, very rugged, and not too crowded (that's an understatement). The rock I saw all looked super chossy, but I was mostly on the high trails, well above the river. If you just want to do some hiking and get away from it all, you couldn't pick a better spot. Though it is pretty warm out there right now.  I didn't see any backward ass yahoos where I was, but maybe there's more of them on the Idaho side. where were you hiking? have any spots in particular you'd recommend? it is so huge and we have so little time we're still not sure what to do.  I hiked from the Freezeout TH (south of the town of Imnaha) up to the saddle, then north along the high trail (not the highest, rim trail) to around Hat Point, then explored around there a bit and headed back the way I came. I'd certainly recommend this area for its scenic beauty. The view from Hat Point is pretty incredible.  But like you say, the Hell's Canyon NRA is huge, and I'm sure there's a lot of great spots to check out. I was originally going to start around Dug Bar, but heard that the road to that TH was a little rough. The road up to Freezeout is fine. Have a great time; you won't be disappointed. Quote
thelawgoddess Posted June 2, 2005 Author Posted June 2, 2005 we were actually thinking about driving out to hat point. can't wait to see the canyon! Quote
Ireneo_Funes Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 With regard to fheimerd's mention of poison oak & ticks: I think one of the advantages of staying high above the river is that there's a lot less poison oak (I didn't see any). And I only pulled off one wood tick. And I didn't run into any rattlesnakes either up there, which I was OK with. Quote
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