A while back, I tried to backpack to Hell Canyon (in Hells Canyon Wilderness Area), but I didn’t make it. This weekend, I packed up my backpack (which, this time, weighed 40 pounds), and I decided to try again. I made it to the canyon, but … not all the way through. Just getting there took all the time and strength that I had that day. This place is hard to reach! No trails or roads come here, and Garfias Wash (the wash that runs through the canyon), the only way to get here, is rugged and difficult terrain. The place is beautiful! Look at the pictures here, and wonder along with me, how anyone could call this “hell”.
On the way back, I had a problem. The following map with a track on it was my trip from where I parked, at the tailhead (the green pin), to as far as I made it (the red pin). The trail only goes about half way. After that, you are on your own. Note that the total distance traveled was 6.67 miles (keep reading).
The following track shows my hike from as far as I made it (the green pin), to where I slept (the red pin). Perhaps not quite halfway back to where I could pick up the trail again. Notice the distance of 1.22 miles. This means that after I’ve had a fairly good night’s sleep, I should have about 5.45 miles back to my truck.
The following track shows how I actually got back to my truck (the red pin). What was supposed to be a 5.45 mile hike turned into a 9.37 mile hike! Making it back to the trail was easy (well, from a navigational perspective), but the trail has a section that is difficult to follow (in spite of the many cairns). I got off trail twice, each time backtracking to the last cairn. The third time I got off trail, I got really off. This normally isn’t a problem, because at that point, I just use my map and compass to keep going until I find either the trail or my truck. This time, my compass fell out of my bag, and was long gone. I had my Garmin GPS with me, but that was only a slight help (less than you’d think). I remembered on the way out, that I had seen, off in the distance, a building with a trailer parked next to it. Where there is a trailer, there is a driveway. Out here, there’s only one place that driveway could end up, Castle Hot Springs Road. That’s the only main road that goes through these parts. So, I found the building and trailer (in short order), followed the private drive to Castle Hot Springs Road, and that road back to my truck. It was a round about way, but it was a way that guaranteed that I wouldn’t get lost.
LESSON: It is really good to be able to solve problems in wilderness, but out here, solutions always come at a price.
