Working our way through Idaho - Nevada or Bust!

June 20, Tuesday
We really enjoyed Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, and several of the small towns around the area deserve a second look, so they're on the list for another trip.

We're southbound and down, heading for the annual Happy Birthday America BBQ and reunion in Garderville/Minden, Nevada. A few quick stops along the way and then we'll settle in there for awhile.

Today we're heading south along the Snake River,  through what is obviously fly fishing country. Beautiful, huge lodges, fly fishing clubs, and vacation homes. Fishing supply companies and boat rentals are pretty much the industry around here.

Home for the night is Flat Rock Campground. This is a beautiful little Forest Service campground, but not what you'd call a destination in it's own right.

The area is fairly dense with threes, so shady and cool, and the grounds are lush with grasses and wildflowers, at least this time of year, but there are no trails anywhere, so a cruise around the campground loop was the highlight of the day for the pups.

The campground is also right on the highway. The location is convenient, I will say, but the sites along the highway get a lot of road noise, our site was on the back side so the noise was buffered a bit by all the trees.

Shiner enjoyed the morning sun

This is a good location for travelers who want to spend the day fishing or visiting other attractions in the area.

Spaces are large and very well designed. Each site has an immaculate seating area and tent space. Most also have grills or fire rings and Dutch oven cooking tables.

June 21-22, Massacre Rocks State Park
Massacre Rocks State Park is a beautiful area on the Snake River, situated along the historic Oregon/California trail.

According to diaries of emigrants, settlers in five wagons clashed with Shoshone just east of the rocks on August 9–10, 1862. Ten emigrants died in the fight, which involved four wagon trains. (See Wikipedia for more history) So, it was't exactly a massacre, but over time several people did die here. There are alternate names for the local, all equally dismal, reflecting the ongoing conflicts between settlers and travelers and the local tribes. The area is rich in pioneer history, and in some areas the pioneer's wagon ruts are still visible.

We've dropped in elevation and left most of the forest behind. This area is a lovely contrast of volcanic rimrock, canyons, and the beautiful Snake River. The River is running high this year due to all the snow melt. It's so high and the current is so fast that the park isn't renting out their canoes and kayaks yet. They'll open that service up when they feel the river has reached a safe level.

Other than the boating aspect this is a fishing river. Steep banks, and the fast current, make any swimming or wading problematic, so it's sightseeing for us! Lots of Oregon Trail history in this area. The huge volcanic boulders and crevices providing good ambush cover as well as shelter for travelers.

View from our site

Our site here is a pull-through with quite a bit of elevation so we have a nice view of the river. Some sites have even better views, but some have none, so when making a reservation check the map carefully and use a satellite map too, like Google's satellite view. The whole campground is up above the river, so where the park map makes it appear that a site is right next to the river it is actually up on a cliff.  From this vantage point we can watch the pelicans and other birds that soar over the river.

There are multiple trails crisscrossing through the giant sage bushes and rock formations, so getting to the bank for fishing isn't too difficult, but the banks are crowded with reeds in most places, so fishing from a boat is probably preferable.

The dogs enjoyed checking out the trails, and they found the scent of the cottontails and lizards quite enticing! If you're into Frisbee golf, they have a huge course  here, and the visitor center even sells Frisbees.

The area is rich for wildlife viewing too. We saw a wide variety of birds, and deer right outside our door. The shrubs were all heavy with currents and other fruit and seeds so it's not surprising there were so many critters around.

A short hop over to the other side of the highway there's a nice little park with a shelter protecting Register Rock. Many inscriptions here from the early 1800's.

The inscriptions are hard to read without the right lighting, and the chain link fencing round it rather limits one's photography choices, but we did manage to locate a few legible names and dates. Other boulders in the park have more recent inscriptions - from the 1970's on up to the 2000's. Perhaps some day they'll decide these are "historic" too and fence them off!

Tomorrow we should hit Nevada!

A few more photos here.

Pink House campground and Nez Perce battlefields

Leaving the  Missoula area and moving west into Idaho we made a  one-night stopover in the Wilderness Gateway campground, located on the Lochsa River (pronounced "Lock-saw").

The campground was practically empty, so we had a nice, quiet afternoon enjoying the dense forest around us. My goodness but this is good bear country! There were ripe salmon berries, service berries,

and other delectable items all through the campground.

This area is rich in history. The Nez Perce roamed this area for generations, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled the Lolo Trail, which flows through the Lochsa Gorge.

