Hells Canyon running tour
guided multi-day run
Near White Bird, ID (but it's not really near anywhere!)
March 2018 -- pending Permit approval
General Description:
The Wild and Scenic Snake River flows through Hells Canyon National Scenic Area and separates Eastern Oregon from Western Idaho. It's a remote, deep and beautiful canyon with a spectacular ~30 mile trail that follows the river. We'll have a boat take us up river and drop us off and then we'll run out over the course of a few days. Folks who want to do more than 30 miles can add side trails each day if they want. We'll camp each night at amazing spots along the river and our staff will cook all the meals, beverages included.
The boat will also transport all the camping gear and other supplies so each day you won't need to carry anything more than a small running pack. And speaking of the boat, the ride up the river alone is worth the price of admission and folks come from all over the world to see this place!
This is not a race or competitive event and will be limited to no more than 20 people. This will be a fun, relaxed, multi-day travelling Rainshadow Running style adventure! We expect this to sell out so if we have enough demand, which is quite possible, we might offer more than one trip.
We had hoped to offer 100k, 50m and 50k races here but the land mangement plan for the area/Snake River Trail will not allow for competitive or large events. Oh well! This will be really fun too! If you're deadset on racing check out our other races. We do have some other new and exciting races including a new 100k and 50m on the southern Oregon Coast!
The Route:
Day 1: Granite Creek to Sheep Canyon 10.8 miles 2,362ft of gain, 2,444ft of loss.
Day 2: Sheep Canyon to Kirkwood Ranch 9.9 miles 2959ft of gain, 3,081ft of loss.
Day 3: Kirkwood Ranch to Lower Pittsburgh Landing 7.2 miles 1,949ft of gain, 2011ft of loss.
CLICK HERE FOR MAPS AND PROFILES
The Wild and Scenic Snake River flows through Hells Canyon National Scenic Area and separates Eastern Oregon from Western Idaho. It's a remote, deep and beautiful canyon with a spectacular ~30 mile trail that follows the river. We'll have a boat take us up river and drop us off and then we'll run out over the course of a few days. Folks who want to do more than 30 miles can add side trails each day if they want. We'll camp each night at amazing spots along the river and our staff will cook all the meals, beverages included.
The boat will also transport all the camping gear and other supplies so each day you won't need to carry anything more than a small running pack. And speaking of the boat, the ride up the river alone is worth the price of admission and folks come from all over the world to see this place!
This is not a race or competitive event and will be limited to no more than 20 people. This will be a fun, relaxed, multi-day travelling Rainshadow Running style adventure! We expect this to sell out so if we have enough demand, which is quite possible, we might offer more than one trip.
We had hoped to offer 100k, 50m and 50k races here but the land mangement plan for the area/Snake River Trail will not allow for competitive or large events. Oh well! This will be really fun too! If you're deadset on racing check out our other races. We do have some other new and exciting races including a new 100k and 50m on the southern Oregon Coast!
The Route:
Day 1: Granite Creek to Sheep Canyon 10.8 miles 2,362ft of gain, 2,444ft of loss.
Day 2: Sheep Canyon to Kirkwood Ranch 9.9 miles 2959ft of gain, 3,081ft of loss.
Day 3: Kirkwood Ranch to Lower Pittsburgh Landing 7.2 miles 1,949ft of gain, 2011ft of loss.
CLICK HERE FOR MAPS AND PROFILES
Registration:
We won't open up registration until we have the permit approved. The price is also currently TBD, we hope to get that updated soon so stay tuned.
Tentative Timeline:
Friday:
Saturday
Sunday
Logistics:
Number one, we want to make this trip as easy and fun and relaxing for you so it'll be our goal to make things as simple as possible for everyone. Basically you show up in White Bird and we'll handle the rest... well you will have to run some but other than that and setting up your tent you won't need to do anything else.
Hells Canyon is super remote and that's a big part of what makes it so great! But it also creates challenges that we will not sugarcoat. First off it's far from civilization, it's 3.25hr from Spokane, it's 3.5hr from Boise, 6.5hr from Seattle and 7.3hr from Portland or Bend. Cell phones don't work in the canyon(we'll have satellite communications for emergencies). And the only access to the trail other than at Pittsburgh Landing is by boat or foot.
Because most folks will be coming from relatively far away we'll likely work out a discount on hotel rooms and or camping in or near White Bird for Thursday night and possibly Sunday night too. Kilgore Adventures in White Bird had both of those lodging options so that's likely where we'll set up the discount. Stay tuned for details on that.
