Fragments of Time

On occasion, we experience a hike that stands out above average hikes. This was one of those times. It was hard going. The sights that we enjoyed were paid with the toil of long days on the trail. The memories that remain may fragment in time, but they will never wane.

We hiked the rim of Hells Canyon, Idaho, to the Seven Devils Wilderness. The air was heavy with smoke from raging forest fires in Oregon and Idaho. Our breathing was labored. Our steps were cumbersome. We trudged wearily along the trail, baking in the heat of the day, wondering if our water would run out before we finally reached the creek in the bottom of the canyon. Day light expired before we reached the end of our hike, but we had the light of adventure to spur us onward.

Hells Canyon

Hells Canyon is a ten-mile-wide canyon in the western United States, located along the border of eastern Oregon, a small section of eastern Washington and western Idaho. It is part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area which is also located in part of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. It is North America's deepest river gorge at 7,993 feet. Notably, Hells Canyon runs deeper than the better-known Grand Canyon in Arizona. The canyon was carved by the waters of the Snake River, which flows more than one mile below the canyon's west rim on the Oregon side and 7,400 feet below the peaks of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains range to the east. This area includes 214,000 acres of wilderness. Most of the area is inaccessible by road.

Seven Devils Wilderness

He Devil and She Devil are the tallest mountains in Idaho's Seven Devils Wilderness near the west border of the state (just east of the Snake River Canyon*). The two peaks are equal in height (neither having been officially triangulated) with a maximum 9,400+ contour. Some books and maps use a spurious value of 9,393 ft for He Devil and 9,280+ for She Devil. These should be disregarded. They were based on erroneous values in the USGS database. These errors have since been corrected.

Taken as one because of their equal height, He Devil-She Devil also have the distinction of being among the 57 peaks in the Contiguous United States with over 5,000 ft of prominence. There are only three such points in all of Idaho (Borah Peak and Diamond Peak being the other two).

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Time

Weep, children, with a thousand tears!
With a voice of one, wail your plight!
Assert the weight of all your attrited years!
Plead in vain to the deaf and bottomless night!

Time, in its wanton apathy,
Envenoms with seconds and hours
All to the heartless hold of infinity.
Milk of youth in the space of a moment sours.

Time conquers with a sure onslaught –
The slaughter of a silent thief,
Reducing all consequence to utter naught,
Gradual so as to rob mourning of grief.

With pendulums that never cease,
With a broad, meticulous sweep,
Beats the cadence of the celestial timepiece,
Across the vast reaches of eternal deep.

Cross a sea of corrupted blood,
Rise the waves that never subside!
What day may escape the omnipotent flood?
What creature crawl from the inexorable tide?

~ Daniel F Mitchell

http://www.gardenofpoetry.com/v-harvest/

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This video footage comes from Hells Canyon / Seven Devils Wilderness, Idaho. ~ Daniel F Mitchell – AOWS Editor

Contact AOWS at: danielfmitchell@hotmail.com

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Music in this video:

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Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomyn
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragments
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys
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🎵 Track Info:

Title: Fragments by Nomyn
Genre and Mood: Ambient + Calm

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#Idaho #HellsCanyon #SevenDevilsWilderness