There are historic signboards at pull-outs all along the highway, and when we stopped at the Lolo Pass Visitor's Center we were given a set of CD's with historic information to listen to along the road. Per instructions, we turned them in to another visitor center when we reached the next area. I took a little time to admire a quilt they center had hanging in a little room off to the side. It was a cooperative effort, constructed by several quilt guilds in the state.

One of the first historic stops along the highway featured this replica emplacement, used (unsuccessfully) by Army soldiers to protect themselves from Nez Perce bullets. It might have been a useful idea in different terrain. Here, the Indians simply climbed the hills on the opposite side of the canyon and fired down on the soldiers. The Nez Perce leader, Looking  Glass, thought the whole idea was rather amusing and dubbed them "soldier corrals". The whole endeavor was so ineffective that residents began calling the area "Fort Fizzle". It's still known by that name on maps today.


The Pink House campground, Orfino, Idaho, was our next stop, and home for five days. It was an accidental discovery, as we were actually headed to a place a few miles further on down the road. Steve spied the sign "Pink House Recreation Area" and pulled in to check it out, and we decided to stay!What a funny name for a  boating, fishing and camping area!

Though there's no pink house in site now, there once was. Charles and June McCollister lived here and she, being an artist decided the area needed some color, so they painted the house PINK. 

View of the Clearwater river from our site

Fishermen floating the river saw the pink house (and the shed painted to match) and began calling the nearby fishing hole "the Pink House Hole." It was so well known in the area that when the BLM established the recreation site, and the campground, the name Pink House was used.

The house was burned by vandals many years ago so there's no sign of it now, but the campground is wonderful. Jim, the host, keeps everything in tip-top shape shape, and knows the area well so he can offer tips on any services needed. We were lucky enough to arrive early so most spaces were empty and we grabbed #12, right on the river. We enjoyed the view, and the peace and quiet, so much that we stayed five days. That hasn't happened in awhile!

The dogs-on-leash rule is enforced, but there's a vacant lot adjacent to the campground, and river access out of the park boundaries, and Jim (the host) taught Shiner how to battle the rain-birds, so she had plenty of fun too!

It's a good location for exploring more of the Nez Pierce history. We took a day to drive the historic loop, east on hwy. 12 to the first stop on the loop, Canoe Camp, then dipping south to Grangeville, then back north on hwy 95 and then east, back to camp. This route includes not only Lewis and Clark related historic sites, but many of the locations so important in the Nez Perce War.

Another stop along the highway provides a dramatic overlook of the valley where the  Battle of White Bird took place.

White Bird battlefield

A little further on the loop drive, located on the banks of the Clearwater River south of Kamiah, you can see the Heart of the Monster. This formation is the legendary birthplace of the Nez Perce Tribe, where Coyote defeated a monster and, in turn, created the Nez Perce people.

Nearing the end of the loop is the  Nez Perce Historical Park Visitor's Center . The center has an amazing collection of artifacts - beaded clothing, weapons, jewelry, and other items. Displays and a short movie enhance a visitor's understanding of the tribe's history and struggles. We have actually been following the Nez Perce Historic Trail in reverse, as we started from the east, near the middle of the trail. The tribe lived here, in Idaho and Oregon, and when the conflict began, it was here the battles began, so the visitor's center marks the actual beginning of the events that led to the tribe's eventual banishment from their homelands. The remaining part of the Nez Perce Trail runs up through Yellowstone and Montana, s we'll visit those areas on another trip.

There are many layers of history here. Additional historic signboards along the way have information on more recent events in the area, including railroad development. The hillside are peppered with huge trestles and tunnels, all necessary to lay tracks in this hilly country.

Logging was also a major industry in the area. Many of the older pieces of equipment can still be seen, parked in empty fields, and some still in use. One afternoon we heard what we thought was an old steam driven locomotive in the afternoons, and it turned out it was a steam powered tractor! Charles McCollister's daughter helped him publish memories and photographs of the area's logging history before his death in 2011. A brief article about their project ran in a local paper.

Pink House Campground is a good location for regrouping before moving on either east or west. There are services close at hand in Orofino, including groceries, hardware and anything else one might need. We spent the last day doing just that - shopping for groceries, bits of hardware, hitting a couple of quilt shops (of course!) and catching up on household chores.

There are a few more photos in the album. 

We'll be continuing to creep west. No telling where we'll light next!