We'll provide food, water and other drinks as well as general first aid supplies. And we'll try to accommodate any dietary preferences/restrictions/requirements. We might be able to provide camping gear(for additional cost) if you're flying in but please email us about that to arrange well in advance. We'll provide primitive bathrooms at the camp sites, and maybe we'll be able to setup a portable shower stall too. But this is definitely going to be back-country camping not "glamping". So if you need special food while you're running, or medications or whatever you'll need to bring it with you. Each day the boat will show up to transport all the gear from campsite to campsite and back to the trailhead and they can transport anything you won't want to run with.
We assume we'll have a variety of folks with different experience levels, abilities and goals so we'll survey each of the guests before the trip and come up with a plan on how to handle the logistics of each day's run. We assume we'll break up the group into at least 2-3 smaller similarly matched groups of folks and have at least one staff member with each group.
Driving Directions and other Driving Details:
We'll meet Friday at 8am at Kilgore Adventures, 3252 Water Front Dr, White Bird, ID 83554
Be prepared for winter driving conditions. Pretty much any route you take to get to White Bird is gonna take you through mountains.
Contact Us:
For more information or to ask us questions email: [email protected]
We won't open up registration until we have the permit approved. The price is also currently TBD, we hope to get that updated soon so stay tuned.
Tentative Timeline:
Friday:
- 8:00am Meet in White Bird, ID at Kilgore Adventures(the boat company) to caravan/carpool out to Lower Pittsburgh Landing(about an hour away on forest service roads). Lower Pittsburgh Landing is where we'll board the boat to start the run and is also where we'll end up at on the last day.
- 10:00am Embark up river on the boat!
- ~11:00am Get dropped off at the upper end of the Snake River Trail
- Early afternoon arrive at that night's camp site and we'll have some snacks, if folks want they can run more by going up a side trail, or they can just relax.
- Early evening we'll serve dinner
Saturday
- In the morning we'll serve breakfast and at some point we'll start running--we can work out the details of exactly when folks want to start running later.
- Depending on when we start running we'll probably be done running by lunch time or early afternoon. We'll have lunch and snacks as soon as we can after running, again if folks want to run extra they can go up a side canyon.
- Early evening we'll serve dinner
Sunday
- In the morning we'll serve breakfast and at some point we'll start running--we can work out the details of exactly when folks want to start running later.
- Depending on when we start running we'll probably be done running by lunch time or early afternoon. We'll have lunch and snacks as soon as we can after running, again if folks want to run extra there will be options for that.
- Carpool/Caravan back to White Bird
Logistics:
Number one, we want to make this trip as easy and fun and relaxing for you so it'll be our goal to make things as simple as possible for everyone. Basically you show up in White Bird and we'll handle the rest... well you will have to run some but other than that and setting up your tent you won't need to do anything else.
Hells Canyon is super remote and that's a big part of what makes it so great! But it also creates challenges that we will not sugarcoat. First off it's far from civilization, it's 3.25hr from Spokane, it's 3.5hr from Boise, 6.5hr from Seattle and 7.3hr from Portland or Bend. Cell phones don't work in the canyon(we'll have satellite communications for emergencies). And the only access to the trail other than at Pittsburgh Landing is by boat or foot.
Because most folks will be coming from relatively far away we'll likely work out a discount on hotel rooms and or camping in or near White Bird for Thursday night and possibly Sunday night too. Kilgore Adventures in White Bird had both of those lodging options so that's likely where we'll set up the discount. Stay tuned for details on that.
We'll provide food, water and other drinks as well as general first aid supplies. And we'll try to accommodate any dietary preferences/restrictions/requirements. We might be able to provide camping gear(for additional cost) if you're flying in but please email us about that to arrange well in advance. We'll provide primitive bathrooms at the camp sites, and maybe we'll be able to setup a portable shower stall too. But this is definitely going to be back-country camping not "glamping". So if you need special food while you're running, or medications or whatever you'll need to bring it with you. Each day the boat will show up to transport all the gear from campsite to campsite and back to the trailhead and they can transport anything you won't want to run with.
We assume we'll have a variety of folks with different experience levels, abilities and goals so we'll survey each of the guests before the trip and come up with a plan on how to handle the logistics of each day's run. We assume we'll break up the group into at least 2-3 smaller similarly matched groups of folks and have at least one staff member with each group.
Driving Directions and other Driving Details:
We'll meet Friday at 8am at Kilgore Adventures, 3252 Water Front Dr, White Bird, ID 83554
Be prepared for winter driving conditions. Pretty much any route you take to get to White Bird is gonna take you through mountains.
Contact Us:
For more information or to ask us questions email: [email protected]