Hells Canyon Wilderness

Hells Canyon Wilderness spans eastern Oregon and western Idaho around dramatic stretches of the Snake River through one of North America’s deepest river gorges. Created in 1975 and enlarged in 1984, it covers 217,927 acres, mostly within the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Its terrain ranges from Oregon breaklands to Idaho’s dry slopes, forests, and alpine country, supporting varied plant life and wildlife including black bear, elk, bighorn sheep, wolves, and wolverines. Long used by the Nez Perce and later for ranching, farming, and mining, it remains a remote trail-crossed wilderness where motorized travel is barred.

Joseph, Idaho · United States