Poison Gorge was the destination Rick had in mind for Saturdays photo shoot. Rick arrived at 8:30 in the morning, it was cold and windy. A storm had just dumped some snow on the hills and was exiting stage east. To the hills we are heading, in search of hoodoo's and faces amongst the rocks. As we got out of Kuna a little ways, we could see the Owyhees, they were snow covered, and were shining white with golden highlights, very pretty.
We found a good place to park off the road where the gorge begins, this was going to be our entry point. The area started out pretty flat, with a small narrow dry stream, but 50 yards further down, the rocks got taller and the more narrow it became. The Next corner I turned, the stream bed had narrowed to only 10 fee wide or so and there would have been a water fall had there been flowing water, this became my first shot.
After this point the going got rougher, to the point we had to make a decisions to turn around or continue. Before us was a narrow water fall that was about 8 feet tall very narrow with what looked to be a rough way back up if we had to climb back up. We could not see past the area very easily, to see if we wanted to continue. I decided to climb down and see if there was any reason to continue. Once I got down, I walked downstream a little bit and decided it was worth climbing down.
We climbed over several other big rock falls and through thickets of rose bushes. Around one corner, we found a huge hand made or rock, 4 fingers and a thumb. It is like the hand of a giant rock creature reaching up to find the warmth of the sun on a cold snowy morning.
After clambering down the last fall, towering before us was a big hoodoo, that split in two a with big hole showing the sky. Just as I looked up, a beautiful speckled black and white Owl flew out of a crevasse and startled me a bit. Around the next corner two different streams come together and the sheer rock walls opened up to reveal our way out of the canyon.
I would have to guess the side of the mountain was a good 30% incline and several hundred feet high, but it was the way out without climbing a sheer rock face. So…. off we went, getting higher and higher resting several times on the way up. The view as we went climbed higher gave way from a canyon to a flat hillside over looking the treasure valley, giving me the opportunity for one last shot, now to find the truck.
Thanks for the hike Rick.
Until next time.
God Bless
