Ontario State Recreation Site

On our way back from our Boise Adventure, and watching Sam’s Metro team win the All-State Oregon Football game, we stopped to stretch our leges at the Ontario State Recreation Site. The views of the Snake River from the dock were stunning! I rafted down the Snake River when I was growing up and have such fondness for its beauty, in any direction..

Explore more about the Snake River … The Snake River likely got its name from the first European explorers who misinterpreted the sign made by the Shoshone people who identified themselves in sign language by moving the hand in a swimming motion which appeared to these explorers to be a "snake." It actually signified that they lived near the river with many fish. In the 1950's, the name "Hells Canyon" was borrowed from Hells Canyon Creek, which enters the river near what is now Hells Canyon Dam.

The Hells Canyon area was once home to Shoshone and Nez Perce tribes. According to the Nez Perce tribe, Coyote dug the Snake River Canyon in a day to protect the people on the west side of the river from the Seven Devils, a band of evil spirits living in the mountain range to the east. In the late nineteenth century, the military drove the Native Americans out and settlers began ranching and mining in the canyon. Today, boaters can explore archaeological sites and old homesteads, all part of the canyon's rich, colorful history.