MSGID: 1:317/3 63ac8443   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    EPOD - a service of USRA   
      
   The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes   
   and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and   
   archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory   
   captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The   
   community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and   
   relevant links.   
      
      
    The Snake River’s Formidable Hells Canyon   
      
      December 28, 2022   
      
       RayB_HellsCyn245c_07oct22 (003)   
      
       RayB_HellsCyn221c_07oct22 (003)   
      
      Photographer:  Ray Boren   
      
      Summary Author:  Ray Boren   
      
      The  Snake River winds its way 1,036 miles (1,667 kilometers) from   
      Yellowstone National Park through western North America before it joins   
      the  Columbia River, and their shared waters roll on to the Pacific   
      Ocean. Along the way, the river’s course forms the wavy border between   
      the U.S. states of Idaho and Oregon, where it is a centerpiece of the   
       Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Hells Canyon Wilderness.   
      
      As illustrated in the first photograph, taken on Oct. 7, 2022, from   
      near the Hells Canyon Overlook on the river’s west side in Oregon, the   
      rumpled landscape plunges from the heights of the  Seven Devils   
      Mountains in Idaho. High flatlands give way to rocky slopes incised by   
      side canyons and ravines. A persistent forest fire is smudging the   
      horizon to the right, in Idaho. A second image, taken the same day from   
      the west shore, features a placid stretch of the Snake River below   
      Oxbow, Oregon, near where the  Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon dams   
      impound elongated reservoirs for hydroelectric generation.   
      
      The chasm is considered the deepest gorge in North America, dropping   
      8,000 feet (2438 meters) when measured from  Idaho’s He Devil Peak   
      (9,393 feet/2863 m.) to the river. The northbound Snake is not quite   
      visible from this viewpoint. The area is roadless between Hells Canyon   
      Dam on the south and Hells Gate to the north, near Clarkston,   
      Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho — twin cities named for William Clark   
      and Meriwether Lewis, leaders of the exploratory  Lewis and Clark   
      Expedition of 1804-1806.   
      
      Native tribes have occupied the region for thousands of years, but the   
      long, steep-sided Snake River gorge hampered and sometimes thwarted   
      early explorers, trappers and westbound pioneers. Nevertheless, the   
      name “Hells Canyon” apparently was not applied to the area until late   
      in the 19th century. The terrain, however, definitely had “hellish”   
      beginnings. The oldest rocks are evidence of underwater volcanoes added   
      to the North American continent by tectonic forces  about 150   
      million years ago. Additional volcanism, as recently as 6 million years   
      ago, slathered the landscape during a series of extensive  basaltic   
      lava flows.   
      
      
      Hells Canyon, Idaho Coordinates: 45.371389, -116.638333   
      
      
   Related EPODs   
      
       The Snake River’s Formidable Hells Canyon  Joggins Fossil Cliffs   
       Salt Pans of Torre Nubia  Glacial Striations in Victoria,   
      British Columbia  Below the Wasatch Range’s Storm Mountain   
       Beautiful Alpine Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Range   
       More...   
      
   Geography Links   
      
        *  Atlapedia Online   
        *  CountryReports   
        *  GPS Visualizer   
        *  Holt Rinehart Winston World Atlas   
        *  Mapping Our World   
        *  Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection   
        *  Types of Land   
        *  World Mapper   
      
   -   
      Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the  Universities   
      Space Research Association.   
      
   https://epod.usra.edu   
       
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