Hells Canyon Trip Report ... sssshhh ... don't tell anyone.

In 2000, just as I was learning how to climb, I took a backpacking trip to Hells Canyon with Kristin and my friends Eli and Jason. Jason had just moved to Portland from New York state, and Eli flew in from New York City for a visit. I had lived in Portland for only a little more than a year. We drove in from the Oregon side, up and over endless steep hills of sagebrush and eventually down into the canyon and the banks of the Snake River. That trip left a strong impression on us west coast newbies, surrounded by what felt at the time like a frontier wilderness. I recently dug out some old photos, and we look like tiny little creatures in a vast foreign landscape. At the time we felt the same way and couldn't believe we had stumbled upon such a little talked about natural wonder.

From Hells Canyon 2010

During that trip, or in preparation for the trip, I can't honestly remember, we heard rumors of climbing in Hells Canyon. From where we were on the Oregon side, we couldn't conceive of where the climbing was. We barely saw any rock, and what we did see looked like complete choss. I remember thinking that a climbing area in this majestic setting would be an amazing place to explore, and I filed it away deep in my memory hoping one day I would come back and check it out.

Well that time finally arrived during Memorial Day weekend. Kristin and I were desperate to get in a long weekend of cragging, and we wanted to stay far away from the rain and the crowds. Hells Canyon had come up in a recent conversation with a climber friend, and she had emailed me a couple of links to some bare bones information on the web - just enough to get us to the crag but not enough to ruin the sense of exploration. I pitched the idea to Nate and Steph and pretty soon had a trip arranged 10+ years after my first visit - this time with a rope and draws. Oh yeah!

We rolled in late on Friday night after a long post-work drive from Portland, groped our way around in the dark until we found the free campground and then pitched a tent in a field lit by the headlights of our car. We could sense the canyon around us, but we couldn't see a thing. As I drifted off to sleep, all I could think about was waking up and taking a look around at where we were.

Morning came and we were not disappointed. We awoke in the middle of a grass field, sandwiched between the Snake River and what looked like endless walls of limestone.

From Hells Canyon 2010

From Hells Canyon 2010

We had collected just enough information over the web to get us to the crags. We had heard that the South Face of the Flatiron had the longest routes and amazing views of the canyon, so Nate and I decided we would head there first thing. Good choice!

From Hells Canyon 2010

From Hells Canyon 2010

From Hells Canyon 2010

Other than the location of the crag, we really had no other information on the routes or any of the climbs. A 25 minute walk up the hillside landed us at the base of a 3-400 ft. limestone wall overlooking the canyon.

From Hells Canyon 2010

We searched around for lines of bolts and eventually found lots of them. We started on something that looked relatively clean and moderate, with a short roof crux right at the end - probably a move of 5.10 but who knows.

From Hells Canyon 2010

After that, we climbed several more moderate lines on good rock with amazing views. No rain - no other people - no guide book - no clue what we were on. Perfect.

From Hells Canyon 2010

We climbed several lines on the right side of the Flatiron. All of them were in the 5.9 to 5.10 range - pretty good rock although not very heavily traveled - but excellent climbing in a very cool setting.

From Hells Canyon 2010

Later in the day, we worked our way further to the left along the base of the wall out towards the nose.

From Hells Canyon 2010

Here's some shots of Nate working a route.

From Hells Canyon 2010

From Hells Canyon 2010

From Hells Canyon 2010

The next day, we explored the next drainage over - Dry Gulch - headed for a distinct looking line we could see from the parking lot. A gold wall stood out on the far side of the valley, with a series of three roofs cutting across the middle. I had been staring at it since we woke up that first morning, wondering what it would look like up close, how big the roofs were, whether there were holds to use. That first night, we met up with some folks from Portland in the camground, and they told us there was a stellar line that cut straight through the roofs, so Kristin and I set out to find it on Sunday morning.

After a circuitous 30 minute hike up hill past several other interesting looking crags, we finally found what we were looking for.

From Hells Canyon 2010

The line goes straight up between the left and center roof. The wall itself lies high above the valley, and the rough trail to the base traverses a steep hillside. One or two small trees provide a tiny flat spot to drop a pack and rack up. For the first climb of the morning, it was a bit intimidating.

I should have gotten a couple more photos, but I was too focused on the climb. It looked like it would be pretty straightforward up to the roofs, but the bottom was steep and tricky on down sloping and fractured rock. The roof section itself was amazing, with tricky climbing that had your feet on tiny ledges just over the two roofs - very airy. Once over the roofs, there was another tricky crux section just before the anchors. Whew! Exciting. I got spanked on the first go, then TR'd it clean before moving on to check something else out. Someone told us it was .10+ to the first anchors where I lowered off - seems about right. There is also a second pitch that looked cool.

From there, we pounded further uphill to find Nate and Steph up near an unmistakable hanging arch that dominated the Dry Gulch drainage. Up near the arch we found a couple of more cool looking lines and excellent views of the valley.

From Hells Canyon 2010

From Hells Canyon 2010

Monday, we woke up to some wet weather but decided to climb anyway. We went to Two Face Wall, which was only a few minutes up the trail from the campground. I had climbed a line on that wall at the end of the day on Saturday, enjoying a lower angle slab down low topped by a steep featured wall with good rock. We got in a pitch or two before it started raining pretty good and then packed it in.

From Hells Canyon 2010

Hells Canyon is definitely special, in part because there is no guidebook and very little information posted on line. Everyone we met was willing to offer helpful beta once we were there, but we still had to pretty much walk up and eyeball the routes without knowing where they went or how hard they were. Several folks told us it was more crowded then they had ever seen it, but we barely saw anyone on the walls the entire weekend.

I'm torn about even posting a trip report, because this place is such a well kept secret. The locals, however, seem to be letting information slowly leak out to the public. My advice - find your way to the campground, eyeball the coolest looking line you can see and go looking for bolts. You won't be disappointed. If you need more beta then that, Nate posted a bit on his blog. You'll also find a bit of information on rockclimbing.com and mountainproject. And if you drop me a line, I'll tell you what I can.

From Hells Canyon 2010