Hell’s Canyon (Sep 2025)

Hell’s Canyon Overlook

We have tried to visit Hell’s Canyon and the Snake River area for more than twelve years, since before we moved to Oregon. Something has always come up and caused us to cancel plans time and again, but this past month, September of 2025, we finally made it. The round trip was approximately 1,300 miles, with a number of stops and overnights along the way. We headed north with nights in Bend and The Dalles. We then headed east with a stay in Pendleton and three nights in Joseph. From Joseph we headed south to Halfway, which was our base for the next two nights while we explored the Snake River. Because of forest fires, we changed our plans and instead of heading back west to Prineville near Bend, we headed further south for a last night in Lakeview before returning home the final day.

We joined up with the Hell’s Canyon Scenic Byway in La Grande and followed it all the way east through Elgin, Minam, Wallowa, Enterprise and Joseph. Just east of Joseph we took the beautiful Wallowa Mountain section of the Byway south to Halfway and then finished up with the final section west to Baker City.