Hell’s Canyon & Clearwater Country

September is the time for signs of autumn to begin to show. The really hot days of summer begin to change into cooler, more pleasant ones. Some of the tree leaves begin to show signs of color. Yellow is one of my favorites. Big-leaf maples, aspens, willows, cottonwoods, and especially mulberries turn to gold.

On this day, when part of our group traveled by jet-boat into Hell’s Canyon, we were aware of the impact of some of the changes. Range fires of this last summer have turned the color of annual grasses from blonde to black. Soon the autumn rains will come and the slopes will become green again, but for now the deer, mountain sheep, and other wildlife have moved to the unburned parts of the canyon. When those tender young green grasses return, so will they. The cycles of the seasons go on. Dark clouds of winter bring snow to the high country. Spring finds wildflowers in rich abundance.
Summer is the time for Hell’s Canyon to justify its name. When the leaves turn gold along the banks of the river, it becomes a special time.

So too, on the Clearwater River, where part of us traveled by motor coach, we watched autumn come as well. We visited several campsites where Lewis and Clark stayed on their voyage of discovery in 1805-06. What a special feeling to stand where they stood and to read from their journals. On this day we were so close to the actual season of their westward journey that the same berries were ripe, the same shrubs were showing their flaming colors. The feelings of a sense of place where history occurred were very strong. Here too, the trees along the river were beginning to turn to red, green, and gold.