Imnaha River Canyon

Imnaha River Canyon

The Imnaha's inner gorge photographed on 4x5. This is deep inside Hells Canyon National Recreation Area in Oregon's rugged northeast corner. The ancient, weathered granite exposed here underlies the layer cake of lava flows of the Columbia River Basalt Formation which can be seen in the distance below the skyline. The route of Chief Joseph's exodus from his Wallowa homeland in 1877 just prior to the Nez Perce War traversed above the inner gorge and just below the lava layer cake near the contact between the two formations. Imna, historically, was a legendary Nez Perce Chief and "Imnaha" means "Land of Imna." It was in low elevation canyons like this that members of the Chief Joseph Band of the Nez Perce traditionally spent the cold winters before migrating to higher elevations in the Wallowa Valley and Wallowa Mountains in spring and summer.

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