Beaver Dick Park, Idaho

"Beaver Dick", a Madison County park is in Idaho near the town of Rexburg. The park is on Henry's Fork of the Snake River, which is a pretty good running river at this point. Deep enough for swimming but not so swift as to be a worry about safety, at least under current conditions.

Now this is what the RVing life is all about, at least in our book.  We located a spot up near the entrance, right by the river, in view of the boat ramp.

Our campsite is to the right, between the tree trunks

Surrounded by a cluster of the biggest serviceberry shrubs I've ever seen, it was perfect for bird-watching. There's apparently no shortage of irrigation water here as the sprinklers run all day and the entire park is carpeted in lush green grass, which Shiner enjoyed very much. She was also happy to finally be somewhere that doesn't have a lengthy list of things dogs can't do "no dogs on the beach, no dogs on the trail, 'must be on a 6ft. leash at all times", etc.

She rescued her favorite log in the river, chased the ball on the grass, made friends with other dogs, and basked in the sun, then nestled down in the grass and wild camomile for a nap (nothing like a dog that smells like pineapple!)

This park is named for Richard "Beaver Dick" Leigh, who was one of the last real mountain men of this valley. He was very well liked, and Jenny Lake in the Tetons is named for his Shoshone wife. She, and all their children, were killed in a smallpox epidemic and are buried nearby.

There's also a historic marker just across the highway that commemorates the North Fork Ferry, the first ferry to run on Henry's Fork, built by the people of the nearby town of Rexburg in 1888. This is a very historic location!

We originally planned on one night here at Beaver Dick, but it seemed like such a great place to just relax that we signed up for a second night. We spent the second day watching a pair of kingbirds catch bugs to feed their babies in the nest, a wooly woodpecker catching bug on one of our shrubs, and an egret fish in the river. The bugs here are plentiful, accounting for the flock of swallows and other birds that fill the are under the highway bridge in the early morning. The park does spray (natural stuff) for mosquitoes though, so we haven't been bothered at all, and there are plenty of butterflies decorating the shrubs around us. Whatever they use must be pretty selective.The park is adjacent to a wildlife management area, and there are trails that lead from the park into the wild areas so there's plenty of opportunity to explore away from the river.  The mosquito treatment also doesn't bother the cottontail rabbits. They came out every evening to graze on the grass, and to torture poor Shiner as we  wouldn't let her chase them.

Beaver Dick Park has four group areas as well as 12 individual sites. There are new vault restrooms near the group picnic area at entrance, and older ones throughout the campground. Everything is very well maintained, and we were impressed with the fact that even though the park is heavily used by local families they treat it respectfully. There is no trash around, no graffiti, no damage to any of the fishing docks or picnic tables.  There are no electric or water services available in the park so pack in plenty of water.  The best part is the price. $5 a night, or $15 for the week (5 days). Photo album here.

Jordanelle State Park and a fast trip across Utah

We spent three nights at Jordanelle State Park. This was our second visit to the park, as it's a convenient place to stay when visiting my sister in Park City. Our last visit was in July of last year. See that post for more information on the park and the surrounding area.

The park is beautifully maintained, as they have an ambitious group of volunteers. Most of the sites have a view of the lake, though this lake (reservoir) is suffering from the same lack of water that most others are this year.

The dark water line on these trees shows how much lower the current level is than it has been in recent years.  The exposed shoreline is now down to such a low level that the beach is all mud, so I attempted to keep Shiner up on drier, firmer ground when we went exploring. Somehow she still managed to sink up to her elbows in lovely, black swamp mud. Even after a good hosing down she was perfumed faintly with dead fish and pond weed. 'Guess that's the price of having a country dog who likes to explore!

We spent the two full days here visiting, catching up on laundry in the park's little two machine laundromat, and completing the repair on the damaged kitchen vent.

We're still recovering from the germs, so plenty of recuperation time is still on the agenda. The surrounding hills here are covered with beautiful fall colors, so it's a great place to sit back, relax and just admire the scenery.

Monday, we made a 9 AM departure from Jordanelle State Park, north on hwy. 40  then east on I-80 through the canyon. With it's fiery red canyons filled with brilliant yellow and red trees it made a grand exhibit as we left the state.

All too soon the red canyons faded into layers of beige and green, sedimentary layers deeply eroded into interesting shapes, with sharp outcrops of harder stone here and there.The low hanging autumn sun makes the shadows on the eroded hillsides even more outstanding.

As we entered Wyoming the highway flattened out to the rolling, sagebrush covered range land of the northern Great Basin. This is definitely cowboy country. Not much but range land, cattle, and prong horns.

