July 3, 2017. A heavenly day in Hell's Canyon!

CAMPGROUND:  Another night at Hell's Canyon RV Resort.  Continues to please..

LOCATION:  Clarkston, Washington

WEATHER:  HOT!  High 100  

Today was a splurge day....we bought tickets on a jet boat excursion down the Snake River in Hell's Canyon.  

 

The boat picked us up at our RV park..

We passed by this paddle boat which takes tourists up the Snake then the Columbia River on an 8-day excursion  to/from Portland, Oregon.  Would be fun!

 There were about 20 of us on the boat. We left at 10:00 for a 5-hour ride up and down the river, about 120 miles roundtrip.

 We passed by small towns and beautiful riverfront houses.  Once outside of town, there aren't any roads to these houses; they have to bring everything in by boat or helicopter.  They don't have electricity  

 

There are a lot of beautiful sandy beaches along the river.  People dock their boats for picnics and camping.

The boat pilot was excellent, pointing out wildlife and historical landmarks.  We saw Rocky Mountain big-horned sheep, osprey, pelicans, blue herons, bald eagles, and deer.  A high point was stopping to watch these fishermen catch this 8-foot sturgeon.  We pulled up along side them while they were taking photos.

We stopped midway for a fried chicken picnic lunch.  When we turned around to come back down the river, we were with the fast-moving current.  Then the fun began!  Ride-em cowboy!  We skimmed over Class I, II and III rapids.

Hell's Canyon is the deepest gorge in the USA.  They say you can stack 8 Niagara Falls in here.  

 

There were several raft expeditions going down the river, too.

 

We returned home about 4:00 PM.  A really fun day.  We went for our cooling-off swim, then to the Airstream which was boiling hot.  The airconditioner just can't keep up with the sun burning down.  

  Some locals had recommended this restaurant for its views.  So we checked out their patio...

We had a drink there, killing time until the sun set and things started to cool down.  

 

DINNER:  Truly leftovers.  Tomorrow we leave the camper here and drive to Boise, then fly to Bangkok.  Dinner was the last of the spaghetti with a cheese sauce using all the leftover cheese, along with some sauteed onion and garlic.  Not my finest dish but it emptied the refrigerator!