Idaho Heartland - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 270

spoiled landscape—forged in large part by ancient volcanic activity—that teems with a
seemingly endless supply of rugged beauty.
Pause at the overlook just a mile past the intersection of Rtes. 95 and 12 to look for
theunusualbasalt formations knownastheAntandtheYellowjacket. Youmightalsowant
to visit the Lenore Archaeological Site, about 15 miles to the east, where Indian artifacts,
some of them 10,000 years old, have been unearthed. Then, 12 miles farther upriver, the
roadleadstoCanoeCamp,onceabivouacofLewisandClark.Preparingfortheirtripwest,
the explorers spent their time there making canoes, using the traditional Nez Perce method
of burning out tree trunks.
10. Dworshak National Fish Hatchery
After crossing the Clearwater at Orofino (a Spanish word meaning ''fine gold''), a short
side trip on Rte. 7 wends to the Dworshak National Fish Hatchery. Every year this high-
tech facility—the largest of its kind—releases about 4 million young steelhead and salmon
into the Clearwater River. The fish then swim 500 miles to the Pacific, only to return years
later to spawn. Behind the hatchery Dworshak Reservoir stretches its blue finger 54 miles
into the timbered wilds.
11. Heart of the Monster
What the Garden of Eden is to Jews and Christians, Heart of the Monster is to the Nez
Perces—the place where life began. According to ancient belief, the god Coyote slew a
great monster from whose blood and flesh arose most Indian peoples. From the beast's
heart, Coyote fashioned a race known as the Nee Mee Poo, today's Nez Perces. The Heart
of the Monster, a 30-foot basalt outcrop near East Kamiah, sits on the banks of the Clear-
water River, exactly where Coyote left it.