Good-bye to Oregon

Thursday morning we left Bully Creek early (for us!) and headed for Idaho. We made a quick stop at Camping World in Boise to pick up a vent cover to replace the one a branch scraped off back at  Crescent Creek, and found some great RV oriented  Christmas cards too! What a productive morning!

Idaho has a multitude of small and not-so-small wildfires burning, so the broad horizon is hazy, and though the sky is clear, there's not much of the usual bright blue.

The overnight stop for Thursday was Heyburn Riverside RV Park (I-84, Exit 211 then south 2 miles). The park is fairly new and right on the Snake River. It's so new in fact that if you are using a mapping program don't trust it's location advice. We followed posted signs which led us to the correct location. Our assumption is that Delorme program we use identified the planning office at city center as the location, so gave us incorrect directions.

The park has generously spaced sites that are all  full-service. The sites are graveled, with lots of grass in between, and there is ready access to a really nice trail along the river. (The park is closed Dec. 1- March 1)

Following the trail south just a short way leads to a quaint little park with a covered bridge over a little creek where it enters the river. Landscaped with benches and antique farm implements it makes an attractive place to sit and ponder the wide river at sunset.

Friday, we left Idaho about 9:30 and were crossing into Utah about an hour later. By noon we were cugging down hwy. 89, cutting north of Salt Lake City. The hills around the sides of the highway are splashed with swaths of trees clothed in autumn cherry-red and brilliant yellow, set off nicely by the soft gold of dry grasses. It's clear and sunny, but unfortunately the same smoky haze we've seen all week fills the sky here too. Smoke blown in from Idaho in addition to a few local fires is apparently to blame.  We're staying at Jordanelle State Park, near Park City, UT, while we visit family for a couple of days.

Oregon or Bust!

Did you ever play that Oregon Trail computer game when you were in school? Or maybe you worked through it with your children, making those critical choices about what to bring in the wagon and what to leave behind. Take a ferry or tow the wagon across? So many decisions!

If you did play the game, or if you've studied the Oregon Trail, then you'll remember that the river crossings were one of the biggest challenges along the way.

It was no game for the pioneers. They lost wagons, stock, and sometimes people in the turbulent waters. Our next two stops, as we work our way toward Oregon, are at two of the most famous of these Oregon Trail crossings.

From the City of Rocks area we traveled northwest, sticking primarily to the back roads. It's a pleasant drive, through rolling plains and small farming communities. We took a break around lunch time, stopping at Hagerman to visit the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.

This monument is a good place to learn about Idaho's "state fossil", the Hagerman Horse. The creature, which first appeared about 3.4 million years ago, was a member of the genus Equus, but not really a horse by modern standards. It was much more like today's zebra, and became extinct about 10,000 years ago, along with several other large species. The park holds the largest concentration of Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens) fossils in North America. They have a nice visitor's center right in the town of Hagerman, and then a driving tour where you can experience overlooks of the scene where the fossils were discovered. The visitor's center also houses a temporary display on the history of  the Minidoka Internment Camp.

We elected to skip the driving tour and continued on west toward our camping destination. Looking out the window I was startled to suddenly see waterfalls gushing from the steep cliffs along the river. Soon we passed a sign explaining this was the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway.

Truly, I've never seen anything like this. The springs gush forward with such force that in some cases the water shoots out like a fire hydrant, in others, the effect is a graceful waterfall. The water source is the Snake River Plains Aquifer, one of the largest groundwater systems in the world. It creeps through an area of several thousand square miles under southern Idaho's porous volcanic rock before emerging from the springs in the cliffs. The water is a fairly consistent 58 degrees or so, and so very favorable for trout. Fishermen, take note!

Our stopping point the first evening was scheduled for Three Island Crossing State Park, located at Glenns Ferry, Idaho. There is an Oregon Trail historic center here, but as our luck usually has it, the center is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and we only planned to be in the park on Monday. There are several signs around with information about the area, so we did a bit of a self-guided tour and called it good.

The park is beautiful! There are two camping loops, and though the sites don't have a view of the river, there are trees and lush grass everywhere. Sprinklers are running somewhere in the park pretty much all the time, thanks to the availability of river water. So lush and green, it was hard to pack up and leave.

Three Island Crossing

But, we are headed for appointments in Oregon, so leave we did. Next scheduled stop, Farewell Bend State Park, in Oregon.

