January in Hells Canyon

Went down to Hells last weekend on a volunteer cleaning detail to pick up some trash and whatnot at campsites. And by whatnot, I mean gross things people shouldn't be leaving where they know other people are going to be visiting.

View out the back of the Forest Service jetboat.

I kept samples of the gross things or soiled toilet tissue in question, stored in hermetically sealed vials after being recovered with kitty litter spatulas. These samples will be tested for DNA at the lab and I will then track down each offender and they shall know it is I and vengeance shall be mine when they look out their living room window to see a guy squatting on their lawn taking . . . great care, um, to rake their leaves, because I want to set a good example and counter bad deeds with good. Either that or I'll take a crap on their lawn to teach them a lesson. I'm divided on that. But vengeance shall be mine, either way.

Here's a pithy observation from Ace Barton, tacked on the wall of the museum at Kirkwood Ranch:

And here's a solar panel below the airstrip at the Forest Service admin building, across from Pittsburgh Landing.

Looks lonely. So ronery.

Mike Baird and I went along with the Forest Service folks and had a fine time, even though the mission was to clean up after folks with bad manners.

 Pack string.

Cows.