Day 23 – The Wenaha River

September 7 – Trail of the blue mountainsNe oregon

Hoo doo

I saw my friends from Bowhunter once again this morning while packed. We wish ourselves well and then separate. He was a couple of miles to the Hoo Doo path, which would follow the Wenaha River. I lost the account of the curves that are sighted along the way. I was in good shape, and soon I was in the river.

The Wenaha river cannon.

I’m glad the river was low because it would have been a challenging Ford if it were much taller and louder. Once I crossed, I took a long break, swimming in the river, drinking as much water as I needed and enjoying the feeling of being in the desert.

One of my goals for this trip was to swim in the largest number of main rivers of Ne Oregon (or their holders) as possible). So far I had swimming in the Malheur, Burnt, John Day, Umatilla and Walla Walla rivers. And now the Wenaha.

The Wenaha river of the Hoo Doo path.

The Wenaha

Once you are in the Wenaha, the elevation is 2,000 feet and, of course, it falls while walking through the cannon. Troy, where I was running, is 1,480 feet. It had not been so hot higher, but the heat was being built while going down the cannon. In addition, the path was on the sunny side of the cannon and was very exposed due to past forest fires.

The path was quite covered in some places, and reminded me how many thorny plants grow in this part of the world. And as most river trails along the BMT, the Wenaha river is generally not accessible from the path. In addition, there were some rock landslides here that had cleaned the path of the slope. Crossing them was not too complicated, except that the exposure was high if one slid. There was also a lot of fresh bear around here, but there are no bears. They were being intelligent and stayed out of midday heat.

Wenaha’s crossing had a deep knee even at this dry era of the year.

My goal was to get to Wenaha Bar & Grill before they close at 5 pm. A hamburger sounded very well. In retrospect, I would like to have not focused on that. I could have enjoyed the Wenaha more and not rush along the path. In a moment, however, I was so hot that I had to stop and take another soak in the river. He felt very good and helped me restore my attitude. If I did, great. If not, don’t worry.

The Wenaha river path is not in the best way, so suddenly there is this magnificent bridge on a side stream.

Troy

I felt quite sure that I had been in Troy before or at least I had driven it. But when I got there I didn’t recognize it at all. Bar & Grill Wenaha was fine. It is not the friendliest place. I should have looked at them as someone who supported the return of the wolves to Oregon, which was in fact. The signals around the restaurant made it clear that it was the minority view there. However, Coca -Cold, the cold waters and the fish they gave in the nail.

Tonight’s challenge would be to find a camping place. In a few miles, the path rose a road and was along private lands during the next 15 miles. I wanted to approach that point as much as possible while I was still in public lands.

The confluence of the Wenaha and Grande Ronde rivers in Troy.

He had explored that there was a BLM land along the path that the BMT follows Troy. But what I had not noticed on the map was the steep slope of that land. Throughout the Rio Grande Ronde there is a strip of riverside vegetation quite dense but narrow, then the gravel road, then steep pending that will be launched from the road. That does not leave many options for camping. There was a camp in the data sheet, but it had a signal that only said the use of the day.

After a search, I found a place large enough for my store in the riverside area of ​​the Grande Ronde. I wasn’t totally sure of being in public lands, so I didn’t get until it was getting out and then planned before the light. There was a storm of a storm that night, with a ray creating a strobe effect on the sky. However, it did not rain or lightning in the cannon. He didn’t seem to be cooling tonight, even after dusk.

Elevation tracker

Day 23: 2,214 ‘

Total: 61,929 ‘

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