We arrived early in the afternoon hoping to beat the crowds as we didn't have reservations. As it turns out there wasn't much competition. We set up camp at the end of the lower loop, under a nice tree. Our view also includes rolling golden hills covered with sunflowers as well as the river, another famous Oregon Trail crossing.

Farewell Bend was the last stop on the Oregon Trail along the Snake River where travelers could rest and water and graze their animals before they said "farewell" to the Snake River. From this point the trail turned north through more rugged country to follow the Burnt River.

We aren't facing such an arduous journey, and we've no animals to graze (Molly's not too fond of grass) so we recharged our selves by relaxing with a cold one under the tree and watching the nighthawks dip and soar. I've never seen them out quite so early in the evening, or quite so active.
There were dozens of them in the air, and they were sailing across the lawn only a few inches above the ground. I'm more accustomed to see them higher up, above the tops of trees. Wherever they fly, I'm happy, as they're eating bugs!

Farewell Bend

We've decided to stay at Farewell Bend a second night, then push on, down the trail, location TBD.

(Click on any photo for a larger image)

City of Rocks National Preserve, Idaho

Dolphins and whales leaping from a blue-green sage colored ocean. Huge, gray elephants lumbering across velvety green slopes. A tiny cirque, high up on the distant hills, is all that remains of the winter's snow, and a few wildflowers dot the plain. That's the scene here in City of the Rocks National Preserve. 

Well, the critters may be imaginary, but the forms are real. These giant gray granite outcrops certainly inspire those images. 

Saturday we drove west, through the park, admiring the formations and checking out the named boulders.

There's Camp Rock, where travelers found protection from the winds, Treasure Rock, that supposedly marks a huge buried treasure, and Elephant Rock, inspired I'm sure by the effect of the gray boulders on the plain.

After all the red sandstone we've seen, these gray granite outcrops seem such a contrast. And they come as a surprise after the drive through the rolling wheat fields of southern Idaho. Although all the formations appear at first to be made of the same type of stone there are actually three different materials involved in creating this amazing landscape.

One, the Green Creek Complex consists of granite formed around 2.5 billion years ago.  This type has a high mica content and glitters in the sun like diamonds. The second, the Elba Quartzite originated during the Proterozoic Eon a mere 15,000 to 600 million years ago. This stone is much lighter than the Green Creek granite, and also has mineral stains causing red and green streaks and layers. The third type is the Almo Pluton, granite, formed by the slow cooling of magma, makes up most of the spires in the City of Rocks. (More about the geology of the area here.)

The Twin Sisters formation is interesting because the left peak, of the Twin Sisters, is made up of rock from the Green Creek Complex (2.5 billion years old), and the right peak is made up of rock from the Almo Pluton (28 million years old). Some birthing process!

This preserve is notable not only for the geology, but for the pioneer history, as the California Trail (companion to the famous Oregon Trail) passed right through the center of the park.

Register Rock records some of the names and dates. Many more were written there, but have long since faded due to weathering. Only those protected by the overhang of the boulder remain legible.

Turning east there's a view of the smooth plain the wagons crossed to get to this point. Its grassy, and looks like easy going. Turning west, the view is only broken rocks and steep slopes. One can only imagine what thoughts the pioneers had at this point about the challenges lay ahead. The ground is solid with small boulders, and the granite spires crowd each other, often leaving little space to get a wagon and team through.

 The stone ruins still standing beside the road mark one of the locations where the California Trail crossed the current road. Originally settled in 1882 under the 1862 Homestead Act, the land was sold in 1901and patented under the Desert Land Act. The combined acreage formed the nucleus of the Circle Creek Ranch. The Tracy's spent years constructing a substantial stone house to replace their log dwelling. The stone used in the construction of the home is from a quarry located about one mile southwest of the home site. The home burned in 1957. (A nice driving tour brochure that includes many of the historic and scenic points is available here.)

Today's adventuresome types come to this area not as pioneers, but as rock climbers. Though the state park campground we are in, Smoky Mountain, is very sparsely populated, the boondocking camps out in the bushes, near the climbing rocks, are swarming with people. Each of the cracks and crevices seems to have a name, relevant to the climbers, and there clear signs directing people to the base of the formation where the way up begins. Many of the parking areas around picnic areas and climbing sites were full today, when we drove through the park. I can't imagine what it must be like here during the spring, which is the peak season. 

At the edge of the park we went north to the little town of Oakley. The town has less than 600 residents, and their main claim to fame is a historic section with a few really nice Victorian homes.

