About Hells Canyon

The very name, Hells Canyon, inspires awe and trepidation. Here the Snake River plunges through North America's deepest gorge. The Seven Devils alpine peaks tower over the river's rapids, a mile and a half below.  Hells Canyon is half again as deep as the Grande Canyon. Breathtaking beauty, abundant wildlife, rare flora and fauna, and exhilarating rapids are all part of the Hells Canyon Adventure.

Eons of geologic violence have lifted mountains and carved a magnificent canyon.  These processes are still at work ever changing the Canyon scenery. The result is sweeping vistas, precipitous cliffs and an unusual variety of vegetative life zones in close proximity to each other. You will see the change from sub-alpine in the upper elevations to semi-desert at river level.

The resulting variety of vegetation and wildlife and seemingly endless supply of fish, coupled with the mild river level climate attracted large numbers of aboriginal people. They left evidence of their passing in the form of rock art and other cultural features dating back at least 7,200 years and probably much longer. In historic times the canyon attracted European people for the same reasons. We see the remnants of their homesteads, mines and ranches scattered along the river, testimony to their misplaced optimism.

In 1975 Congress designated the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, preserving the canyon and its free-flowing river for future generations of Americans. Plans to drown its rapids behind more dams were forever thwarted. Today the Wild and Scenic Snake River continues to race among the rocks of its many rapids and flow gently through placid pools in the shadows of canyon walls. Fish still abound in its clear waters, a variety of species found nowhere else in the west—salmon, steelhead, rainbow trout, small mouth bass, catfish and giant white sturgeon.

Snake River Adventures offers an unparalleled variety of Hells Canyon experiences. You can take half-day jet boat trips into some beautiful canyon country or one of the longer full-day trips into the heart of the canyon. You'll be experiencing some of its largest rapids which lay beyond where most of the other tour boats turn around.

All of our jet boat trips feature the canyon's prehistory, history, geology, flora and fauna in addition to its beauty and exciting whitewater. You can stay at our modern lodge, which is the only privately owned lodge on the Wild Snake River in Hells Canyon. For the adventurous you can combine jet boating with a white water float trip. Fishing in the canyon is also an experience unlike any other. In the fall and early winter you can combine fishing with hunting.