This year we only passed through in the very early morning on the Great Train Adventure and never set foot on the ground.
The last thing we saw was Puget Sound in Washington. The train entered Idaho just north of Spokane, Washington, passed north of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, but it was not until we got north of Lori's hometown of Sandpoint, Idaho that there was enough light for photographs. At Bonners Ferry, Idaho we joined US Route 2 to parellel our 2008 route across Montana and North Dakota following the Kootanai River into Montana. Mostly we passed along the river with occasional fishing camps and a few farms in the more open valleys. Mostly mist overcast in the cool of the very early morning too early to even kick the rooster awake.
After our two weeks in the Salt Lake City, Utah area we headed up the eastern side of Idaho to Missoula, Montana before following Lewis and Clark across Lolo Pass to Lewiston, Idaho and it's Washington sister Clarkston, Washington where Lori's sister lives. Returning east after visiting the grandkids in the Seattle, Washington area we followed US Route 2 passing through Lori's old home town of Sandpoint, Idaho.
As promised at the end of our 2006 report we again stopped here in Idaho Falls and I took the time to photograph the entire length. Originally just a set of rapids, a retaining wall installed in the 1890s for a hydroelectric plant created a waterfall about a third of a mile long and later diverted water to support farming in the area. In the panorama below the dam wall is just at the top of the picture to show some of what remains of the original rapids.
Continuing north on Idaho 28 you can see much of what the early pioneers faced except they did not have the nice paved highway. It was sagebrush and jackrabbits with the occasional little friend like we saw here a a rest stop with a spring. The bear sculpture was rather obviously located in Salmon, Idaho where we joined Rt 93 to Missoula, Montana.
Taking US Route 12 from Missoula we were following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark with the major advantage of a highway. Here in late May at the top of Lolo Pass the snow is still piled up from clearing the parking lot so Lori can barely peek over the edge. I think it finally melts about August ready for winter.
Continuing down the Lochas River we are seeing a lot of these sort of semi waterfalls or great places for Steep Creekin'
in a kayak. Also try to imagine the struggles Lewis and Clark faced fighting their way through these heavy woods with only narrow Indian trails to follow. I was having a problem drooling over the wonderful rapids I am not allowed to paddle anymore.
Oh! These would be great places for surfing the waves.
Lori's sister took us on a grand tour of Orofino, Idaho and parts of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. Throughout the area the Camas which was a staple in the native American diet were in full bloom. The deer was also enjoying the plants until I stopped for a picture and she was fully alert.
We stopped here at the Heart of the Monster which is central to the Nez Perce creation legends and also just a very nice place for a short hike.
At another stop we found these butterflies searching for minerals essential to their eggs in the moist gravel. I also just had to stop to photograph what I classify as the typical Idaho farm complex. I know they are all different but this one just recalls Idaho very clearly. We were staying again at Hell's Gate SP where I spotted the osprey in one of the park trees. There are additional details of the Lewiston, Idaho area I put in this separate page.
Passing back east on US Route 2 the area was just so familiar that I never stopped to photograph what we know. I'll make up for it in covering a later year.
Lori was born and raised in Idaho and John graduated from both high school and college here so it should feel like returning home but neither of us have any strong attachments. Both of us have traveled so extensively there is really no place we really consider home
.
After our stop at Flaming Gorge, Wyoming we spent a few days at Idaho's Bear Lake SP which can best be described as rather primitive again without showers. If you want a bath go jump in the lake. The most memorable part was wind and sand and sand and wind. The camping pads were sand so it was very difficult to anchor the tent and the blowing wind made a good anchor essential. Several times the only thing keeping the tent from blowing away was all the stuff we had in it. If we stay again in this area it will probably be at Bear Lake SP in Utah which has much better facilities.
I mentioned before that we like nice bugs, well so does this guy sunning himself on the gravel in one of the pull-offs near Bear Lake. From here we made a slight dip through Logan, Utah before heading up through Twin Falls to Mountain Home for John's high school reunion. The reunion itself was somewhat disappointing since they combined John's class with the two prior that had graduated before he arrived from England. Such is the life of an Air Force brat.
Better than the reunion was a re-enactment of a pioneer river crossing at Three Islands Crossing SP near Glens Ferry. This was one of the best places to cross the Snake River heading up to Boise and the protection of the army garrison. Continuing up the south side of the river with better grazing may have saved a little time reaching southern Oregon with a substantially higher risk of Indian attack.
After the reunion in Mountain Home we headed up the Snake River Canyon on US-95 to Lewiston and a stay at Hell's Gate SP which is just across the river from Lori's Sister in Clarkston, Washington.
After establishing residency in Washington we returned to Idaho through Oregon and a stay at Bruneau Dunes SP just south of Mountain Home. Unfortunately on the way from Oregon a rock bounced off the trailer and broke the tempered glass window in the back of the truck cap. We suddenly had thousands of little glass pieces throughout the back of the truck and no way to lock it. Scrambling a bit we found a piece of smoke grey plexiglass in Mountain Home and John was carrying enough tools to cut it into the right shape and fit it in the window frame.
Bruneau Dunes is a glacial legacy from the Bonneville Flood event. The discharge carved a pocket canyon that is a perfect wind focus. No matter which way the wind blows it swirls along the edge of the canyon to pick up sand grains and deposit them in this pile almost 500 feet high. Bruneau Dunes is also in the middle of absolutely no place with low light pollution and an excellent location to see stars and meteor showers that was the focus of a later visit.
The dunes are also part of a fascinating geological history that starts in eastern Oregon and extends through the Craters of the Moon National Monument to Yellowstone Park. Over the last 15 to 20 million years the North American Plate has drifted over a hot spot that blew a series of caldera some 50 to 100 miles wide and then slowly filled them in with subsequent lava flows. The park itself covers over a thousand square miles preserving vast lava flows that seem to go forever. The main hot spot is now driving the geysers at Yellowstone but additional lava flows here are likely.
After a couple more days in Idaho Falls which I'll cover in more details of a later visit it was on to Wyoming.