4th of July Wenaha Trip

Grant and I had a wonderful four-day Wenaha experience over the 4^th of July. Originally we planned on leaving early Friday morning; however that morning Grant had to replace the starter in his Jeep Cherokee so we got a bit of a late start. With new starter and battery in place we hit the road for the Wenaha river.

The Wenaha Wilderness area is close to the Walla Walla Valley – only about 70 miles from Milton-Freewater. However much of the trip is on gravel mountain roads so the drive is about 2 hours.

From the south side of the Wilderness area there are few trails down to the river. We decided to fish the lower portion of the river so we hiked down Hodoo trail (about 3 miles). The Hodoo trail ends at the river on the opposite side of the main Wenaha trail. Water flow was low enough that crossing didn’t pose a problem.

Once to the bottom of the trail we sent up the Hennessy Hammocks, unpacked our fishing gear and hit the river. For the first day we fished downstream from camp. Directly below Hodoo is a nice hole (we call the Big Hole). Since Grant is a gentleman he let me have the first crack at a big bull trout. He climbed up the bluff to peer into the water and spot. On one of my first casts I had a bull follow my fly as I stripped it through the water. Unfortunately I was a bit quick on the strips and never allowed the fish to grab the fly. I was still able to land a smaller bull in the Big Hole.

We finished the day’s fishing at Crooked Creek which is roughly 3 miles from Hodoo. Grant fished a bit below Crooked Creek and I hit the trail back to camp. I was exhausted by the hike down Hodoo in 100+ degree weather. Was probably a good thing since Grant didn’t catch anything below Crooked Creek.

Friday night was going to be my first night in my Hennessy Hammock. Grant spent the previous weekend in the Wenaha and slept in his Hennessy. However hammock camping proved to be cold and he had two miserable evenings. A problem with “hanging” (i.e., hammock camping) is there isn’t any “loft” under the sleeper. The cold area under hammock can make one’s backside very cold. I had read about being cold hammock camping so I outfitted my Hennessy with an underquilt. Also based on Grant’s recommendations I layered up in heavy thermal underwear, two pair of socks and put the rain fly down around the hammock (to keep cool air off). About 1 minute into the hammock I was miserably hot! I ended up flipping off the rain fly and sleeping in my long johns. I was still too warm and spent most of the night out of my sleeping bag. Overall my first night of the Hennessy was awesome! Normally after a night of sleeping on the ground I’m stiff and sore, not so with the Hennessy.

Saturday we headed upstream about 3.5 miles (about half way to Cross Canyon) and fished downstream towards camp. based on Grant’s experience we skipped fishing around Fairview Bar.

In the late afternoon dark thunderheads started to roll into the canyon. As the rain drops started to fall I got nervous about our camp. I had left the rain fly off my hammock and had visions of coming back to a hammock and sleeping bag full of water! We finished fishing back to the Hodoo trail and made it back to camp just has a light rain started to fall. We were able to get our rain flies set up and camp prepared for the approaching rain. We literally got everything set up 10 minutes before a heavy downpour. Certainly was a great lesson: no matter what the weather looks like ALWAYS prepare your camp for rain.

Sunday morning I awoke very tired. The hike down Hodoo and 15 miles of hiking, fishing, and river wading was taking it toll on my body. After another breakfast of black coffee and oatmeal we decided to again hit the water below Hodoo. After a good couple hours of fishing we decided to continue below Crooked Creek and fish some new water.

Below Crooked Creek the fishing was horrible. Not sure why but for some reason we couldn’t find any fish. Maybe it is because the river is straighter and doesn’t seem to have as many deep pools. Maybe it is the fact that there is more sediment in the river. For whatever reason the fishing was poor and not worth the effort (at least this day). Only bright spot was a decent rainbow I hooked and landed. As we debated the merits of keeping the fish for dinner he wriggled free and saved himself from our campfire.

On the way back we decided to fish a hole near the camp site more time. Interestingly we saw a big fish jump out of the water twice: once he was moving upstream and another downstream. We never got a good look at the fish, Grant thought it might have been a bull trout but I saw a very coppery color and think it was a big rainbow (or maybe an early salmon). After seeing this monster rise twice Grant switched to a dry fly (stimulator). We never caught another glimpse of that big rising fish. Grant did catch a decent rainbow that we kept for dinner. Upon cleaning the rainbow we noticed his stomach was stuffed full of caddis and caddis casings. Was a bizarre sight to see a fish stomach full of tiny sticks and rocks!

We had been in the wilderness area for three days and had yet to see another person. Strange considering we had covered A LOT of ground over three days and it was the 4^th of July weekend. That all changed Monday morning. After a rainy morning (which was blessing since I was able to rest for a couple hours) we left camp to cross the Wenaha at Hodoo. At the bottom of Hodoo was an absolutely amazing sight – we saw the first person of the trip! This guy had packed a 9’ pontoon boat plus gear down Hodoo (his pack was about 75 pounds AND he had the boat frame)! He was planning to solo float the Wenaha to Troy, OR (planning on taking 4 days). Was a bit disappointed when he said he was going to fish using big 9” lures and worms. Big lures are one thing, but worms are forbidden on most selective waters. The fish tend to swallow the worms making it impossible to release them unharmed. This is even more troubling with the endangered/protected bull trout in the Wenaha.

With the day wearing on we hit the trail and headed back to camp. After getting camp broke and our packs loaded up it was 7:30pm (about 2 hours later than we had originally planned to leave). Not sure if it was the cooler weather (was about 75-80) or the fact I was getting used to walking but for the first time I was able to make it up Hodoo without stopping. Was an incredible feeling making it to the top in an hour (this on top of the fact we had already done over 7 miles of hiking/fishing earlier that day).

A few miles driving away from Hodoo we were flagged down by a vehicle. They asked if had seen two men and a three-legged dog on the river. Apparently the wife of one of the men had gone into labor two-months early and just had their baby. These guys were trying to notify him of the birth his child. Only problem is they had no idea where he was or what vehicle he was driving. We explained to them we had been upstream and downstream over three miles in each direction and not seen a soul. We departed for home joking about two men and three-legged dog. About the time we hit the main road that borders the wilderness area I had the thought that the two men and three legged dog probably started in Troy. Most people that visit the Wenaha start in Troy so they don’t have to cross the river. We turned around and drove back to the Hodoo trailhead just in time to catch the men before they hiked down the trail. We explained to them the trail is on the far side of Hodoo and most people start hiking the Wenaha trail at Troy.

Funny that over a holiday weekend we don’t see a single soul along the river and then on Monday meet someone planning on solo floating the river and a group of men looking for two men and a three-legged dog.

Overall a great trip into the Wenaha.