17.5 miles of hiking • 2250' elevation gain • 2 nights
Have wanted to check out the Seven Devils for a while. Seen them three times now from the top of Wallowa Peaks, jutting out over there in Idaho. For the record had never visited or seen Hells Canyon but heard aplenty bout it.
Friday: Left PDX late afternoon. Arrive in Riggins at Salmon River Inn ($50?) around midnight? Got to drive through a recently started forest fire, very smoky (smelled good!) and seeing patches of fire and glowing all around us.
Sat AM: leisurely, but not too leisurely, made our way up to Windy Saddle. Nice spot. You could get up here in the night and definitely car camp, just make sure you don't set camp in a cow patty or in horse manure!
Enjoyably lead our way over towards Bernard Lake. There was a primo spot at upper Bernard but someone was at it. We continued on to the lookout, curious if we could snag a spot somewhere around there.
Lookout views were incredible. Lookout itself is in shambles and semi-condemned. If you need antihistamine that expired in 1980, it's there for you. The old clipboards with fire fighting logs and guest logs from the early 80's are also in there. Hells Canyon looks utterly incredible from here. Can see the Wallowas across the way. We spend an hour or so here eating and enjoying ourselves before pitching a spot in the burnout ghost forest about 100ft below the lookout. As sun sets, I can see the lights of Joseph and imagine a terminal gravity brew... if only this darn hells canyon wasn't in front of me!
Sunday: Great weather, kinda dusty. Hang out at the lookout a bit more in the AM, then make our way in a round-a-bout loop fashion down to the trail that goes to Sheep Lake. Run into some more people. The lakes on the way to Sheep look cool, and I'm sure you could find some very private secluded, plenty of wood, near the lake spots at some of these if you're willing to go off trail for 20 minutes.
Camp at SW corner of Sheep Lake. Nobody around us but other people are at the lake. Around evening while I'm fishing and swimming a group of 12+ adults and lots of kids come through making tons of noise and having barking dogs. I love people getting out but at least keep your kids from screaming constantly--perhaps adhere to the 12 person wilderness limits? I forgot, we're in Idaho. Though I found a band-aid from one of them... gross!
Fished but caught none. These are some wise trout--the only way they could grow to be so large--looked like 16-20 inchers the lot of them!
Could see fires across the lake once it was dark. Great stars out.
Monday: Up early and get moving to make it over the 'scramble' from Sheep Lake back to Windy Saddle via Mirror Lake. Guess this use to be an old trail but the FS didn't want to deal with it's sketch nature so it is no more official. It is an awesome shortcut into the heart of Sheep Lake and all the Devil peaks for a climbing/scrambling trip. The scramble itself is not particularly sketchy, Bucket, who has a chronic and irrational fear of heights actually didn't really blink an eye at this--maybe she was in the zone but that is an accurate barometer in my eyes.
Great burgers down in Riggins. It is very obvious that there is a conservative bent to this part of Idaho at least from the billboards and general attitudes. Moreso than around the Wallowas, it seemed to me. Beautiful drive back home.
