Hells Canyon, April 24-28
Posted: April 30th, 2019, 11:35 am
Just finished a great trip with a buddy to Hells Canyon. This is my third trip here, and the place never fails--super tough, but super rewarding backpacking. And nobody was there, even though this is prime season.
The grass around the Snake was the greenest I'd ever seen this time of year
From the High Trail, looking down toward the Snake
Here's what we did:
Day 1: Freezeout trail to High Trail to Log Creek (campsite on N. side of N. fork, below trail)
Day 2: Log Creek to Wisnor Place (the Temperance Creek crossing was difficult)
Day 3: Wisnor Place to Snake River via the Dry Gulch Trail (camp next to Rush Creek Rapids)
Day 4: Back to Log Creek via the Sluice Creek Trail and High Trail
Day 5: out
A few notes:
There is zero beta on the Dry Gulch Trail, but it is my absolute favorite way to access the Snake. No brush or poison ivy to deal with. The navigation is challenging, and the "trail" is definitely more of a boot path.
Coming back up to the High Trail, we used the Sluice Creek Trail. In a previous trip, I went up using the Saddle Creek Trail, and that was an absolute thicket with poison ivy and blackberries. I would avoid Saddle Creek at all costs unless you are sure that somebody has cleared the trail (unlikely as most of these trails get zero maintenance). In contrast, the Sluice Creek Trail was decent. It has been re-routed to stay above the creek (N. Side). The re-route was hard to find, but once you are on it you avoid a lot of overgrowth for the first mile or so.
Ticks were moderate (we saw none until Wisnor Place). Poison ivy wasn't much of an issue, except for a decent amount on the Sluice Creek Trail and a bit on the Snake River Trial.
We saw zero backpackers, one horse group, a few boats on the Snake, and a few day hikers on Freezeout as we were leaving.
The grass around the Snake was the greenest I'd ever seen this time of year
From the High Trail, looking down toward the Snake
Here's what we did:
Day 1: Freezeout trail to High Trail to Log Creek (campsite on N. side of N. fork, below trail)
Day 2: Log Creek to Wisnor Place (the Temperance Creek crossing was difficult)
Day 3: Wisnor Place to Snake River via the Dry Gulch Trail (camp next to Rush Creek Rapids)
Day 4: Back to Log Creek via the Sluice Creek Trail and High Trail
Day 5: out
A few notes:
There is zero beta on the Dry Gulch Trail, but it is my absolute favorite way to access the Snake. No brush or poison ivy to deal with. The navigation is challenging, and the "trail" is definitely more of a boot path.
Coming back up to the High Trail, we used the Sluice Creek Trail. In a previous trip, I went up using the Saddle Creek Trail, and that was an absolute thicket with poison ivy and blackberries. I would avoid Saddle Creek at all costs unless you are sure that somebody has cleared the trail (unlikely as most of these trails get zero maintenance). In contrast, the Sluice Creek Trail was decent. It has been re-routed to stay above the creek (N. Side). The re-route was hard to find, but once you are on it you avoid a lot of overgrowth for the first mile or so.
Ticks were moderate (we saw none until Wisnor Place). Poison ivy wasn't much of an issue, except for a decent amount on the Sluice Creek Trail and a bit on the Snake River Trial.
We saw zero backpackers, one horse group, a few boats on the Snake, and a few day hikers on Freezeout as we were leaving.