Day 9 - Imnaha, OR. [under construction...]

We'd decided the best thing to do was to get up early, and make a run out on the pavement to Joseph to get a load of gas and food. It was pretty chilly in the early morning hours, but as we passed over the hills and started the drop into Joseph, the view of the mountains was just cool. We found a nice looking joint to get some breakfast, and parked the 950's right out front, Harley style. When we were just about done eating, a couple sat at the table next to us, obviously riders. Turns out they owned the Bend, OR Ducati shop, and were on a weekend run adventuring on some very, very nicely set up Multistradas. They were really nice folks, and offered to get us the rubber we'd soon need for our rear tires. We really didn't want to head further west, but the thoughts of new rubber and riding the Steens was sounding pretty nice....I got a card, and they also shared a good load of local riding info. Have fun, and maybe we'll see y'all in a couple days? We fueled up, and headed back towards Imnaha. Dug Bar was on our minds. We chatted with these two fellas for a bit - they were laying out a dualsport ride! They headed south, and we headed north - to Dug Bar! A 25 mile run, or was it a 35 mile run (?), each way of single lane dirt road. Sounds good to me.

In the latter years of the 19th century, Chief Joseph, persued by the US Cavalry, crossed the Snake River and out of the region at Dug Bar, never to return again to the area. There's a little bit of traffic on the southern end of the Dug Bar Road, presumably due to the campground about halfway out. Despite that, the road is relatively easy, with occasional rougher spots. No worries. Once past the campground, the road gets narrower, steeper, looser, and a bit tougher to negotiate. Still, no worries. The last few miles climb steeply away from the Imnaha River, up and over a ridgeline before dropping back to the Snake River - a few thousand foot climb up, and then back down. This is where it takes a little care in getting by, as the road surface is loose and marbly (is that a word?), and a wreck here would not be an easy thing to remediate. But, oh - the scenery! Once again, the road reminds me of a typical Mexican road. And we didn't see a single soul since we passed through the campground fifteen miles back. The isolation and start contrast in the geography is mesmerizing to me. Somewhere, perhaps a thousand feet below, I can see BigDog continuing to climb, so content he's not far off, I drop off on the north face and begin my descent into Dug Bar. Almost there! This would have been a great place to camp, but sadly the timing is off - we have a lot of daylight to burn. Another sad thing is the amount of trash left behind by others. I kill the motor, and shed some gear and relax. Silence, except for the sound of the river. It was fantastic to be the only one there. I guess I need a shave after nine days on the road, eh?

There are few places on the east coast of the USA where a fella like I can feel like I'm a long, long way from anywhere. It's a feeling I strive to get when I travel - that "Omega Man" feeling, except without the blood sucking vampire thing going on. You all that know what I'm referring to need no more explanation, but others new to adventuring might. Desolate, raw, empty, barren, wild, lonely, stark, unforgiving, austere.....call it what you will, but it's bliss to me. I've had friends and family tell me that these landscapes are ugly and sad. Unfathomable to me, as I enjoy it. Immensely. I crave it. BigDog rolled in, and we spent a half hour more here - about 1/4 mile apart, quietly enjoying the great wide open. And trying to soak a little of this into my soul for later. We are truly lucky SOB's to be able to be here right now. I walked a way south - not far since I was in my SG10's, but away. I could spend a week here, but that won't work. BigDog and I regroup, and fire up the 950's, and climb out of Dug Bar. I don't know if I'll ever be back here, but a little bit of this rugged penninsula left with me in the form of a mind full of images I'll never forget. As I mentioned, I'd wanted to visit here since I was a child, and now I've seen a small cross section of what it is about. It was worth all those years of expectations. We climbed out. And we wound our way back to Imnaha, Mountain goats inspecting our progress. We progressed back over the mountain ridge into the Imnaha River Valley, and people, and made our way south. And passed thorugh Imnaha one last time. I enjoyed this place, and am glad I spent an extra day here. We need to make our way across the Snake River and begin heading south and east, our destination unknown.

As we dropped back to the Imnaha River, it felt like we were coming back to Earth from a planet far away. We rode on through Imnaha, and headed south on Upper Imnaha Road. That road dead ended on Wallowa Mountain Loop, which is paved. After just a couple miles of this, I spotted a road to the east that looked promising, right at the edge of the gorge. It was NF530. And that road became Hess Rd, which plunged over the edge into the abyss. We dropped nearly 4,000 feet in just a few miles. It was fantastic, and gave us a spectacular view of the Kleinschmidt Grade across the canyon. This was a road definitely worth doing, and I might have skipped over it if I'd planned a route at home in front of the PC. When we reached the river, the GPS directed me across the river on a 'bridge'. Here's where the bridge was alledged to be. It obviously didn't exist in the version of history. We headed south along what appeared to be an old railroad grade, and got fuel a couple miles away. We retraced our tracks, and crossed the Snake River at Oxbow, and headed toward the climb out of the canyon at using the Kleinschmidt Rd. We were more of less heading for Council at this point, as it was getting later on in the afternoon. Seems like they try to discourage those more cavalier in driving skills from going this way. And up we went.

The ride up the Kleinschmidt is as pretty as anything you could expect, especially in the warm colors of the late day sun. A look back west across the river, and one could see the Hess Road.... As I neared the crest of the Kleinschmidt, I knew that was the end of Hell's Canyon for me. I need to get back to ID/NV/OR soon. We'd seen a lot of beautiful countryside today - it wears a fella down As I plunged into the forest, I saw a HUGE brown bear. Several hundred pounds. I was a little slow on the camera and missed the image, as it didn't run away when we came into each other's view. We sort of locked stares for an instant - and I really wasn't sure what a 500lb orange and blue bike with a 235lb yellow and black rider looks like to a bear. Dinner? A worthy opponent? Something to be avoided? Luckily, it chose door number three, and for a huge animal, I was amazed how swiftly and quietly is slipped away into the forest and the late afternoon shadows. *If* it wanted at you, one would think there's very little you could do to elude it. I sure was glad I wasn't wearing a day old salmon around my neck, that's for sure. It was another 30 odd miles into Council, and we arrived there at about 2000 - and found another cheapy motel. There was nothing open to get anything to eat in town, so I got a few beers and BigDog had a candy bar for dinner. We watched a couple hours of the exciting exploits of Bear Grylls on the idiot box, while perusing the Idaho paper maps for some ideas where to go next.

Today's ride....somewhere around 300 miles again.

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