Once we arrived at the Clarkston campground (and what a beautiful campground right along Snake River!), we set up the clubhouse for the Lewis and Clark Medicine Man Show. He was great! He talked about all the illnesses and diseases that the expedition faced and what types of cures they used. He was more than interesting! Rich volunteered so that he could show us how they would “bleed” someone for the really bad illnesses.

Day 33, Off to Beamers Hells Canyon Tour! Their billboard looked like a postcard.

WHAT A FUN DAY! We boarded the jet boat for our 7 hour cruise. We got off to a “sticky” start. Seems there are a lot of little trees and sticks floating and it’s common for jet boats to suck up a stick, which necessitated a stop & fishing it out. But the captain’s grandson, Skylar (his mate) did a great job and we were back in business.


We stopped at a gift shop and café (yes it was in the middle of nowhere) for our continental breakfast and of course to buy souvenirs.

Once we got into “Hell’s Canyon” it was more wilderness as the only way to get there was by boat. There were no roads. We could not believe that people built vacation homes here! Our captain said it takes up to 3 years to build a house. EVERYTHING from nails to framing needs to be brought in BY BOAT. They use solar or generators for electricity. There were a few very, very beautiful homes and some that are not finished but up for sale. They call it Hell’s Canyon because in the summer it gets hotter than ___.

Our next stop was in Hell’s Canyon at a small camp type area. We were met at the dock by one of the hands in what he called his “Redneck Taxi.” That was quite cute.

We were served lunch by a girl who was part Souix, Nez Perce and another Indian tribe. She lives at the camp during the summer season and loves it when she has visitors to fuss over. She gets her supplies from the mail boat or any other boat who might be coming up river.

While on our journey, we ran into a guy who works for the government and does fish studies and he’s paid to fish in the canyon. That would be a cool job!

This is the area where Chief Joseph led 2,000 members of his tribe across the canyon and didn’t lose anyone (men, women, children or horses). The soldiers crossed the canyon a little further up river and lost 70% of their men.

We stopped at an area where there were pictographs which have been identified as 3-5,000 years old. We wer not allowed to get off the boat because in the past, people damaged the artifacts, so now you can only look from the boat.

The rock formation is columnar basalt formed when the earth cooled. The formations are different, depending on how quickly the earth cooled. It was really strange to see some vertical, horizontal, bowed…..

We took so many pictures that it was difficult to choose which ones to post.