Hells Canyon visit
 

I'm looking at a possible trip to Hells Canyon. Here are my questions:

1. Is it really worth the effort to visit for someone looking for a diversion from cross-county driving?

2. Is it best approached from the north or south end?

3. Is a boat trip essential to appreciate it?

4. Do I have to spend the night nearby?

I think its a fabulous trip - we stayed in Joseph Or- a very cute western town - drove to the Canyon in the afternoon and did the dinner jet boat trip- I loved the jet boat, hit some great rapids, saw lots of wild life ( bears, big horn sheep)
I think you definately should do the boat trip or raft ( some of our group did the raft trip the next day)
It was nearly dark when we started back to Joseph on a long twisty road so if you do the dinner boat trip I would suggest finding a place close by to stay. The rafters stayed at a place they booked through the rafting company that was not far from the "put in " place. Looks like a big quanset hut but very nice on the inside - not sure of name but I could find out if interested. Its a fascinating part of the country - we spent a week there and would go back again in a heartbeat!

Thanks for the info. I wonder what the camping is like in the canyon, at the south end by the dam?

I do believe I saw a campsite along the river - will check with some of the people I did the trip with and see if they recall
also will see if I can find the name of the quanset hut lodging
not sure I would want to camp as there are a lot of bears around there - I think we saw 9 or 10

Another good place to go is the Salmon River in Riggins, Idaho. There are river tours out of Riggins.

http://www.rowadventures.com/Salmon-...ake-River.html

We have gone to the Hells Canyon in different spots along the river. There isn't much there. If you see a town listed on the map, find out if there is still a town there. We went to Bear and Cuprum and there were just empty buildings left. Now I see they show Cuprum as a ghost town.
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/id/cuprum.html

I found the site for quonset hut lodging - was not in the bedrooms/ just the dining area and it was nicer than you would have expected

http://www.hellscanyonadventures.com.../our_lodge.htm

Joseph, OR, is definitely a memorable and delightful place, and the drive from Joseph north is quite spectacular at the OR/WA border.

About ten years ago, we took a tour of Hells Canyon on a stomach-churning motorized boat of some kind with a guide who was more interested in ingratiating himself for the biggest possible tip than in dispensing information that might appeal to the curious.

Our biggest surprise was that while Hells Canyon is North America's deepest river gorge, the slope of the banks is so gradual that, on the river, we were not impressed by its depth.

We got a much better sense of a gorge at the OR/WA border, when we drove north from Joseph.

I thought the jet boat ride ride was fabulous-first rapid the water washed over the top of the boat and we were drenched- our guide was very informative about the history of the area - certainly not the same experience as happytrailstoyou - I thought the whole experience was great- and agree Joseph is a great little town- famous for its foundrys which are open for tours- we stayed in the area for a week and could have stayed longer!