Family Picnic, White Bird Cemetary, Evening Lightning Storm
Aug. 11, 2013
"Wanna go to Hell," asked the grizzled, bearded motorcyclist clad in leather, boots, with a bandanna on his head.
Nearby, the innocent looking nuclear family gasped and recoiled. But, clarifying, the biker added, "Hells Canyon, that is!"
Ever since 4th grade when my class watched a series of videos about Washington State that included the above scene I've wanted to visit Hells Canyon. Today, Connie took me there. We drove out from White Bird across the Salmon River and up the nearby hills. Our first stop was to pick up Connie's cousins but then we forged on over the high ridge on the windy gravel roads. Once we reached the crest the canyon was in view and the geonerd within powered on and I wasn't in Hell at all but, instead, Heaven.
We tooled around at Pittsburg Landing to take in the sights of the canyon and some of its history through the nearby Native American pictographs left long ago in the rocks. Next up was the Twin Bridges beach back over the ridge towards White Bird where we played away the afternoon in the water and via ladder ball. The sandy shore felt great on the toes but the slow-moving water felt even better.
Once we got our fill of beach time for the day we headed back up into the hills to Connie's aunts where we enjoyed playing with a litter of ranch kittens, shot a couple 22's, and all had dinner together. Not satisfied to end the evening just yet Connie treated me to pie and ice cream at White Bird's own Hoots. Not a bad way to wind down a fantastic Idaho day.
My first daytime glimpse of the beautiful, wild Salmon River
Silver Bridge
She was pretty pleased with the beads she found in the front seat
Downtown White Bird
Mama kitty
