Woodhead Park

Idaho Power has created some spectacular lakes and dams and the camping around them is truly an experience. The ride to get there was other-worldly.

We stopped to take a lot of pictures.

The road to get there was winding and there were no cars.

A butterfly landed on my toes.  :)

And we saw some old equipment that looked like creatures to me.

When we arrived at this park we thought it was so awesome looking there that we would stay for the night instead of crossing the state line into Oregon.  We were only about 5 miles away but a camping experience here was not to be missed.  We got the best site in the whole place by pedaling about a mile into the park and picking a spot right on the water.

See the man fishing?  Kind of gives some perspective on how huge these hills were.

Ken found a fallen Aspen earlier in the day and was working on making a walking stick.

The sun began to set and things started to change...  it just kept getting more and more beautiful.

All around us was this stunning scenery...

And a bright pink and purple sunset.  I liked how the light reflected on that couple down by the shore.  It was like a spotlight was shining right on them.

It didn't help them catch any fish though, according to them.  We were kind of surprised the next morning to see that they had slept out, on just a mattress with no tent.  Kinda romantic, huh?

The sun finished it's evening ritual and soon after the moon came out. It made reflections across the entire lake all night long....

As we slept soundly...

Along the Salmon River

I have never been white-water rafting.  After riding along the Salmon River, it has become a must-do.  The river is wide and fast and goes through some incredible places where towering rock cliffs come straight up out of the water.  The only way to see those parts of the river is to take a boat 80 miles into the canyon and spend a week rafting back.  The parts we saw were still spectacular, but unfortunately it was rainy and the pictures are only so-so.  You can still get an idea, I hope...

This was near Riggins, where Hells Canyon begins.

This fruit stand had the best stuff in it!  We got some tomatoes and onions for our sammiches later, and we got some huckleberry honey.  YUM!  Huckleberries are big around here.  They are like blueberries, but smaller and better.  I also got a huckleberry sucker (a suckleberry) but I lost it.  :(

Look at those peaches!  A lot of people don't know this, I didn't, but there are a lot of peaches in this part of the country, and I believe them to be the best I've ever tasted.  Sorry Georgia!

They gave me the info on their fruit stand so I could put it on my blog, but I lost that too.  Sorry guys.  I lost the bag that had my sucker in it and your brochure.

I like Airstreams.  They are the coolest RVs.  We kept seeing this one over and over so I took a picture of it. I think they are kind of artsy or something, I don't know.  Anyway, later that night, when we arrived at our campsite in Pollock, the owners of this rig were our next door neighbors!  They told us about raft trips on the Salmon River - the woman was a tour guide!  What a great job that would be, right?

Ooo...This sign scared us so we went down the road to this place instead...

You'd never know it just walking in, but way in the back is an awesome sammich shop.  They have all kinds of good things to put on your made to order meal, even sprouts!  It was excellent.  Thanks to Alfred from SwiftwaterRV for telling us about it.  

It started to rain more which made this construction area a muddy mess.  All those cars had to wait for us to slowly pedal our way through the mush.

There sure has been a lot of road work on our trip.

"Ken, I think I have a flat tire!!!"

It finally happened!  On a rainy day, too!  I am a real cyclist now.  :)  Ken fixed it quickly and we got back on the road.  We ended the day in Pollock, an oasis for travelers in this area.  There was nothing around at all, no real town to speak of, and it would rain for two days.  It was a nice place to be stuck though.

Our soaking wet camp site by the river.

We slept in our tent and stayed cozy and dry, but in the mornings we headed here:

We worked on JenTiles...

And we blogged...  And since there was no phone service here, we also learned how to make calls over the internet.  I had a live chat session with Diane.  It was great to see her face but the connection was just too bad for us to talk very well.  Love you Diane!

We also did a lot of resting, which felt really really good.

What a good dog.  :)

Grangeville to White Bird via Old Hwy 95

What a fantastic ride this was!!  Well, once we got up this really long hill it was...

This part wasn't very fun.  See that car at the bottom of the hill?  It was a cop, and it took us so long to get to the top of this hill that we saw him pull over 4 or 5 people.  Then we rounded the corner and had more miles of uphill to ride.  I don't know how many miles it was, but we were sure glad to get to the top.  The view from up there was (once again, I'm afraid I am out of suitable adjectives)...  Here, I will just show you:

See what I mean?  Ooo!

Simon got up on this rock to pose for the camera.

We used this one for his new Dogbook Profile pic.  Jeesh.  So silly.  I couldn't resist, though.

I just love my little dog so much.

And he loves me too.  :)

We took a break together in the long grass, just taking a moment to soak up the scenery.

When we got off the main road and started down Old Hwy 95 we couldn't believe our eyes.  Old 95 has huge sweeping switchbacks and no traffic.  There's not even a center line painted on the road.  We were able to get some stunning pics...  Check these out:

Here we go!

Are you ready?  Weeeeeeee!!

Look how tiny I am!

This sky was just incredible!

When we finally got to the bottom we cruised through the little town of White Bird, and past the battlefield where the Indians defeated the US Army.  Interestingly, there weren't any Indians in the area.  Not that we saw anyway.  We stopped at SwiftwaterRV and spent the night on the Salmon River.  It was beautiful there and the accommodations were top-notch.

The willows were wonderful.

Alfred was an interesting character who kept us engaged in conversations about his many worldly experiences, most importantly, the raising and home schooling of his son.  Of his many accomplishments, this one seemed to mean the most to him.  Once on the fast track, Alfred and his wife slowed down and focused instead on their son, which was impressive to us.  We always like meeting folks who have simplified their lives and who live their priorities.  Thanks for the stimulating conversation, Alfred.

Love this shot of Simon on the Salmon River.  He had SO MUCH FUN running around in the deep sand.

He ran until he was too tired to run anymore, then wanted me to carry him back to the tent.  I don't think so!  We walked back to the tent and after dinner went right to bed.  It had been a long day...  Up a huge hill, down a switchback, landing alongside the river, a run on the beach...  Yep, we were tired.  And we slept great.  It was so peaceful there...  that is until the next morning when our friend Brian shared a link to a Neil Diamond song on FB.  When I came out of the shower, instead of hearing the relaxing sounds of the nearby river, instead I heard Neil and Ken singing "Brother's Love Traveling Salvation Show" together.  It was so funny.  Thanks for that Brian!

I love waking up to this.  :)  Bye everyone!