Difference between revisions of "Nee-Me-Poo Trail Hike"
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=== Hike Description === | === Hike Description === | ||
| − | In May 1877, Chief Joseph (Hinmatóowyalahtq’it) of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce (Nimíipuu), was given an ultimatum by Army General Oliver O. Howard. The band had not ratified an 1863 treaty that put other groups of Nez Perce onto reservations and remained in their ancestral home, the broad grassy expanses of the Wallowa valley which held the graves of their ancestors | + | In May 1877, Chief Joseph (Hinmatóowyalahtq’it) of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce (Nimíipuu), was given an ultimatum by Army General Oliver O. Howard. The band had not ratified an 1863 treaty that put other groups of Nez Perce onto reservations, and they remained in their ancestral home, the broad grassy expanses of the Wallowa valley which held the graves of their ancestors but were now much coveted by white settlers for farmland. Chief Joseph was given 30 days to leave for an Idaho reservation or consider himself at war with the U.S. government. Whole villages had to be packed up, and thousands of cattle and horses were driven into [[Hells Canyon]], where they crossed the swift-flowing spring current of the Snake River at [[Nez Perce Crossing|Dug Bar]]. Hundreds of livestock were lost in the crossing, but all the people crossed safely. The band were continuing to the Lapwai Reservation, but after some young members killed four settlers in retaliation for the murder of a Nez Perce elder, Joseph decided to take his group of 750 Wallowa Nez Perce and Palouse to Canada to meet with Chief Sitting Bull of the Hunkpapa Lakota. A running battle of over 1,000 miles through the Bitterroot Range and Montana Territory ensued, culminating with the defeat of Joseph’s band at the Battle of Bear Paw on October 5th, 1877, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border. |
Sections of the Joseph band’s flight route are now a National Historical Trail, with their descent to the Snake River over [[Lone Pine Saddle]] now a part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Wilderness. Access to the trailhead is via the notorious Dug Bar Road, which is best traversed by vehicles with clearance. Spring and fall are the premium times to visit as summers can be extremely hot and, beginning in May, the canyon reverberates with the roar of jet boats. Look for bighorn sheep in the rimrock, deer in the gullies, and raptors soaring overhead. This is also cattle country and, as the day warms up, be alert for rattlesnakes! | Sections of the Joseph band’s flight route are now a National Historical Trail, with their descent to the Snake River over [[Lone Pine Saddle]] now a part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Wilderness. Access to the trailhead is via the notorious Dug Bar Road, which is best traversed by vehicles with clearance. Spring and fall are the premium times to visit as summers can be extremely hot and, beginning in May, the canyon reverberates with the roar of jet boats. Look for bighorn sheep in the rimrock, deer in the gullies, and raptors soaring overhead. This is also cattle country and, as the day warms up, be alert for rattlesnakes! | ||
| − | Looking up from the trailhead, you can see [[Lone Pine Saddle]] and three ponderosa pines. Cactus Mountain is to the left of the saddle, and Summit Ridge, with its bands of reddish basalt, stretches for miles to the right. The trail passes a post and badge marking the Nee-Me-Poo (Nez Perce) National Historic Trail, and the trail, which is sometimes indistinct on these open grassy slopes, is further marked with small posts and rock cairns along its length. Hike above a cattle trough, and drop into a small ravine shaded by hackberry trees with western sumac lining the path. Keep to the right side of the creek, and cross a grassy bench. Cross a dry wash where balsamroot and bright pink Snake River phlox bloom in the spring. Head out of a gully, and get increasingly wide vistas south down the Imnaha River valley to the jagged crest of Haas Ridge. Pass through an opening in a fence, and continue rising. Look to the benches of Cactus Mountain and Summit Ridge for bighorn sheep (Rams and ewes with lambs will be moving in separate groups.) | + | Looking up from the trailhead, you can see [[Lone Pine Saddle]] and three ponderosa pines. Cactus Mountain is to the left of the saddle, and Summit Ridge, with its bands of reddish basalt, stretches for miles to the right. The trail passes a post and badge marking the Nee-Me-Poo (Nez Perce) National Historic Trail, and the trail, which is sometimes indistinct on these open grassy slopes, is further marked with small posts and rock cairns along its length. Hike above a cattle trough, and drop into a small ravine shaded by hackberry trees with western sumac lining the path. Keep to the right side of the creek, and cross a grassy bench. Cross a dry wash where balsamroot and bright pink Snake River phlox bloom in the spring. Head out of a gully, and get increasingly wide vistas south down the Imnaha River valley to the jagged crest of Haas Ridge. Pass through an opening in a fence, and continue rising. Look to the benches of Cactus Mountain and Summit Ridge for bighorn sheep. (Rams and ewes with lambs will be moving in separate groups.) Reach [[Lone Pine Saddle]] with its hardy little hackberry and a view down Big Canyon across [[Hells Canyon]] to Idaho and the ranges of the Snake-Salmon Divide. (The Snake River is not visible from the saddle.) |
