What an incredible day we had yesterday! One we will not forget, ever. We stopped at the Forest Service office and asked about hiking trails and also the best way to see Heavens Gate area of Hells Canyon Recreation Area. Got the info and off we went, destination Heavens Gate.
Because there were so many incredible pictures, I am breaking up the day into three blogs: the first is our drive up to Heavens Gate; the second is the fire lookout area; and the third is our sorta-hike at the campground and the drive back down.
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| First 5 miles paved, the next 14 were dirt packed |
This first blog deals with our drive up to the top of the world. We were told that the only way to get to the top is the Heavens Gate road just down the road from the FS office. The first 5 miles is paved with some lovely homes and ranches tucked up into the sides of the canyon. Steep climb, but we knew we were going to get more steeper as the drive continued. The total mileage to reach the top was 19 miles. Not bad, but took us over an hour to get there. This is the same road we attempted to drive 4 years ago and got about 2 miles up on the dirt road and got snowed in/blocked.
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| Starting to see incredible views |
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| Fall colors - don't need to go to Ohio now! |
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| Very pretty |
Packed dirt road, mostly 2 lanes until we got quite high and it narrowed to one lane, and very stony. Our poor car - we will have some major repairs to do this fall when we get back - suspension, brakes, shocks, tires to name a few. Really put this little car to the test this summer. Saw some nice fall colors coming out, remarked we did not have to go back to Ohio - it was very prominent at about 6000 feet. Beautiful. No vehicles coming down, we felt we were alone.
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| Wondered when was the fire? |
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| Road got steeper, narrower - but wait. |
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| The Seven Devils Mountains of Hells Canyon |
Got near the Windy Saddle turn off where the campground is and made the jog to the right and climbed the last 2 miles up to the end of the road where the lookout was. Very narrow ONE lane road, we prayed we did not meet anyone coming back down, which, thankfully we did not meet. Parked the car and was shocked at the amount of vehicles and an RV parked at the end.
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| 2 more miles to go (and the narrowest and roughest) |
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| Hey - a Designer! Our old 5th Wheel (was fire watch couple's RV) |
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| Oh my goodness - the ride down will not be fun |
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| We are now above the mountains |
Took some photos, put on our hiking boots and shirt, grabbed our walking sticks and cameras and off we climbed to Heavens Gate.
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