Gold and The Hell’s Canyon Overlook
Amongst its other fine attributes, such as potatoes, Idaho is also known as the Gem State, because it is so rich in gems and minerals. My research has indicated that the Imnaha River has been a source of placer gold over the years, so this morning Roy and I set out to pan the gravel at river edge for gold. We managed about an hour before realising that it was time for coffee. However I did manage to pan several samples of gold like substance. Very small, almost gold leaf, perhaps a couple of mm’s across. Not enough to give up camping and buy a yacht, but still a positive result. Gold is also indicated along the Lochsa River, in the Clearwater area that we will visit after Lewiston, so I will give it another go there as well. There are also a number of gems such as opal and garnet that can be found, but they are not easy to recognise without getting quite specialist about it, however did pick up a few pretty stones from the river bed as well.
After morning coffee we packed our picnic and set off up the road to find the Hell’s Canyon Overlook. We found it and stood for some time just taking in the breath-taking views, before having our picnic lunch. Although the views were excellent and we could see the Snake River Valley the overlook only gives access to the southern (upper) end of Hells Canyon, so was somewhat disappointing from that aspect. Also visibility was quite poor now due to the smoke from wild fires, which, from this excellent view point, we could now see away to the North East of us. Although we are not in any danger here the general haze is not good for tourism.
On returning to the campground we again had a campfire and sat around it eating more smores, I even broke out the mandolin for a few tunes.
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