One of the major industries in the area is stone quarry products, and there are several stone dealers around to prove it. I wish I could get some of this back to Texas! They have some really attractive types in the display areas.

Once back in camp we noticed the storm clouds gathering. This seems to be a regular afternoon thing. Big, billowy white clouds suddenly turn dark, then the thunder starts, and then a few sprinkles. This was a bit more lively than the day before, though. With a little hail and a lot of wind thrown in. We battened down the hatches, so to speak, so we wouldn't have to worry about things and took off for the nearby town of Almo to have dinner. We don't eat out much, so having someone else do the cooking is quite a treat. We went to the Outpost Inn, a nice little steakhouse type restaurant. Good food, and some interesting Native American items decorating the place.

Our big outing on Sunday was a drive to the state park right next to City of Rocks. Castle Rocks State Park is much smaller than the national park, but much the same in appearance. It's also popular with climbers, and it's probably to them that we owe the great cell service in this area, as well as the fact that our campground has wireless.

Smokey Mountain campground, where we are staying, is actually part of the state park, though it's separated by a couple of miles. It's a really well designed campground. The spaces are wide, level, and very private, and there are a couple of yurts available for those without an RV. There's also an equestrian section that includes holding pens for horses and plenty of room for stock trailers. Showers, recycling centers, full hook-ups, and a thunderstorm every afternoon at 3:00. The spaces are surrounded with sage, yarrow, juniper and pine that send out heavenly aromas when the afternoon showers hit. What more could anybody want?

Well, actually, I could want better signage. When we arrived at the park we noticed a sign at the edge of the parking lot with a list of things we might see there, but no arrows or directions, and the world's dinkiest map was posted for reference, so after a lot of hiking around in circles we finally found what we were looking for - some very faint pictographs! See the notes in the photo album if you are interested in tracking them down.

The ranch house that is part of the park is now an inn of sorts, and so not open to anyone who is not a guest of the inn. It's a cute little building, but we don't know anything about it, as there was no information available at the park.

A single visitor's center, in Almo, serves both parks. You can get brochures and shop for gift items there. There's also a mercantile and another food and misc. items store in Almo, so if you forget something you can probably pick it up there.

Another storm came up late in the day, and this time brought a double rainbow over the valley. The perfect finish to a perfect day!

The good, the bad and the indifferent

If you've followed this blog for very long you know we've stayed in some really scenic places, some that have full services and are carefully maintained, others that are picturesque but very rustic, and then there's this one.

Last night we stopped in Fruitland, Idaho, to catch up on laundry and shop for groceries. The place we'd intended to stay turned out to be right on the railroad tracks. Been there, done that, didn't like it, so we kept looking. There are very few RV parks or campgrounds in this area, so we opted for the "bare bones" approach.

The Exit-3 RV Park (ing lot), behind the Fruitland Produce Barn, served our purposes, and you can't beat $15 for the night, with water and power. The "park" is fully graveled, full of maple trees, so there's lots of shade, and right on the edge of vegetable fields that supply the produce market in front. Even though the park is near the freeway it was not particularly noisy, as the freeway is elevated and noise seems to travel up. It was hot, so we left the bedroom door open a bit, and drifted off to sleep to the aroma of mint and lemon balm. There are worse things!

Today we are moving west, toward John Day, Oregon. As we leave the Great Basin area I have to say, it's been heartwarming to see all the small (by industry standards) farms and ranches that are well maintained and producing crops of corn, wheat, alfalfa, and salad crops. I've seen more ranchers than I can count on horseback, or on the ground mending fence with their horse waiting patiently to the side, fat, sleek (and presumably happy) cattle and horses, teenagers running large farm machinery, and small rural communities that still pull together no matter what the economy is doing. THIS is America, and yes, this way of life still exists. I do need to set the record straight on one thing - in the Great Basin they aren't "cowboys", they are "buckaroos". If you'd like to see more of what this life is like, check out this link Kurt Markus then click on "western archive". Kurt Markus has a feel for the lifestyle that most authors and photographers just can't equal. Click on the link for his book "Buckaroos", to see what that offers. He captures this area with a sensitivity unmatched by other photographers.

Rodents!@#@#!! and Payette Lake, Idaho

Not only have we had to battle the mouse issue, but now we have squirrels to contend with!

We're staying here at Payette Lake in Idaho, in Ponderosa State Park. It's a nice campground, with large spaces and lots of trees, shrubs and wildflowers, and we have water and power so we can get the batteries all recharged. It was a sign of things to come however, that while we were backing into our space we got a royal chewing out.

