The Deepest River Canyon in North America...

...is Hell's Canyon.

Did you know that? I would have thought that the Grand Canyon had that honor, but no, Hell's Canyon is actually deeper. Yesterday we spent the day doing lots of driving to go explore this canyon. The canyon borders Oregon and Idaho (in fact we had to drive in and out of each state numerous times) and we ended up driving almost 8 hours total for the day! What a long day!

The boys were a little worried about going to a place called Hell's Canyon. They said they would rather go to Heaven's Canyon! Although I wasn't crazy about the name, I told them it's just a name some person gave it; it's still God's creation!

We took lots of pictures (a few are shown below), but I really don't think the pictures do justice to the place. The cliffs where so high, so majestic, and quite ominous looking. It was such an incredible sight and we were awed by the majesty of these high cliffs. Here's a little picture synopsis of our day:

BUGS! MORE BUGS!

At one point during our drive, we noticed something moving on the street. Actually, there were many things moving. The road was crawling with huge bugs!! These bugs were everywhere covering the street; many were smashed, some were jumping, lots were walking across the street, all in the same direction. They were huge, and creepy, and it was so eerie to see so many all around us. We slowed to a stop and just watched and wondered. Later we found out they were Mormon Crickets, and they often move in swarms and at only certain times of the year. On the way back, when we saw them again, we tried to get pictures. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but these guys are big. Most were probably around 3 inches long and very wide.

We stopped at this rest stop on the way there and the way back when everyone was feeling sick from the windy roads (even me, who was driving!) It was along the Snake River, right before Brownlee Dam, which created this reservoir. We had lots of fun skipping rocks!

Hubby and I spent time showing the kids how to skip rocks and play fun rock throwing games (even Rose enjoyed throwing rocks).

Notice the amazing rock throwing form of hubby!

Rose and I finally decided we had enough of rocks and we went to hang out in the shade. She then proceeded to pose for me while I played with the settings on my camera. I got many cute shots of her. Below is one of them.

As we continued on our way through the canyon, the nice sloping hills started to become steeper and more rocky and cliff-like.

After navigating lots of curvy roads along the canyon walls and next to the Snake River, we approached Hell's Canyon Dam and even steeper cliffs; just past the dam was the end of the road, the farthest we could go into the canyon by car. It was rather ominous as we approached this area. The cliffs were so STEEP and very HIGH. There were random rocks scattered along the road, signs of previous rocks falling from the sheer cliffs. There were big black clouds in front of us, peeking between the canyon walls. There were no other cars anywhere to be seen in either direction (and hadn't been for quite a while), and there were posted signs that warned us that water levels could change at any time; sirens and flashing lights would go off when this happens.... What? I was wondering what I was supposed to do with that information? The kids were quiet and said this looked scary. We all observed with curiosity and awe. What an adventure!

We finally made it past the dam and to the small visitor's center at the end of the road. There were no other visitors there- they were all on boat expeditions that had left that morning. Just as we arrived, it began to rain (something that was quite rare this time of year) and we heard loud roars of thunder. Then it began to pour!! We hung out in the visitor center until the storm passed.

There was a small cave near the center that the boys explored.

These are views from the center. Again, the pictures don't really show how amazing these cliffs really were.

On our way back, we stopped at another small rest stop and played around for a while. This warning was all over the place...

Although we spent much more time driving than actually exploring, the spectacle was worth the drive. It's not very often you can see a place like that!