Day 8 - Clarkston, WA. [still under construction...]

Hell's Canyon, that is. We were up with the sun, before 0600. For some scientific reason heretofore unexplainable, the breakfast joints didn't open until 0800. What the hell is up with that, anyway? I had resolved to *not* eat anything affiliated with McDonalds under any but the most terrible circumstances, so I settled on a 22 oz coffee from the coffee stand lady, who was being romanced by perhaps the only policeman on duty at 0630 in the morning in Clarkston. We wandered back to the motel, and saddled up, heading south one more time to Asotin. 'Chollo had a call he had to make at 0700 local time, so we stopped in Asotin to get fuel and let him make his call. And it was a bad call. Work had required his presence on Monday morning. I think it was Saturday at this point, so the net of the circumstance was that 'Chollo had 860 miles to ride on the GS, then another 10 hours to drive in his truck back to Phoenix. By my calculations, that sucks. And then there were two, and Tahlequa IV was borne from that miasma. GodSpeed, 'Chollo - it's been fun. BigDog and I headed south on Snake River Road. Thankfully, the dwellings thinned, and the road turned to dirt. Now we're getting to what I like. We climbed away from the Snake River on Joseph Creek Road, which turned into Horse Creek Road, which turned into NF4690. On the first day of riding, I put the first flat spot on my 950's front wheel on Snow Flat Road. I knew this was an inevitability with the way I ride from time to time, so I was somewhat wary of keeping my tires inflated at higher pressures. The though was that'd minimize the likelihood of a pinch flat or maybe even more flat spots. It didn't help. Horse Creek Road and a few bursts to 80mph added four or five more flatspots to the front wheel. In just a few miles of riding, we were at 6,000 feet - climbing nearly a mile from the surface of the Snake River. I'd always wanted to explore Hell's Canyon - since I was just a kid, and it was beyond my expectations already - and we'd barely started. If you have the means, go there - and stay away from the paved roads and the tourists. Amazing stuff.

We routed ourselves along the most inconspicuous roads we could fin, skirting the edge of the gorge and enjoying the area. Somewhere along the line, a good deal of money was evidently privately collected, and the Zumwalt Ranch was purchased. And then it became part of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). And the roads were closed from the public. And now you can pay to visit the The Nature Conservancy at Zumwalt. They've purchased twenty odd thousand acres along the border of the Hell's Canyon Recreation Area. We didn't know it, but they bought 6,000 more acres in '06, and we found locked gates where public roads used to be. And they're patrolled by ATV's and 4WD's. Not wanting to risk an altercation with militant nature lovers, we sought another way. The sad thing was the road (Fence Line Creek Road) that we were on would have taken us part way to DugBar, but that shortcut was eliminated. So we re-routed ourselves to Imnaha on Buckhorn Road (wide enough to land a C130 on), and kept looking for sideroad/shortcuts to avoid having to ride all the way out to Enterprise and the horrors of civilization. And then we found it. Camp Creek Road. Don't forget to close the gates as you pass through. Some ATV'ers found it too, and we had a fun chat about the area, where each party was headed and where we'd been. The one individual wearing ATGATT was a teenaged girl I don't have to weep for the future any longer - she's gonna save it. We rolled down a beautiful canyon towards the Imnaha River Gorge. And into Imnaha we went. I was surprised to see a late 90's R1100GS there - a nice, clean bike. It's rider came up to Imnaha via Joseph. We went into the General Store for something to eat, and to wash down the trail dust. And get some local intel. There's not much that compares to a pint of Henry's, served up in a mason jar on a hot, dusty day. Mmmmmmm....especially when it's served up with a cheeseburger.....

Chatting with the owners of the General Store and eyeing a Forest Service map, BigDog and I decided to make a comittment. Nope, we're not getting married, but we did decide that there's too much to see here in a day. Or a month. Or a year. But recognizing that fact, we pre-emptively snagged ourself a room (huge taboo in the gaspipe guide book) in Imnaha, and elected to go exploring this place. Fuel was going to be the biggest factor in what we can do the rest of the day, and we needed to be wary of it. We did top off in Asotin, but that was at least 100 miles ago. We rode out towards Hat Point, and enjoyed a number of spectacular views of the Imnaha River Gorge as we climbed up the rim, passing through 6,000 feet in just a few miles on an 18% grade. Before we reached Hat Point, we turned north to explore a two track leading out to a place named Lords Flat. Although CS v.7 indicated the road went clear on through to the Dug Bar Road, some 25 miles later, we were assured that it didn't, unless you were riding a big horn sheep. Nevertheless, it was a very cool track crossing through zillions of blowdowns from a relatively recent burn. This track winds it's way north for about 15 miles, before fading away into something not really feasible for loaded down 950's. We retraced our tire tracks back to the main road, and headed east up to Hat Point. We climbed the lookout tower to get a better look across the gorge and the Seven Devil Range. The Seven Devil Range was named for for an old Shoshone legend of evil spirits that lived there. Devil's Canyon, ot the gorge proper, according to the legend, was dug by Coyote in one day to protect the Shoshone from the evil spirits. Or something like that, as i was told. The mountains were sort of socked in by a volatile atmosphere exhibiting a low ceiling, and although it hadn't rained (or snowed) here yet, it was cold, maybe in the mid 40's - and very windy. I could feel the creosoted timber tower rocking rythmically in the wind. At 7,000 feet, this little fella's life is short, but bright. We rolled back down to Imnaha, to get something to eat for dinner and maybe watch an old western on the VHS player. Remember those things? What a day of riding! I wondered where 'Chollo was right about then.....

We got back to the General Store, with about 50 miles of fuel left in our tanks. We had clam strips and a few Henry's for dinner, while Little Dog tore up the place and caused a few incidents. We wandered back to our room, somewhat awestruck in the fact that is was still sunny at 2100!. This fellow offered to keep an eye on things for the evening, for the price of a couple pieces of beef jerky. A deal was done. I had a couple Henry's to go with me, and watched the sun fade away over the mountains. Our plan was to watch a western, but within minutes, the BigDog faded away and started snoring. I looked thorugh the pile of old westerns, and picked out one I'd heard of, but never had seen. Villa Rides - starring Robert Mitchum, Charles Bronson, and Yul Brynner (oddly cast as Pancho Villa). It was a pretty decent flick.

Today's tale of the tape....

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