Hells Canyon. At 7,993 deep and 10 miles wide
this is North America's deepest river gorge. There's tons of
stuff to do here including fishing, jet boat tours, hunting, hiking, camping
kayaking and rafting. But this place is no joke.
It's not called Hells Canyon because it's all butterflies and roses. It's hot
it's rugged, and it's huge. The Hells Canyon National Recreation Area is
roughly 650,000 acres that span across Oregon and Idaho. There are plenty of
outfitters you can book trips through, but if you're looking to explore on your
own we're here to give you some tips and insight into how the hell you get around
this place. Pun intended. We're gonna be backpacking in Hell's Canyon but to make
things a little bit easier a jet boat's going to ferry us up to our campsite
where we're gonna stay the night and start our hike in the morning. Let's go.
Is there anything any place specific or can we just, wherever you can make room .
Part of what we do is also just giving people that want to explore the canyon
themselves any of the trail systems that run along the river corridor or
that go up into the Seven Devils on the Idaho side or the Wallowas on the Oregon side.
We can pick them up and drop people anywhere on the river that they
want and let them explore the canyon themselves. So here we are at Kirkwood Ranch
in the middle of Hells Canyon. And we arrived at Pittsburgh's landing which
is six miles that way and we will be staying the night at Sheep Creek which
is nine miles that way
We made it. This is Sheep Creek Ranch. It's sixteen miles from where we started
today by jet boat. Tomorrow we're gonna hike out of Hell's Canyon so looking
forward to that epicness. I will be sleeping in that tent but you can
totally sleep in the ranch accommodations like Chad will be doing.
This place man I'm blown away by this place. I was it's like so far beyond
my expectations I was expecting these little forest service shacks you know
and these little ramshackle bunk beds in them and it's just like beautiful
property tucked away you get Sheep Creek that's absolutely beautiful sailing off
in the distance birds singing. I know we were told rustic and it is rustic but that's
kind of the cool epic part about it. Its rustic yet you have all the luxuries
it's got air conditioning man. I know and for less than 200 bucks a night you
can have 30 people stay here. What did you bring to eat? I brought you know I
thought since backpacking trip I try to keep it light got some mangos and got
some cheese. You?
I brought sausage. You brought sausage? Yes.
Kielbasa to be more... You brought kielbasa sausage? I brought two of them.
Is one for me? No they're both for me. I'm gonna cook them up over the fire I think I might
do one tonight and one in the morning but. So that's how you're gonna start your day before
a 16-mile hike with a 14 inch long kielbasa sausage. Yeah that's the energy
that's gonna get us past mile 16. We have 16 miles to cover and the best hiking
conditions are early in the morning. So we're getting on the trail so we can
beat the heat. Alright here we go.
We're making pretty good pace. Yeah I feel good about the pace legs feel
good the trails in really good condition few grassy parts but and the view is
shall I say epic.
It's called Hell's Canyon for a reason it is hot out here.
So make sure you have some sort of water filtration system because you're not
gonna be able to carry enough water. This is a gravity system, basically just fill
it up at a creek along the way, dirty water into the clean water.
Due to the heat in Hell's Canyon the hiking season ends at the end of June and we are at
the end of June. So as you can see behind me a lot of the vegetation has grown in
and it has hidden the trail from us. So right now we are a little bit lost and I
have misplaced Chad. Eventually I find Chad just a little ways up the hill but
it's probably a good rule of thumb to not leave your partner. Last leg of the
trek, suicide point. That sure looks like suicide point up there Chad. That does
look like suicide point. It looks kind of sketchy. Yeah this should be fun. It looks
like there's a path carved into the cliff. So suicide point is actually quite
beautiful I don't think the name does it justice but the main thing up here is
dehydration it's not falling or anything just make sure you're good and
hydrated because it is a long, hot way up. 15 miles through Hells Canyon is no easy
task but eventually we made our way out. Back at Pittsburg Landing. We just finished a
wonderful beautiful hike today. The thing to remember about Hells Canyon is there
something for everybody. From your grandma to your kids. There's jet boating,
there's big whitewater rafting, there's smaller day hikes you can take and it's
absolutely a stunning place.
Please subscribe to our channel for weekly
adventures in Idaho and beyond. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If you have
any travel questions for us we would love to see them in the comments section
and if you haven't watched Epic Idaho yet, make sure
you head over to Visit Idaho and check it out. Link to the series is in the
description below. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time.