We have to be honest. We weren’t entirely sure what to expect in Idaho, especially after almost three hours of driving through Washington wheat country to get to the state border. Arriving in Lewiston we found our Airbnb and briefly commiserated that our cruise days were over and we now had to get in the car to go and find dinner. For anyone who happens to be in Lewiston, Idaho, go and have a meal at Mystic Café on Main Street. Great service and food and while I know that our priority is to support local produce, they also had Marlborough’s Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc on the menu and I confess this won me over.
The next day dawned sunny and warm and we sprayed on the sun block for the day ahead. There are several companies who offer tours of Hells Canyon. We chose Snake Dancer Excursions and what a great choice it was. With our guide and driver Clayton at the helm, and 12 other passengers, we set off for a six-hour trip down the river and back. Hells Canyon has been sculpted by Snake River, a 1,735km/1078mi river that runs along the western border of Idaho. Hells Canyon itself is, at 2,436m/7993ft, North America’s deepest river gorge.
From the start, the landscape towering up on either side of us was impressive. From basalt columns to Native American petroglyphs to mountain sheep, we did not run out of sights to look at.
We had a stop at Cache Creek which gave us a great view of the canyon while we had a homemade lunch provided by the tour company of chicken, beans, pasta salad and cookies.
The river was filled with holiday makers and weekend goers in everything from rubber tires to huge inflatable rubber duckies to entire convoys of rafts. The banks of the river are made up of either limestone rocks or beautiful little sandy beaches. We were also impressed with the houses that have been built along the river which, with no road access whatsoever, have had to be built with materials brought by the river.
The river was an adventure to navigate. Between gliding through calm waters as still and clear as glass to jetting through rapids, the boat ride made our tour of Hells Canyon a trip to remember.
The morning after our day in Hells Canyon we have packed up and headed north and then east across Idaho as we make our way towards Montana. Leaving Lewiston we immediately found ourselves back in wheat country, also known as the Palouse region, which covers southeastern Washington and north central Idaho.
Between the wheatlands and the forestry Idaho flew past us. And while we were apparently in the wrong end of Idaho to eat potatoes, we did partake in the offerings of huckleberry season starting with a huckleberry milkshake for breakfast and finishing with huckleberry glazed ribs in the diner at Rose Lake.
Over the border into Montana we go!
S&P
