Hells Canyon & Glacier National Park Trip - Part 2 (The Road To Glacier)

Now it was time for the daunting part of the trip - a 450 mile drive from Hells Canyon to the West entrance of Glacier National Park in Montana.  My plan was to park up around 40 miles away from the park entrance and catch 2-3 hours of sleep in the car before sunrise.  Having already covered 531 miles this meant having to cover just shy of 1000 miles, no mean feat along with all the stops and short walks/hikes I had done around Brownlee Dam and Hells Canyon.

 

The first 2 hours of this drive were probably the easiest, as I found myself having to wind my way through the valley floors and along the mountain passes which linked North East Oregon with South East Washington.

Here's a sample of just one of the views that I had from the top of one mountain, looking along the canyon.

And yup, that is the exact sort of road off to the right of the image that I mentioned above.  The area here was called Paradise, personally I think they need to add the word "Driver" to the front of that - it certainly is!

 It may have been great fun to drive, but unfortunately it was also bad for draining the energy which I still had in reserve, but somehow the lure of Glacier kept me pushing North through Washington, then East into Idaho (with the area which I was travelling through looking so flat in comparison to the landscape which I had left behind in Oregon and Washington)

As the cars clock, which was still one timezone behind after crossing from Pacific Savngs Time (PST) into Mountain Savings Time (MST), struck 11pm (midnight in local time) I was around 80 miles away from the entrance to Glacier and pushed on through the tiredness for another 40 miles to my planned "kip-stop" near the town of Somers which lay on the shores of Flathead Lake to the South West of Glacier National Park.

Finally it was time for a few hours shuteye, albeit in the not-so-comfy seat of my hirecar.

Estimated mileage at this stage - 915 miles
Actual mileage at this stage - 984 miles

Hells Canyon & Glacier National Park Trip - Part 1 (Brownlee Dam & Hells Canyon)

I was up, showered and out the door of my hotel around 25 miles West of Portland for 4am and just as the sun was beginning to breach the horizon at 6.32am I was about to say my farewell to the Columbia River which was just about to wind it's way Northwards, whereas I would continue due East.  The sunrise at the East end of the Columbia Gorge got my spirits up and boosted my hopes that this was going to turn out to be one hell of a weekend.

After what seemed like forever it was time to finally stop driving due East and swing South towards Baker City, which lies in front of the Blue Mountains, which as like many things in America have been named based on how they looked to the casual observers who made their way across America in years gone past.

After passing Baker City it was time to once again head East, in the direction of the tiny villages of Pine and Halfway which lie just on the West side of the Hells Canyon National Recreation area.  As I approached the village of Pine, the green fields began to die away except for one single, solitary, lonely tree which looked completely out of place, and in the distance the huge cliffs of Hells Canyon began to dominate the skyline.

A little further along the road, it was time for a double take as I passed a roadsign, took a second or so to think if it said what I thought it did and then reverse back up the road to find out.  After around four and a half hours of driving it was funny to have the "this is Sparta!" line running through my head.

As I continued getting closer and closer to Hells Canyon the surrounding area turned more and more desert-like.

With so much desert-like area around, there was one farm which stuck out like a sore thumb due to how green its fields were, I wouldn't want to know how much money they have to spend on water to keep the place running, compared with how much easier it would be to do so 50 miles West of here.

When you find yourself driving through mile upon mile of desert, the slighest blot of colour on the landscape grabs your attention, in this case a patch of sunflowers which lined the road.  Sun, in this area comes in abundance, water is a whole different story, so as you can imagine the sunflowers no doubt were battling one another for the small amount of water on offer in the ground they sat on.

Just outside of Pine was a little information area, which for all intents and purposes was a flat section of land with a loop to drive in and out of, it did however have a few cool features worthy of a photo.

 

First off the old grain tower which is looking pretty weather beaten now.

And then the signpost, which appeared to show directions to almost every and any location within a hundred miles of it!

I brushed along the South periphery of Hells Canyon, which offered a small glimpse of what was to come later in the day and met up with Snake River which winds it's way along the canyon floor to the North after it had swung from the East where the border with Idaho lay.  The border of Oregon and Idaho is where Brownlee Dam is located, my first main stop of the day.

Here's a view of the dam from the reservoir that lies above the valley floor.

And then one of the valley floor which lies below.

 

After leaving Brownlee Dam it was time to follow the South bank of Snake River.

Then it was time to head on North through the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area itself.

The main overlook of Hells Canyon was what I can only describe as the same sort of view anyone who has visited the likes of the Grand Canyon would know - it's simply so massive that any attempt to take photographs of it seem to make it look small to the viewer.  This exact reasoning applies to the panorama below of the canyon.

To put this into perspective - to drive from where I was standing to the peaks on the far side, my navigation system estimated just shy of 8 hours of driving, yup, I don't care what you say - that means it's BIG!

As I left the Hells Canyon area from it's North end it was time to take a note of my mileage to compare it with what I had estimated previously.

Estimated mileage at this stage - 465 miles
Actual mileage at this stage - 531 miles

Hells Canyon & Glacier National Park - Hells Canyon & Glacier National Park - The Planning

After my recent roadtrip to spend sunrise through sunset at Crater Lake a month or two back, I had some crazy notions about taking it one step further for my next major trip (those single day 600 mile drives don't count anymore in my eyes).

With a 3 day weekend for Labor Day looming at the start of September I started making plans for what on paper looked to be a good 1700 mile mammoth roadtrip, which I would do over two and a half days of the extended weekend.

1700 miles in around 2 days, yup, you heard me right, where the hell was I planning to go, here's the rundown:-

Saturday AM - Drive from hotel through Columbia Gorge and onto Brownlee Dam on border with Idaho

Saturday afternoon - Explore Hells Canyon which is the deepest "gorge" in America (according to it's Wikipedia article)

Estimated mileage at this stage - 465 miles

Saturday PM - Head North through the mountains and valleys of Oregon & Washington, swing East into Idaho and then continue on into Montana in the direction of Glacier National Park

Estimated mileage at this stage - 915 miles

Sunday AM - Catch sunrise at East Glacier, spend the day exploring the National Park

Estimated mileage at this stage - 1060 miles

Sunday PM - Start the long drive back to the hotel.

Monday AM - Arrive back at the hotel

Estimated mileage at this stage - 1700 miles

 Stay tuned for part 1 of this trip coming up soon...