Escaping the Heat - Five Days at Fish Creek
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The scenery on the road leaving Jarbidge was mighty impressive.
It took awhile to find pavement again once we left Jarbidge. The road widened and was graded, but still gravel for the next 16.5 miles. A winding road followed the course of the river and the scenery was outstanding despite the road surface. We found pavement at last and then still had another 61 miles on a country road to Twin Falls, Idaho. It was a long way back to civilization, but we agreed it was worth every mile to have spent time in Jarbidge.
Who worries about rocks when bullets are flying?
Now where? We’d located a little free community park for overnight camping that we thought might serve our purposes for the night, but when we arrived, it was hot and open to the sun and all the restrooms were locked up tight. The next option was Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenn’s Ferry, Idaho about 60 miles up the road.
Three Island Crossing State Park - Pleasant but crowded
As luck would have it, there was one campsite available when we arrived. Though the park is pleasant enough, the campsites are cheek and jowl with little space and no privacy whatsoever. Even whispers carried clearly on the air to your neighbors We were guarded in our speech.. Comparatively speaking, the sites were expensive (~$35/night) considering many of the facilities (showers, for instance) were closed. But times are unusual and beggars cannot be choosers and we were happy to have a space for the night.
Emigrants on the Oregon Trail were at significant risk crossing the Snake River.
Ferries were later used to transport wagons and emigrants across the Snake River.
We biked the campground roads and wandered around the water treatment holding ponds next door (less than pleasant). We found a park trail map and walked for a couple of miles along the Snake River ending up at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Three Island Crossing was well-known by the emigrants who traveled the Oregon Trail. It was a perilous crossing of the Snake River, usually attempted in late summer when the waters were shallower and less tumultuous. The town of Glenns Ferry is named after the gentleman who established a ferry for crossing the river, a much easier and safer transit of the Snake River.
Capitol Building in Boise, Idaho
We were off mid-morning the next day, passing by vineyards en route. We never think of Idaho as wine country, but why not? We were heading for Boise… pronounced we’re told as Boy-see not Boys-zee. Boise is a lovely town, the capital city of Idaho. We spied the Capitol Building as we headed into the downtown area. We made a quick stop at Trader Joe’s... gotta have our 3-Buck Chuck and another at REI for a gazetteer. We were very tempted to purchase a Sasquatch Field Guide, but fought off the urge.
David had seen an article on Freak Alley, a downtown alley/pedestrian mall that was devoted to local street art, murals and graffiti. We parked Blue and threaded our way across downtown streets and through open mall areas till we reached our destination. It was an amazing display of street art... colorful, imaginative and entertaining.
Welcome to Freak Alley!
A visiting freak on Freak Alley
After a light picnic lunch and a walk at the lovely in-city Esther Simplot Park, we continued on our way,
We opted to leave I-84 for the more scenic Idaho-55 along the Payette River. The whitewater rapids were roiling and a multitude of rafting companies had rafts full of thrill-seekers on the river.
Rafters on the Payette River
As the day progressed, we finally found the Canyon Campground in the Boise National Forest. The sites were small and situated on a hill only a few feet off the highway. Surrounded by lodge pole pines and Douglas fir, you’d think this would be a lovely place. In truth, this was not one of our best campground picks. There were lots of critters around... mostly the 6 and 8-legged variety. The vault toilets were stinky and flies were everywhere. A spider set up shop inside the passenger window. He was the size of Buick (or according to others, maybe 1/2” long). David came to rescue and provided me with a confirmed kill before I could rest for the night.
Canyon Campground was not our fave.
Traffic noise, especially the rumble of logging trucks, was drowned out only by the thunderous sound of the rushing Payette River. During the night I couldn’t sleep and decided to turn on my iPad to read. Big mistake... every moth and winged bug within a 20-mile radius descended upon me en masse in hopes of sharing my light. Wakefulness is better endured in the dark.
We packed up early, anxious to leave this campsite as quickly as possible. We continued along the Payette River Scenic Byway, a circuitous route that hugged the river with steep roadside drop-offs through the canyon. It was hot, humid and hazy by noon. Cattle grazed lazily; newly bailed hay lay in the fields and the heat rose in currents on the road ahead... a typical hot summer’s day.
We stopped for our usual picnic lunch at the Bear Basin Trailhead. It was almost too hot to eat. We decided to stretch our legs and chose the Baby Bear Loop Trail. This hard-packed, well-trodden path meandered in and out of the sun which made it tolerable to walk. Big pod mariposa lilies were in bloom. Not sure about the Papa Bear or Mama Bear Trails, but the Baby Bear Trail was just right!
Big pod mariposa lilies on the Baby Bear Loop Trail
We passed through the cute little tourist towns of Cascade and McCall as we continued on our way. Folks here seemed oblivious to the pandemic... walking in crowds without masks. We had scoured the Idaho gazetteer to try to find a campground for a couple of nights. We were hoping for a little altitude to offset the steamy conditions that were forecast.
According to our gazetteer, the Nez Perce National Forest in Grangeville offered the Fish Creek Campground that looked ideal. Our only problem was finding it. We had specific directions to follow Forest Road 221 out of Grangeville for 8 miles. We could find no sign nor markings for this road and our GPS was at a loss to locate the Fish Creek Campground. We wandered unsuccessfully up one road and then another. We climbed up, up, up to a ski area thinking perhaps we were on the right track... still no sign of the National Forest nor the campground. We were just about to give up and turn around when we spotted a brown campground sign. Eureka! We’d found it.
