Backpacking near McCall

In early August we made two backpacking trips out of McCall, ID. It was our first time backpacking in this area. We'll probably go there more often now that we realize a few things: McCall is only about a 2 hour drive from Boise, there are good places to eat in McCall before/after the trip, there are lots of lakes to hike to, and surprisingly there aren't too many people.

Hike #1

Our first trip was about 2.5 miles to a no name lake. The first part was on the trail to Duck Lake. Then we headed cross country, and up a steep hillside, to this no name lake our friend Mike told us about. I'm not a huge fan of cross country hikes, especially when we don't have a GPS or even a map with us! But Rick is a pretty good navigator, and he took us right to the lake. My belly-aching, as usual, was unnecessary as Idaho mountain lakes never cease to disappoint. It's almost always worth a grueling hike in exchange for the serene beauty to be found at the top.





Hike #2

Our second hike was to a group of four lakes. The one we chose to camp at was called South Lake. After the previous weekend's cross country hike, I happily agreed to a 4 mile hike on-trail into these lakes. Well.....it turned out to be more like 6 miles, and the elevation gain was a killer! For the first time in Idaho, the pain really wasn't worth the gain. The area had recently been burned, and it just wasn't that pretty. We both agreed we would not be doing this hike again. On the positive side, we did have a completely clear and still night and were able to sleep in our new mesh tent with no rain fly. AND there was a full moon.

Backpacking with Jennifer

My best friend all the way back from third grade, Jennifer, came to visit in late July. We took her backpacking to our favorite little destination, Lost Lake.

ALL kinds of things went wrong - a flat tire on the way IN, disintegrating hiking boots, fishing poles left behind, and a minor auto accident.

BUT we had fun together. AND Jennifer said she would go again!

Swanholm

We made our annual four-wheeler camping trip on Swanholm Peak in mid July. The road to the lookout at the top was snowed-in still, so we settled for building an inuk shuk.



The next morning, our friends Gabe and Tanya arrived. We left our 4-wheeler's behind, braved the snow, made a hike to the top.





Then we tried something new - a ride into the little town of Atlanta for dinner. The views along the ride were very beautiful.



We were quite impressed with our dinner at The Hub.

Backpacking-Summer-FINALLY!

Summer finally got here, and although it hasn't been warm long enough to melt the snow in the prime backpacking areas, we did make it out last weekend for an over-nighter.

We walked about 10 miles before we figured out we must have passed our destination. No matter. Our packs are significantly lighter this year thanks to some new super-light gear. Plus, we needed the exercise.

Here we are at the trailhead on Saturday morning - super happy to be out in the warm sunshine. You'll see more of the orange article around my neck. A new favorite item; it has many uses.



Wildflowers and butterflies everywhere.






We turned into pirates.




The sun set beautifully, and we woke to a crisp, sunny morning.

Northern Idaho & Couer D'Alene.

In early June we made a road trip to Northern Idaho with the ultimate destination of Coeur D'Alene. The landscape drastically changes at Whitebird pass.





Had Susie been with us, we would have stayed here.



We arrived in Coeur D'Alene on Saturday afternoon. It was graduation day, and the lake front was packed with people having a good time. We found a shady spot to hang out and enjoy the view. We loved it.

Home of the Maniacs

Rick and I spent a weekend in Orofono, ID, back in August. Orofino is in Northern Idaho and very close to the location where Rick will hunt White Tail this fall. The other thing about Orofino is it's the home of the Maniacs. Seriously, the Maniacs is the high school mascot - at least it used to be. I heard they changed it a few years ago. At any rate, we were able to get T-shirts at the flower shop, of all places.

We stayed at the Best Western on the Clearwater River in the "Whiskey" suite. A great relaxing weekend for me, and great deer scouting for Rick.

Here is the view from our room.



In some ways, Northern Idaho reminds me of home.





In other ways, not so much.

Merriam Lake

Rick and I did a 2-night backpack trip into Merriam Lake in the Lost River Range, which contains the highest peak in Idaho - Mt. Borah - at 12,668 ft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borah_Peak

I climbed Borah back in 2003. Grueling. I won't do that again. This is me at the top. What I like to brag about is the fact that I still have those very same pants and boots. They have survived nearly 10 years in Idaho, including crawling across Chickenout Ridge on my way up Borah. I still have the jacket and daypack too.



But that's another story. Back to Merriam...

The drive is quite long, and very rough in the end, from Boise. The hike is about 2 miles and fairly steep - about 1400 ft elevation gain. It is well worth it.

Here is a view of the range from our drive in Friday afternoon.



We woke up to a pretty sunrise on Saturday morning.



Then I did a bit of yoga.



We knew there was a no-name lake nearby, so we set off cross-country to find it.



We found the lake nestled in the barren peaks. Can you find Rick in this photo?



Then, we took some fun photos...



...and built an Inukshuk!





We made it back down to camp just in time to hide in our tent from a pea-size hail storm that made the ground white. When the rain stopped, Rick snapped this unreal shot of the lake.



We went for a walk along the lake after dinner. Here's a look back at our campsite, most easily identified by the red food bag and the yellow flames from our campfire.



The reflections on the lake at dusk were quite amazing.



Merriam Lake is, without a doubt, the most beautiful place I have seen in Idaho - one of the most beautiful places I've seen in the world.

Soldier Lakes

The first thing that went wrong was we left the scotch in the freezer at the house on Friday afternoon. Oh well, I thought, I'll just carry in some cans of beer. Not the ideal backpacking beverage, but it'll have to do.

The second thing that went wrong was I left the beer in the cooler in the jeep.

It's not that we can't have fun without alcohol, but it's nice to sit by the fire in the evening after a long day of hiking and have a drink.

The last straw, however, was when Rick announced he had walked all over and found not a stick of firewood. OK, camping without beer is one thing. Camping without a fire is totally unacceptable. At least that's how we feel about it.

Well we didn't have much else to do, so we went on a journey in search of something to burn. We ended up making a litter and piling it with as many sticks we could find. We had to go quite a ways from the camp and up, up, up a very steep hillside before we found anything. It was quite a chore, but at least we had a fire.

Otherwise, our trip to Soldier Lakes was pretty uneventful. Our map wasn't quite right, but we found where we were going. The lake where we camped was pretty, the camp site was really nice (perhaps a bit over used), and we were the only ones there. Rick caught a few fish. Here are some photos.

Our hike.


Our lake.


Our camp.


Our fire.


Our view.