| − | Follow the grassy slope to the right. You’ll see the Dug Bar Road winding along below as you pass a lone ponderosa pine. Listen for the flute-like calls of meadowlarks and the cascading liquid notes of a canyon wren. Cross a thicketed gully, and round the nose of a ridge to cross a blackberry-choked creek with a cattle trough | + | Follow the grassy slope to the right. You’ll see the Dug Bar Road winding along below as you pass a lone ponderosa pine. Listen for the flute-like calls of meadowlarks and the cascading liquid notes of a canyon wren. Cross a thicketed gully, and round the nose of a ridge to cross Big Canyon at a blackberry-choked creek with a cattle trough. The trail rises among braiding cow paths, passing above a fence line. Traverse another bunchgrass slope, and rise to a saddle. Pass through a gap in the fence, suitably adorned with cow skulls, and get your first sighting of the Snake River. You have also now officially entered the very northern tip of the Hells Canyon Wilderness. |
| − | The Dug Bar Road is no longer in view as you descend from the saddle. Across the Snake on the Idaho side, you can see what used to be a bed and breakfast inn reachable only by jet boat or via the airstrip at [[Dug Bar Ranch|Dug Bar]]. Among the bunchgrass are balsamroot, phlox, prairie star, sagewort, and prickly pear cactus. Hike in and out of a shady gully and come to a lower saddle. Make two short switchbacks down, and enter a thicketed gully, getting views across the Snake to rushing Doug Creek. Traverse across a slope, and make more switchbacks down to a fence. Go left to pass through a wire gate - make sure you close it properly – follow posts down through a cattle pasture with views to the airstrip at [[Dug Bar Ranch|Dug Bar]]. | + | The Dug Bar Road is no longer in view as you descend from the saddle. Across the Snake on the Idaho side, you can see what used to be a bed and breakfast inn reachable only by jet boat or via the airstrip at [[Dug Bar Ranch|Dug Bar]]. Among the bunchgrass are balsamroot, phlox, prairie star, sagewort, and prickly pear cactus. Hike in and out of a shady gully and come to a lower saddle. Make two short switchbacks down, and enter a thicketed gully, getting views across the Snake to rushing Doug Creek. Traverse across a slope, and make more switchbacks down to a fence. Go left to pass through a wire gate - make sure you close it properly – and follow posts down through a cattle pasture with views to the airstrip at [[Dug Bar Ranch|Dug Bar]]. |
Reach the Dug Bar Road, and go right with the Snake River flowing below you. You’ll arrive at a gate and fence around the airstrip. A sign welcomes you to the Dug Bar section of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Close this gate as well, and walk the road above the airstrip to reach the house and outbuildings at the [[Dug Bar Ranch]]. Do not enter the buildings, but turn towards the river. Pass a stable and corral, and then go through a gate signed for the public boat ramp. There are restrooms below you, but make a right past a sign for the Hells Canyon Wilderness at the trailhead for the Western Rim National Recreation Trail. Dug Bar can be very quiet in early spring, but gets busier with river traffic as the weather warms up. | Reach the Dug Bar Road, and go right with the Snake River flowing below you. You’ll arrive at a gate and fence around the airstrip. A sign welcomes you to the Dug Bar section of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Close this gate as well, and walk the road above the airstrip to reach the house and outbuildings at the [[Dug Bar Ranch]]. Do not enter the buildings, but turn towards the river. Pass a stable and corral, and then go through a gate signed for the public boat ramp. There are restrooms below you, but make a right past a sign for the Hells Canyon Wilderness at the trailhead for the Western Rim National Recreation Trail. Dug Bar can be very quiet in early spring, but gets busier with river traffic as the weather warms up. | ||
Revision as of 21:47, 16 July 2019
,_Nee_Mee_Poo_Trail.jpg)
- Start point: Nee-Me-Poo Trailhead
- Ending Point: Nez Perce Crossing
- Trail Log:
- Hike Type: In and out
- Distance: 10.2 miles
- Elevation gain: 2660 feet
- High Point: 2,685 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Spring through fall
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
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Contents |
Hike Description
In May 1877, Chief Joseph (Hinmatóowyalahtq’it) of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce (Nimíipuu), was given an ultimatum by Army General Oliver O. Howard. The band had not ratified an 1863 treaty that put other groups of Nez Perce onto reservations, and they remained in their ancestral home, the broad grassy expanses of the Wallowa valley which held the graves of their ancestors but were now much coveted by white settlers for farmland. Chief Joseph was given 30 days to leave for an Idaho reservation or consider himself at war with the U.S. government. Whole villages had to be packed up, and thousands of cattle and horses were driven into Hells Canyon, where they crossed the swift-flowing spring current of the Snake River at Dug Bar. Hundreds of livestock were lost in the crossing, but all the people crossed safely. The band were continuing to the Lapwai Reservation, but after some young members killed four settlers in retaliation for the murder of a Nez Perce elder, Joseph decided to take his group of 750 Wallowa Nez Perce and Palouse to Canada to meet with Chief Sitting Bull of the Hunkpapa Lakota. A running battle of over 1,000 miles through the Bitterroot Range and Montana Territory ensued, culminating with the defeat of Joseph’s band at the Battle of Bear Paw on October 5th, 1877, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border.