The Douglas squirrel who lives here in space 100 does not like visitors, and he's proceeded to remind us of that every time we go out the door. I've never heard such screeching and screaming from a critter, and now he's trying to carve himself a home in the underside of the RV! There are chunks of underliner all over the place, and he's still screaming at us! Local wildlife seems to be the highlight of this campground.

This morning a young red fox (coyote?) was basking in the sun in the vacant camp site across the road. He up and left when everyone started looking at him, but he didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry. In the afternoon we drove the "scenic loop" to get a different perspective on the lake. This is a natural lake, not a man-made reservoir, and very pretty.

Other than wildlife-watching, we've been pretty busy hanging out with Dale's friends and family, who are renting a condo on the other side of the lake. The kids are all having a great time with the jet skis. Payette Lake isn't crowded at all, compared to other lakes we've been to, so it's a lot safer for the jet skis and boats towing skiers.



In the evening we enjoyed a couple of our host's super Piña Coladas, then went out for a leisurely boat ride just at sunset last night. The evening light reflecting off the boat's wake was lovely, as was the peach colored sunset.What an enjoyable evening!

Chris shared his recipe with us, so check it out on our recipe blog. 
His wife Maria also shared her recipe for the wonderful eggplant Parmesan she made. That's on the Cookhouse blog too.

The closest town is McCall, which is clearly a tourist town - lots of galleries, boutiques and ice cream shops.The most outstanding feature we noticed was their pedestrian safety system. There are racks of bright  red flags at each corner and pedestrians are supposed to pick one up and wave it as they cross the street.

Leave it to my rabble-rousing husband to lean out the truck window and comment to three young men carrying flags "Where I come from we get five extra points for everyone we take out who's carrying a flag!". Sheesh - I can't take him anywhere!

We woke up this morning to rain, and the above mentioned rodent attacking our rig, so dealing with that is the next challenge. There's some helpful info in this article, Tips from eHow for protecting your RV from rodents. We've looked into repellent systems that require power but not only are they not particularly effective, we don't really need another drain on the power system, so we'll try all the tips in the article and see if we can prevent future problems.
Follow this link to see more photos from the lake.

Lake Cascade State Park, Idaho

We've been here in the Crown Point campground at Lake Cascade for four days. We're getting to like this slower pace!
We were worried about getting a site at first, as the reservation sites were all booked up, and the campground appeared pretty full, and the spaces small. As we worked our way through the loops however we found a perfect spot. We have a view of the lake, and it's fairly private due to the large granite boulders, shrubs, and the way the sites are staggered.

We're spending the days enjoying the lake and working on little projects. One of which is keeping our new little frig lit. We bought a portable three-way (12 volt, 120 and LP) and it keeps blowing out with only the slightest breeze. We'll get it figured out eventually! We're also catching up on our recreational reading. Neither of us had been able to do much of that for a long time.

Saturday we took a short drive north to the little old town of Roseberry. Our route takes us through what is generally known as Treasure Valley, and it is a treasure indeed. The rich soil and abundant moisture support farms that produce a variety of crops and grazing for livestock. There are no tract homes along our way, just carefully tended farms, some with log or bat-and-board cabins that have been here for generations. The scene is one postcard-perfect view after another, and quite a contrast to the heat and bustle of Boise, just a few miles away.

We finally arrived at Roseberry, just a couple of miles east of Donnelly. Actually, Roseberry was settled first, but when the railroad arrived and put in a stop at Donnelly, folks picked up their skirts and moved there, across the creek, where their businesses would convenient to the more modern mode of transportation. The consolidation is understandable, as this area gets a LOT of snow in the winter, so in those days traveling even a couple of miles to get to the train would have been a challenge.

The remains of the old town have been lovingly cared for.
The old general store is now a combination museum and gift shop. Shelves to the ceiling are "stocked" with antique canned and dry goods, and a talking mannequin dressed like the original owner (shown in a photo they have displayed) tells visitors the history of the store and the town. In between original antiques are replicas and other gift items for sale.

The old school, across the street, is also a museum but wasn't open while we were there.

The town was originally settled by primarily Finnish immigrants, and many of the little cabins are still standing and in good repair.

They are filled with furnishings, as if the owners just left, and can be enjoyed through the windows. The town has several live music events coming up, but our schedule unfortunately won't include any of them.






