Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Snake River north of the dam.

Hells Canyon is a 10-mile-wide (16 km) canyon located along the border of eastern Oregon, eastern Washington and western Idaho in the United States. It is part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and is North America's deepest river gorge at 7,993 feet (2,436 m).

The canyon was carved by the waters of the Snake River, which flows more than one mile (1.6 km) below the canyon's west rim on the Oregon side and 7,400 feet (2,300 m) below the peaks of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains range to the east. Most of the area is inaccessible by road.

We drove into the Day Use area at around 0430. We didn't have to wait long before we started seeing the sky change colors. I took some 60 shots of the changing sky, but I liked this one best.

Phillips is five miles long, covers 3.8 square miles, and holds 3.9 billion cubic feet of water. Mason Dam controls the water where it comes out as the Powder River, flowing all the way to the Snake River. Phillips sits on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

Phillips Reservoir is a popular destination within the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest because it offers scenic views of the surrounding Elkhorn Mountains. The shoreline is forested with a mix of Ponderosa pine and various firs interspersed with small grasslands. The campground is near a boat launch and a small, rocky swim beach.