2026 FOP Pacific Northwest Cell in Hells Canyon
Save The Date: 10-13 September 2026
Topics: What the Hell?? The incision history of North America’s deepest canyon, home to:
- New clues from old gravels!
- Caves stranded with river sediments!
- River corridors entombed in basalt!
- Solid arguments against the precocious stream capture hypothesis
Leaders: Lydia Staisch, Jim O’Connor, Matthew Morriss, maybe others too
Where: Camp at Chief Timothy Campground, on an island in the Snake River near Clarkston, Washington
Dates: Friday, Sept. 11, through mid-day Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. Campground available Sept. 10 after 2 PM.
What next? If interested, please fill out this pre-registration form. Pre-registration will be required. Instructions will be emailed this summer to all of those responding to this call. This will be the one and only general call, so feel free to forward to potentially interested colleagues.
If you have specific questions, please email Lydia Staisch: lstaisch @ usgs.gov.
REGISTRATION Announcement
REGISTRATION for the 2026 Friends of the Pleistocene Pacific Northwest Cell trip
This is a registration call for the 2026 FOP Pacific Northwest cell trip, focused on the incision history and river evolution through Hells Canyon. Please follow the link at the bottom of this page to register. Space is limited and first-come-first-serve!
Leaders: Lydia Staisch, Jim O’Connor, Matthew Morriss, Keegan Schmidt
Where and what: Snake River and Hells Canyon, river evolution and incision history, plus some ice-age megaflood history thrown in (both Missoula and Bonneville).
Based at: Chief Timothy Campground, on a Bonneville-flood-bar island in the Snake River near Clarkston, Washington. Each day’s journey will start and end here. This will also be the location of the (non)standard FOP business meeting to be held the evening of Saturday, Sept. 12.
Dates: Friday, Sept. 11, through mid-day Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. Campground available Sept. 10 after 2 PM.
Camping Logistics
We have reserved a group of tent sites and the group site at the east end of Chief Timothy Park campground (the sites colored green in the accompanying map). These are “walk-in” sites meaning that vehicles are not parked at the site but at nearby (just a few steps away) designated vehicle areas. Our reservations will accommodate about 50-60 people assuming sharing of sites. First come (paid registration), first served on the leader-booked sites. The registration form will give you the opportunity to specify whether or not you would like a place among the sites we reserved.
If you prefer, there are many additional sites that we did not reserve that may be available, including vehicle-adjacent tent sites, pull-throughs with hook-ups, and even cabins. If you prefer such a site, consider booking soon since they will likely be popular during our late-summer weekend. Book at https://www.campspot.com/book/chief-timothy-park. Additionally, nearby motels are available in Clarkston and Lewiston.
General Schedule
If camping, please consider arriving Thursday September 10th.
Most mornings will start around 8-9 am and we will be out until 5-6 pm most days. Later this summer, a more detailed schedule will be sent to all registrants in addition to guide materials and background literature.
Day 1 will be focused in and around the Clearwater-Snake River confluence with excellent sites to examine the incision and connection history of northern Cordilleran rivers in Lewiston Basin. We have lot to show you, including intracanyon lava flows and thick sequences of fluvial gravels that reveal the Miocene to modern history of incision in this region, plus the intersection of the Bonneville and Missoula ice-age megafloods.
Day 2 will include a local site or two, but the main event will be a trip to Pittsburg Landing, deep in the gutter of North America’s deepest canyon. The incredible scenery along the way and geologic history is not to be missed!
Day 3 will be a short day, ending around noon to allow folks to travel in the afternoon. We will have few last sites fairly near Lewiston Basin that show great examples of fluvial reconfiguration in the region. If camping, we will be packing up and checking out before we leave for the morning.
Need to Know Details
Travel between sites will be done in personal vehicles and we strongly encourage carpooling. Some sites will have limited parking, so we really need to condense our vehicular footprint. Plus, this is the best way to get to know new people and reconnect with old friends!
Meals will not be provided, so please plan accordingly! We are starting and ending each day near Clarkston, WA and Lewiston, ID and so there are nearby grocery stores and restaurants. For each day, we expect participants to arrive with packed lunches, snacks, hydration, and anything else you may need.
September in Lewiston basin may be hot. Or it may be slightly chilly. But probably hot. We will keep registrants appraised of the weather conditions as the trip nears, but please be cautious about your personal abilities and sensitivities and communicate your needs with us clearly. We want to be as accessible as possible but cannot make adjustments without prior knowledge of our group’s needs.
Overall, our fieldtrip stops are highly accessible with optional short hikes and outcrops to scramble over. The first day will include stops at several gravel pits – these tend to be HOT, dry, and dusty locations with limited shade. Please consider bringing an umbrella if you are sensitive to heat. As an example, my primarily black and heat-intolerant dog at one of our sites (She’s quite comfy.):
September in Lewiston basin is also Spider Season!
Our campground may have lots of friendly orb weavers that are at their largest and ready for mating season. These 8-legged buddies are harmless, but impressive and often surprising, such as the specimen that took a ride on my field vest and extracted from me a hearty scream:
REGISTRATION LINK: https://forms.gle/cj4cYURrZVY7Ac6J7
Registration is first-come-first-serve given parking/space limitations.
Please register by June 1st 2026.
REGISTRATION PAYMENT: www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/28W5N3744V3FN
We expect all participants to pay the fee of $40 and registration will not be confirmed until payment is received. The cost is the same regardless of your lodging choices, how many days you attend, and whether or not you show up. This fee goes towards reservations, entry fees, and materials needed to run this trip.
If you send payment but the trip is full, we’ll send a refund.