The Fish Creek Campground was wonderful.
The campsites were large and well-spread out situated beneath 100’ tall evergreens. It offered everything we needed or wanted... clean vault toilets, level cement parking area, picnic table, fire ring... even lots of firewood left behind. We claimed a fine site and set up camp.
We were awakened in the middle of the night by rain... lots of rain. By the time we were sipping our coffee a few hours later, the rain hadn’t let up. We peeked outside. We’d stowed most things away the night before, but everything else... bikes, camp chairs, supplies on the picnic table, were dripping and drenched. This was not exactly what we’d had in mind. The sky was gray with ominous dark clouds on the horizon. We hadn’t picked up a weather forecast and had no cell coverage in the campground. Wait it out or leave? David had a blog to post, so we decided to pack up and head into Grangeville to try to find internet.
Grangeville is a small town... no Starbucks, no Mickey D’s. We headed to the library for Internet. It was closed, but luckily the local Chevy dealership had guest internet which we gratefully ‘borrowed’. Blog posted, we checked the weather and it looked promising for a sunny recovery later in the day, but with more scorching heat. Though Grangeville might be lacking a Starbucks, it does have an Ace Hardware (more important in our humble opinion) which provided the hardware David needed to modify the bike racks to fit our bikes. We decided to head back to the campground and were able to reclaim our same spot. We’d have lots to keep us busy for a few days and at 5200’, we’d escape the heat below.
Well-groomed paths of the Fish Creek Trails… great in winter and summer.
The weather cleared as promised as we headed out for a hike on one of the many forest trails. We chose the Cabin Loop, a 4-mile round trip loop to a winter ski shelter on the mountainside. This area is known for its groomed snowmobile and cross-country skiing paths in winter which offer great hiking, equestrian and mountain biking paths in summer. Last night’s rain had left parts of the trail muddy and puddled with a pungent, rich smell of wet earth. It was curiously quiet with only the sounds of our footfalls to break the silence.
Huckleberry Lynn
Save some for pancakes!
Most of the trail is shaded by tall evergreens. The short distances in the open sun were startlingly hot and humid. Brilliant red Indian paintbrush stood out like neon lights when contrasted with the lush forest greens. David found huckleberries. Many were not ripe, but a few over-achievers were bright blue and he tried them out. Some say they taste like blueberries, but David thought the flavor was closer to strawberries. We walked the entire loop and never found ‘the cabin’. At the moment a cold beer, some chips and a nap seemed more important. We’d try to find the cabin again another day. This camping life may be exhausting, but someone’s gotta do it.
Installing the bike racks
A clear blue sky on a warm, sunny morning greeted us the next day. David dove into the bike project. A faint breeze rustled the evergreen branches. Bees buzzed and squirrels chattered in a nearby tree. Bike racks successfully installed and chores complete, we set out on what we call the ‘No-Cabin Loop’ to find the elusive cabin. Now that David had identified huckleberry bushes, we found ripe ones everywhere and ate our way along the path. We saved enough for huckleberry pancakes the next day. After a couple miles, we found a rocky, uphill spur that looked promising and sure enough, there was a log cabin sitting solitary at the top of a hill. It was clean and tidy inside with benches and a wood stove. A stack of neatly piled firewood was just outside the door.
We finally found the cabin.
Graffiti covered every square inch of the cabin’s interior walls which begged the question.: Are Tara & Edward (July 2011) still together after all these years?
On the highest point of the slope, we found delicate sagebrush mariposa lilies.
By the time we returned to camp, it was late afternoon. We were tired and parched. Blue awaited us with cold beers in the fridge. A little reading, a little writing, a little planning, a little dinner, another campfire and another whole day has passed by.
While I made the promised huckleberry pancakes, David split wood for the evening fire. As we ate, we wondered whether Missouri has huckleberries. Otherwise, how did Huckleberry Finn get his name?
While we biked and hiked the next day, the campground slowly filled up. Big RVs and camper trailers occupied most every campsite. The folks who moved in next door to us had a big rig, every amenity known to man and a noisy generator which they situated behind their RV to muffle the noise... for them. Their generator droned on and on and on into the night. The next morning around 0630, it started up again. Yes, there are quiet hours (10pm-6am… a long time to run a generator), but even outside these hours it would hardly seem worth an altercation with neighbors to complain.
Despite the generator noise and our creature-comfort loving neighbors, we signed up for another two nights. We liked the campground and the cool temps, just not the noise. We headed into town for some supplies and a car wash for Blue. When we returned to camp, the generator was off and we enjoyed a delightfully quiet lunch. It was too hot for a long hike, so we wandered into the forest long enough to get our 10K steps and returned to find that the neighbors had sequestered themselves inside their RV with the A/C on and the generator rumbled loudly once again. We waited an hour... two hours... three hours. What to do? Complain or move? We sussed out the rest of the campground and unexpectedly found one vacant campsite next to a tent site, far away from the generator noise. We packed up and moved in minutes. Life was peaceful once again and all was right with our little corner of the world.
We were up early the next day, had a quick walk and a quick brekkie and packed up. Time to move on. Blue’s ‘check engine’ light had come on recently and David had made an appointment for the following week at a Coeur d’Alene Ford dealer to have it checked, get an oil change and a 60K check-up. We’ve traveled over 10,000 miles since we left Las Vegas in mid-June. We’re off to the northern Idaho and the Spokane Valley. Let’s see what we can get up to next?