Wallowa Lake and Hells Canyon

The ladies continue to use the Park meeting room as their personal sewing room.  They won't be able to use it after Thursday as the room is booked for the weekend.

There are Bald Eagles nesting near the lakeshore and fly up the river in search of fish.  While sewing Linda saw one landing near the river in front of the meeting room.  Sheryll grabbed her camera with a telephoto lens and got a great picture.

Friday turned out to be a nice day with temperatures in the mid 60s and partially cloudy.  

There is a road from Joseph to Halfway, OR that is part of the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway.  When I was working an calling on a customer in Halfway I always wanted to take the road.  In those days it was a gravel road and as it was usually later in the day they advised against it.  Last year construction was completed and it is now completely paved and open for the season as of June 15th.  

Linda and I decided to take it after checking with the Forest Service as it is still a Forest Service road (FS 39).  We didn't go all the way to Halfway but to the Hells Canyon Overlook which was 50 miles from Wallowa Lake and our RV Park.

There is a beautiful valley at the beginning of FS 39 or more commonly know as Wallowa Mountain Road.  The road climbs from 4000' to just over 6000' at Salt Creek Summit.  On the south side there are a series of switchbacks that take you down into the Imnaha River valley and then back up to the ridge with the overlook.

In the distance is the Bitterroot-Selway Mountains in Idaho.

From the overlook you have a good view of the canyon but not the Snake River which is far below.

The wildflowers were past the peak but still beautiful.

We brought our lunch and Sadie was hoping to get some leftovers or crumbs.

There were a couple places that purple wildflowers covered the ground,  Unfortunately this wasn't the best patch.

Returning to Joseph and Wallowa Lake we stopped to take a couple pictures of the lake and mountains.

The mountain in the background is behind our campground.

Saturday may bring more rain but Sunday and beyond is forecast to be warm and clear.