Saturday, September 8, 2007

Hat Point Descent and McGraw Lookout

The return trip from Hat Point to Imnaha was via the same road we'd come up on, so there weren't too many surprises on the way back down. That said, the last seven miles to Imnaha were known to be especially trying, based on our experience coming up the hill. The first warning sign was tame:

First warning.

The second sign, however, was especially un-nerving:

Uh... this is gonna be fun!!!

The third sign takes the cake, though. There were several of these along the way; subtle reminders of people who had come before and not paid attention. I wasn't taking any chances on this road. It was 4L and low gears for most of the way down the hill.

Just in case you weren't paying attention before...

After safely making it back to Imnaha and getting back onto paved roads, we discovered we still had enough time to try to make it to McGraw Lookout before our daylight disappeared over the Wallowas. McGraw Lookout is the more traveled viewpoint of Hell's Canyon -- the roads are paved all the way there! Being the popular destination, the view was of course nowhere near as awesome as it was at Hat Point. See inside for pictures.

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