Sections of the Joseph band’s flight route are now a National Historical Trail, with their descent to the Snake River over Lone Pine Saddle now a part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Wilderness. Access to the trailhead is via the notorious Dug Bar Road, which is best traversed by vehicles with clearance. Spring and fall are the premium times to visit as summers can be extremely hot and, beginning in May, the canyon reverberates with the roar of jet boats. Look for bighorn sheep in the rimrock, deer in the gullies, and raptors soaring overhead. This is also cattle country and, as the day warms up, be alert for rattlesnakes!
Looking up from the trailhead, you can see Lone Pine Saddle and three ponderosa pines. Cactus Mountain is to the left of the saddle, and Summit Ridge, with its bands of reddish basalt, stretches for miles to the right. The trail passes a post and badge marking the Nee-Me-Poo (Nez Perce) National Historic Trail, and the trail, which is sometimes indistinct on these open grassy slopes, is further marked with small posts and rock cairns along its length. Hike above a cattle trough, and drop into a small ravine shaded by hackberry trees with western sumac lining the path. Keep to the right side of the creek, and cross a grassy bench. Cross a dry wash where balsamroot and bright pink Snake River phlox bloom in the spring. Head out of a gully, and get increasingly wide vistas south down the Imnaha River valley to the jagged crest of Haas Ridge. Pass through an opening in a fence, and continue rising. Look to the benches of Cactus Mountain and Summit Ridge for bighorn sheep. (Rams and ewes with lambs will be moving in separate groups.) Reach Lone Pine Saddle with its hardy little hackberry and a view down Big Canyon across Hells Canyon to Idaho and the ranges of the Snake-Salmon Divide. (The Snake River is not visible from the saddle.)
Follow the grassy slope to the right. You’ll see the Dug Bar Road winding along below as you pass a lone ponderosa pine. Listen for the flute-like calls of meadowlarks and the cascading liquid notes of a canyon wren. Cross a thicketed gully, and round the nose of a ridge to cross Big Canyon at a blackberry-choked creek with a cattle trough. The trail rises among braiding cow paths, passing above a fence line. Traverse another bunchgrass slope, and rise to a saddle. Pass through a gap in the fence, suitably adorned with cow skulls, and get your first sighting of the Snake River. You have also now officially entered the very northern tip of the Hells Canyon Wilderness.
The Dug Bar Road is no longer in view as you descend from the saddle. Across the Snake on the Idaho side, you can see what used to be a bed and breakfast inn reachable only by jet boat or via the airstrip at Dug Bar. Among the bunchgrass are balsamroot, phlox, prairie star, sagewort, and prickly pear cactus. Hike in and out of a shady gully and come to a lower saddle. Make two short switchbacks down, and enter a thicketed gully, getting views across the Snake to rushing Doug Creek. Traverse across a slope, and make more switchbacks down to a fence. Go left to pass through a wire gate - make sure you close it properly – and follow posts down through a cattle pasture with views to the airstrip at Dug Bar.
Reach the Dug Bar Road, and go right with the Snake River flowing below you. You’ll arrive at a gate and fence around the airstrip. A sign welcomes you to the Dug Bar section of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Close this gate as well, and walk the road above the airstrip to reach the house and outbuildings at the Dug Bar Ranch. Do not enter the buildings, but turn towards the river. Pass a stable and corral, and then go through a gate signed for the public boat ramp. There are restrooms below you, but make a right past a sign for the Hells Canyon Wilderness at the trailhead for the Western Rim National Recreation Trail. Dug Bar can be very quiet in early spring, but gets busier with river traffic as the weather warms up.
Follow Nee-Me-Poo Trail posts down to cross Birch Creek, and reach a rock pillar with an interpretive sign describing the 1877 Nez Perce Crossing of the river.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Restrooms, interpretive signs at Dug Bar
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail (USFS)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Wilderness
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Nee-Me-Poo Trail Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Nee-Me-Poo Trail Hike
Guidebooks that cover this destination
- Hiking Hell’s Canyon and Idaho’s Seven Devils Mountains by Fred Barstad
- 50 Hikes in Hells Canyon & Oregon’s Wallowas by Rhonda & George Ostertag
- Hiking Oregon’s Geology by Ellen Morris Bishop
- 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Eastern Oregon by William L. Sullivan
- Hiking Oregon’s History by William L. Sullivan
More Links
- Nez Perce National Historic Trail #1727 (USFS)
- Nee Me Poo National Recreation Trail (USFS)
- Nez Perce National Historic Trail (USFS)
- Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail, 1877 (Oregon Historic Trails Fund)
- Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (USFS)
- Nez Perce National Historical Park (National Park Service)
- Nez Perce National Historical Park (Wikipedia)
- Following the Nez Perce Trail (True West Magazine)
- Dug Bar History (National Park Service)
- Dug Bar Trailhead and Boat Launch (USFS)
- Nez Perce War (Wikipedia)
- The Flight of 1877 (National Park Service)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)