SPACEPHOTOS

The Snake River is featured in this south-southwest-looking, low-oblique photograph as it travels from the west (right center) to the southeast at Lewiston, Idaho (midway between the center and right center of the photograph). As it winds to the southeast, the river proceeds through Hells Canyon National Recreation Area on the Idaho-Oregon border east of the rugged Wallowa Mountains near the top center of the photograph. Extending approximately 125 miles (200 kilometers) in a north-south orientation, Hells Canyon reaches a maximum depth of 7900 feet (2410 meters), making it one of the deepest canyons in the world. Visible are the forested Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington near the upper right of the photograph and the forest-covered Clearwater Mountains, partially obscured by clouds, from the bottom right to near the top left corner of the photograph. The southeastern portion of the Columbia Plateau, with many agricultural field patterns, is discernible from the left of center to the right center of the photograph.