This is pretty crazy. We just pulled up to the trailhead and I've never experienced
this problem before. There are a bunch of cows blocking the trailhead and the gate and it looks
like they're being herded this way because now they're all heading this way.
Well damn. So here we are. This is Hell's Canyon again we are back in hell and it looks a lot
different this time around. This is the Oregon side of Hell's Canyon and we have come on
a rainy, foggy, beautiful pacific northwest day. I say we because i brought Korey with me.
Korey how did we even meet? Uh we met on instagram because i tagged you in one of
my pictures of fishhook. I thought it was very a big learning moment even though it was just like
one night. That's right okay so Korey went and saw one of my videos at fishhook
meadow in the Sawtooths and went out and backpacked for the first time and he almost
froze to death out there because he did it in October. And since fishhook he has
upgraded his gear and i have now brought him out on his second ever backpacking trip into this.
If he can make it through this i think he's a lifelong backpacker. I think it's weird
also that i'm talking about you like you're not standing right there behind the camera.
So yeah the first time i did Hells Canyon this year it was on the Idaho side and Hells Canyon
is such a big place i am not done exploring it. There's also an Oregon side. This is kind of on the
edge of the Hell's Canyon Wilderness in the Hells Canyon Recreation Area. We got in late last night
camped kind of close to the trailhead. There's a lot of dispersed camping around here
there's a lot of you know established sites, a lot of RV'ers, a lot of ATV's. We're gonna do a loop
starting with one trail which is the Cemetery Ridge Trail and then connect with Eureka Wagon
road and finish out. In the middle of that where we're trying to get to tonight is there's
Eureka Cabin over there and it's owned by the forest service and i talked to the forest service
and they said as long as there's no locks on it and no one's there
we could possibly stay in this cabin. So it's six miles into the fog and we're gonna find that, we're
gonna check it out and we're gonna see if we can stay out of the rain tonight and if not we're just
gonna have to test Korey's new gear out and see if we both survive in this weather. But uh
yeah i think we're already lost. All right ready to go Korey? Let's go. All right let's go.
I can see how you could easily get a little lost up here. The book says poor trail
i think what they meant to say is no trail. We're just gonna head
All right we're just gonna head back over here.
Even the signs are vague but we found a sign so we must be going the right way.
Head down? I don't know.
First sip of coffee after that hike let's see.
Oh it's still hot but it's like...
Well Eureka Cabin is not habitable. The forest service lady i called her and i said hey
i see that there's this Eureka Cabin on the map. In my previous trip on the Idaho side
i passed two cabins and a ranch. Mcgaffey, Sheep Creek and then Kirkwood and all of them were
super nice. I mean not super nice Mcgaffey wasn't super nice but they all would/could function
as a pretty good shelter. So i asked her could i stay in the cabin and she said yeah as long
as there's no lock or sign posted that's a forest service cabin go ahead and stay there.
We've been searching for that roof all day and sure enough it's just it's just a piece
of [ __ ] it is not inhabitable at all. So luckily there's this little spot right down
the path from it. The only problem with this spot is we gotta share with a bunch of cow pies. I mean
that fits right we started the day with cows, it's just you gotta sleep with cow pies sometimes.
But we have we have fresh water, we have a fire pit, we have our coffee going, it should be nice. That
was probably the hardest hike of my life. Found a creek, crossed the creek, went all the way back up
the ridge line, all the way back down, all the way back up, around the mountainside, yeah i don't know.
And this is only Korey's second backpack so it's kind of like, I'm like come on it'll be a nice easy
hike in Hell's Canyon. I don't even know. And we started at 5000 feet and we're now at 1700 here so
The car is still at 5000 feet and i'm looking at the trail, i'm seeing the trail...
The trail is very well defined, the sun is shining, and we don't have to worry about rain.
The bad news the sun is out and shining and now we have to worry about the sun.
Every corner you take you think you're done going up
and then nope you see another, the next point that you have to reach and it just keeps going.
I just gotta say you look delicious after this long hike. That was ridiculous, one of the most
ridiculous hikes i've ever done. Pretty crazy that was Korey's second backpacking trip. Not what i'd
recommend you do for your second backpacking trip but he survived. We conquered it. Mistakes
were made, lessons were learned. June is right around the corner some of the more pristine
hikes in the pacific northwest will be opening up soon. High mountain lakes, snow-capped peaks,
many more worlds to conquer so thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time.