Leaving Roseberry, we went back to Donnelly for lunch. After hearing the story about how vigilantes ruled the valley in the old days, busting up pool tables and preventing dancing and the like, we just had to have lunch at Vigilantes Dance Hall & Eatery. 'Best burgers we've had in a long time, and not only the best fries and coleslaw, but very generous portions. The interior was fun too - great western decor, and a lot of quirky items, about which the owner was happy to provide "the rest of the story" when we asked about them. If you're in the area it's definitely worth stopping for a meal.

If you'd like to see more photos from this trip follow this link to the album .

Next stop, McCall, staying at Ponderosa State park, on Payette Lake, to meet Steve's brother and his family. We'll visit with them for a couple of days and then head for training camp.

De Lamar and Silver City, Idaho

We liked the Snake River RV campground so well we decided to stay another night. We're so close to Silver City, a ghost town we'd visited in the early '70's, that we thought we go back and see how it's weathered the years.

We took the route east from highway 95 turning east on Cow Creek Road we passed a couple of old but still working ranches and a lot of very well fed cattle. A few miles in we came to the site of De Lamar. This silver mining town was build by a retired ship's captain, and he named it after himself. He obtained several mining claims, built a school, hotel, stores and other buildings. The town pretty much folded up many years ago, though with the rise in metals prices there is an open pit operation opened up nearby.
As far as the town, there are only the tumbled down remnants of the mill and a few cabins in various stages of decay scattered along both sides of Jordan Creek. The two cabins we peeked in to are luxuriously furnished with large pack rat nests, made of the stuffing from mattresses left behind by the last human residents and large sticks the rats have collected. In front of one cabin remnants of a lady's garden, a lilac bush and small patch of rhubarb, are nearly overrun by wild roses and sagebrush.

They say all that glitters is not gold, and that's definitely true here. A short distance east of De Lamar the road sparkles like diamonds in the morning sun. The gem-like sparkles are actually only bits of eroded mica and quartz. The effect is a stark contrast to the other travelers we met on the road . . . we arrived at the peak of the annual Mormon cricket migration! The road was covered for miles with thousands of red and black crickets, all heading west! It's a little creepy to see so many insects move with such organized purpose!

Silver City is just east of the summit. The buildings are all privately owned, some serving as full-time residences, some as weekend cabins. Many are in various stages of restoration. The hotel and a gift shop are the only businesses in town, and they are open primarily on the weekend. There's a lot of snow in the winter, up there at over 6,000 ft., from 4-6 feet, so their season is May-October. Most residents leave town for warmer climes in the winter, leaving a solitary watchman in charge. The town hasn't had electricity for several years, so most of the buildings have solar panels and propane as their power sources. Understandably, they are very careful in their use of power.

We stopped in the hotel to chat with the owner and have a beer at the antique bar, and it was dark! 'Makes sense considering the limited power supply, and I'm sure the old timer's didn't have "lights on" during the day either. Whether one used candles or lamps, why would you use up fuel in the middle of the day?  As we sipped our beer we wandered around the edges of the dining room/bar enjoying the photos and antiques in display cases. We also invested in a book, "Ghost Towns of Idaho -  The Search of El Dorado", by Bruce Raisch. We won't have time this trip to explore very many of the towns he writes about but the book will be a great resource for planning future trips, and good reading. The author's website has info on ghost towns in other states too.

We drove around town, took a lot of photos as the old buildings are just too picturesque to resist, and then had lunch in the campground. So many of the old mining towns are disappearing due to vandalism, It was nice to see that the town's been so well taken care of.

Here's the slide show of the trip. Click on it to go to the larger version and get the captions.

Snake River RV Resort

We don't usually say too much about any of the private campgrounds we've stayed in because, frankly, there isn't much to say about most of them, and there are other blogs that do rate campgrounds and RV parks. This one is different! Right on the Snake River, near Homedale (just south of Boise) the Snake River RV Resort is more like a park.

All the spaces are grass, with huge trees that are kept trimmed just right for an RV to pull in to the space with no problems, but lots of shade. There are laundry facilities, a group shelter with BBQ right down by the river, benches everywhere, and the permanent residents (in mobile homes) all have nicely landscaped yards and are very friendly to us short-timers. Best of all, the park is quiet.

Most RV parks are near an interstate so you have to deal with a lot of traffic noise, none here! You can hear the birds sing, and as it's right on the river, there are a lot of them. We watched a quail family scoot around on the lawn yesterday, and pelicans were fishing in the river last night. If you happen to be in the vicinity stop in!