Hells Canyon National Recreation Area
Hells Canyon National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area on the borders of the U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, the recreation area was established by Congress and signed by President Gerald Ford in late 1975 to protect the historic and archaeological values of the Hells Canyon area and the area of the Snake River between Hells Canyon Dam and the Oregon–Washington border.
Roughly of the recreation area are designated the Hells Canyon Wilderness. There are nearly of hiking trails in the recreation area. The largest portion of the area lies in eastern Wallowa County, Oregon. Smaller portions lie in southwestern Idaho County, Idaho, northwestern Adams County, Idaho, and northeastern Baker County, Oregon.
It was formally dedicated in 1976, in June in Idaho, and in late July in Oregon.
Hells Canyon Archeological District
All or partly included in the HCNRA is the Hells Canyon Archeological District, a historic district listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It includes 536 contributing sites, 23 contributing buildings, and 58 other contributing structures.There are many sites with pictographs, the largest of which are Buffalo Eddy, with more than five hundred pictographs, and Pittsburg Landing, where nearly thirty boulders are covered with them. An interpretive site has a short trail to interpretive panels displaying petroglyphs and pictographs.