We left Portland almost a month ago and
we've only made it to Idaho. We started off by heading up to central
Washington and then over to Seattle to meet Matthias' parents. We
spent just over a week with them around the Puget Sound, Olympic
Peninsula and back to Portland. Some stressful moments but a good
visit overall. Now we're on our own with about two months to get to
Florida.
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| Family Photo in Olympic NP |
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| Matthias and his dad in Anacortes |
We took a bit of a detour, opting not
to go to Glacier National Park because of the fires. We probably
could have made it, but when I called one of the campsites where we
wanted to stay and asked about the fires, the response was “well,
there's smoke and high winds today – try calling again tomorrow.
But don't worry about finding a place, there's plenty.” That, plus
a town in Montana near one of the other campsites I wanted to stop at
was being evacuated. Not sure we made the right decision, but here
we are.
Instead, we headed toward the Wallowa
mountains, stopping at a nice site outside La Grande where we caught
our first glimpse of wildlife (Elk!) and took care of laundry,
propane, etc. Our next stop was Wallawa Lake, which was nice and
then along the Wallowa Scenic Loop to a national forest campsite
recommended by the welcome center guy in Joseph, Oregon. Next day,
our second wildlife encounter and huge highlight on the Indian
Crossing trail – spawning salmon at blue hole! The hike was great,
too, and we were the only ones on the trail, even though it was the
Friday before Labor Day. Even the ranger we met afterward at the
trailhead was surprised. I said maybe people didn't want to camp if
they couldn't have a fire (campfires were banned so we didn't get to
have one yet) but she replied that as of the night before, fires were
permitted in established campsites. Of course, we raced back to our
campsite, gathered wood and started a fire. And then, as if on cue,
it started to rain. Well, I sat by the fire and cooked my spud in it
anyway, dammit!
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| By the Blue Hole in the Wallowa Mtns - think this will be my new FB photo! |
Next day, we set off for Idaho, and
even though it was Labor Day weekend, we hoped the campsites would be
available there as well. We checked a couple up in the mountains in
the Boise National Forest but they were full. Fortunately, the host
of one of them told us about a nearby airstrip where we could camp
for free (toilet and drinking water, but no campfire allowed). We
were the only ones there!
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| On our morning hike at Warm Springs, Idaho |
“We flew up to do some fishing”
The next morning, after a lovely hike,
we came back to the airstrip to see that a small plane had landed. A
woman and small child were sitting by the plane – her partner had
gone down to the river to fish. In the afternoon, we walked down to
the nearby campsite and hot spring, where I took a dip (along with
lots of others – it being the holiday weekend) and then back to the
campsite in time to watch the plane take off. Fab!
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| Take-off |
We spent Labor Day (and our
anniversary) at a riverside campsite in the Sawtooth Mountain
recreation area where we could have a fire, and relaxed a bit before
crossing the rest of Idaho, which we are doing now. Another night in
Idaho and then on to Jackson, Wyoming!
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