Labor Day Weekend in Kansas

I spent Labor Day weekend in Kansas visiting family. It was quite a whirlwind trip.

Saturday we went to the OSU football game and watched them crush what was referred to as a "nobody" team. Washington State is not a "nobody" where I live! But it was fun to see the Cowboys win!





Then on Sunday, my mom and I drove to Topeka for the day to celebrate my Grandma's birthday. My uncle Jim made the best biscuits and gravy I have ever tasted - no kidding. We had four desserts to choose from! Then we went to my aunt Anne's new house, and I finally got to meet Camelot.



Three generations.



Of course, I spent time playing with Susie too.

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.

4-Wheeler Trip to Riordan Lake

We decided the word of the day on Friday was adventure. It started when Brent ordered Mexican Meatball soup when we stopped for dinner in Cascade. None of us had ever heard of meatball soup. None of us had been to Riordan Lake either, except for Kendra, and that was 20 years ago and not on 4-wheelers.

We only took a wrong turn once. And the road wasn't too bad until it turned into a trail for the last 2 miles - narrow and winding through a forest, crossing a stream several times on very narrow bridges, and turning into deep, muddy muck holes in half a dozen places. It was getting dark, and my headlights made the rocks seem larger that they really were and not in the expected locations. I was disappointed when we got to the lake, it was too marshy, and we had to head back up the rocky trail to a campground we passed previously on the edge of a meadow. But we made it, setting up our tents by the lights of our 4-wheelers. Before going to bed, we decided the word of the day for Saturday would be serendipity, which is just wrong, but I think it worked, kind of.

It turned out to be a nice camp complete with wildflowers and lots of firewood - after Rick and Brent cut and split it.

We hiked down to the lake for a little fishing. The inlet winding through the marshy meadow was so pretty.

Just before lunch we got back on the 4-wheelers and headed out for the day.

Our first stop was Yellowpine. We had lunch at the tavern and then went for a stroll down main street.

Then Kendra said, "Hey, is that a Monkey?"

Our next stop was Cinnabar mine. We missed the road and had to ask some campers for directions. They said to go past the "Glory Hole" and then the road is on the right at the second bridge. We had passed the Glory Hole on the way up, but I hadn't noticed. How could I miss this glorious hole!

I love it when Rick catches frogs. (So does he!)




We finally found Cinnabar. What a cool ghost mining town.




The trip was farther than expected, and we had to stop for gas back in Yellowpine. The general store sold us two gallons. We drove about 90 miles on the 4-wheelers that day!




Too tired to make our tortellini with shrimp and marinara, we finished the night by the campfire with shrimp on a stick.

Backpacking to Lost Lake

Rick and I have both done some backpacking in the past, but we have never been on a trip together. This weekend was our first! I took him to one of my favorite spots - Lost Lake in the Frank Church Wilderness. We drove to within 1 mile of the trailhead Friday night to get a head start. The little yellow jeep did great!


The hike into the lake is pretty easy, especially in the cool early morning. We woke up around 6:30 and were on the trail by 7:45. It was about a 1-2 mile hike to the lake. The first, and probably the coolest, thing we encountered when we got there was this deer. She was very close to the trail and not at all afraid of us.


Rick suspected she was lonely since a few minutes later she appeared in our camp and then slept with us all night (not in the tent of course)! See her in the background between our heads?


I can't believe we were the only ones at a lake this beautiful and easy to get to. Rick took some time to fish while I did some reading.





This, however, is my favorite trophy fish photo!


Here we are sitting around the camp fire and keeping our scotch cold in a pan of snow (to my left - with the red bottle cap).


My photography skills are definitely not something to write home about, but I think this one is pretty good.


Our license plates don't say "Scenic Idaho" for nothin'!

Kansas Visits

I've been able to visit Kansas twice so far this year. The first was for my Dad's birthday in April. Mom and I drove to Topeka for a day and got this great shot with Aunt Anne and Grandma.



The second trip was for the 4th of July. Both of my cousins, Scott and Paul, were going to be there, so I decided to go too. I spent a whole week hanging out in Ark City with my parents and Susie, catching up with old highschool friends, and seeing all the Kuhns in Topeka.



I didn't take many family photos for some reason, but a did get a shot of Paul and his little girl, Stella...



...and a great one Scott and me with Grandma.



On my last day, Mom, Dad and I drove by this beautiful field of sunflowers on our way home from lunch. I love Kansas.