Another Day for a Jeep Ride

Thursday we got up late. Everyone was on their own today. Joe and I decided to get some lunch in town and then take a drive to see Hell's Canyon from up above to get a different view from my boat trip. We had lunch at the same restaurant as the other day. This time we both got Gyros, which were yummy. It is another sunny warm day and we love sitting outside enjoying the great weather. We took a left about a half mile north of Riggins and headed up the mountain. Before we turned, we went by an area where there are a lot of people fishing for salmon on the Salmon River. Someday we will have to buy some fishing gear and get out there and do some fishing on our own. We drove up to Iron Phone Junction and headed for Cold Springs and Low Saddle and then made the loop to Saw Pit Saddle and finally came out at Lucile, another small town north of Riggins. A nice drive, using 4 Wheel Drive, but nothing that was hard enough that we were worried about being on our own.

                                                                    

Another Jeep ride

Tuesday, we took another ride up into the same area. Our group, which was just 5 jeeps this time, took a different turn from yesterday part way up. The other group went the way we did yesterday.

                                                         

                                    This time we stopped for lunch as a beautiful spot right next to a stream. There was also a little snow left It has been hot for a few days and so most snow is gone in the area that we have seen except near the top, which is around 6,700 feet.

       It was another nice drive, a little more challenging than yesterday.

We got back and went to happy hour and then just spent a quiet evening watching tv and just relaxing. Tomorrow is a big day as we are spending the day on a jet boat excursion.                                                                                     

Going down the River

Today is our big Jet Boat trip. Savannah will be staying home. We'll be gone all day and so this will be the longest she has stayed alone. We put her bigger outdoor crate inside so she has more room. We drove with Ernie and Tara. The drive to the launch area took about an hour and half. The longest was the last 17 miles and it went up and down and had a lot of twists and turns. I think just about the whole group went on this trip. There are three boats taking us all. The company we used for this trip and the upcoming white water rafting trip is River Adventurers. Our guides were just great. The driver, whose family has been in the Riggins area for generations, was very informative and had lots of great stories.

     We take off from Pittsburg Landing up the Snake River which goes through Hells Canyon. Hells Canyon is a 10 mile long canyon that is located on the border of eastern Oregon and western Idaho. It is North America's deepest river gorge at 7,993 feet. Most of the river is inaccessible by road.

The river supports a great diversity of fish and wildlife species. Fish in the Snake River include Steelhead, Chinook and Sockeye Salmon, trout and others. The giant white sturgeon is to be found here and is part of a catch and release only fishery. We saw deer, elk and big horn sheep as well as a Bald Eagle.

                                                                                                                       
 One of our stops was to Kirkwood Historic Ranch, which was the former home of the State Governor of Idaho, Len Jordan. It gives you a taste of life in the 1930s

We got to pick cherries from the trees at the ranch.

We had lunch at another spot while some tried some fishing and were successful in some cases



                                                                    
     We continued on our ride which got a little wilder with class 3 rapids. We could only go as far as Granite Peak as the water is still pretty high for this time of the year and not safe for the boats or us.

Just spectacular country.  

We all had a great time, enjoying the landscape, seeing wildlife and getting wet as we went through the waves of the mighty snake river. WOW, great day.                                    

                                                                                                                
. Weather was cool, then warmed up and then got cloudy and a little cool during the ride.  Just as we got back to shore, it started to rain but was short lived.   Driving home, we talked about the trip, noting how many animals we saw, except for a bear. Not much later, who did Tara  see, but a brown bear in a tree. Joe and Ernie got out to take pictures but were too late as the bear ran away. Well, at least we did get to see one, if only his backend as he ran away. We had to stop to take a few pictures of the view from up above they canyon. Ernie also took some pictures for a gentleman who had stopped as well. He is handicapped and so asked Ernie to help out, which he was glad to do.

     We got back to kisses  from Savannah who was a very good girl when we were gone, but was very happy to see us back home. We went for the catered dinner, which was chicken, potatoes and some vegetables It was better than the previous dinner. We didn't stay long as it was cold and we all were tried from our long day.