Blue Sky!

August 30, 2015

Where are my humans?  They have been gone forever?  I WANT MY HUMANS!  It is dark!  I am hungry!

Hmmm... what's that smell... CLEAN AIR!  I look out the window, BLUE SKY!  It was windy last night.  Maybe the wind decided to blow some of the smoke away!  My morning walk was a repeat of yesterday, except there was fresh air and blue sky.  This is too nice.  Maybe Spouse will want to do a bike ride.

While I was walking, a herd of elk came right outside our camp.  I missed them and Spouse didn't photograph them... what was he thinking!  He got our bikes ready and we headed back down the Shoup road.  We rode a few miles back, looking at the geese, a heron and some ducks.  It is a little breezy, it feels like fall is in the air.  I know we have to start heading out, but it is going to be real hard leaving this area.  It was the perfect bike ride in that the hills were gentle and the scenery is beautiful beyond description.

Today, we take it easy, as tomorrow, we must leave.  Spouse washed the truck.  After the past couple of days being on dirt roads, it was pretty bad.  It is very windy now, and there are clouds in the sky.  Maybe it will rain?????  Did I mention it was windy?

Off the road and then some

August 29, 2015

I must guard the humans.  Are there more mousies?  Lemme sit here and watch.  Be patient...

I took my morning walk heading up the road towards the town of Shoup.  What a spectacular view.  The Salmon River and its valley wind around and down.  Canyon sunflowers are still in bloom lining the road as are some other yellow desert scrub flowers.  It is still smoky, not quite as bad as yesterday.  It is actually a little humid today.  Maybe a drop of rain will fall.

After a big breakfast, Spouse and I decide to take some of the back roads along the trail that Lewis and Clark explored.  We left our guide, Rudy-jawea to guard the homefront.  Turning on to the road to Shoup, the road follows the river.  Shoup is 17 miles down the road.  The road ends at Corn Creek, about 46 miles down.  An occasional picnic area pops up along the water.  You can camp at any of these areas should you choose; just pull over and enjoy.  They certainly have made camping easy here.  And it is clean.  We have seen very little trash strewn around.  It is very impressive.  The road is paved until about 2 miles from Shoup, and then it is a really nice dirt road.  Nothing like our 4th of July Creek adventure!  Every turn is a new scenic vista.  The town of Shoup is essentially a tiny store and restaurant.  It has a couple of really old gravity fed gas pumps outside.  Talked to a few of the visitors and decided to head to Corn Creek. 

It is the weekend so there are quite a few rafters out.  We see lots of wildlife; pronghorn sheep, a bald eagle sunning itself, chukar, deer.  We can only imagine what Lewis and Clark saw through here.  Outside of the road, it is relatively untouched.  Hundreds of miles down river, there are dams, there are also wildfires down there so rafters have to pull out at Corn Creek.   We pass through a tiny community of RVs and a couple of really nice houses.  For the most part, these are all off the grid.  We see a few houses across the river.  Since there is no road access, we certainly wondered about the logistics of building the homes.  A couple of them have trolley stations on both sides of the river so they can essentially zip line home.  But using those small trolleys to actually build the place is questionable.  Wild elderberry is growing along the road.  Not yet ripe though.  After watching the pronghorn sheep clean the ashes out of the barbecues at the campground at Corn Creek, we retrace our steps to the point of Panther Creek.

This is a smaller road, following a smaller creek.  Miles of wildfire denuded mountains are on one side of the creek.  The other side still has pines.  We pass through several different types of areas from forested, to desert scrub, to rocky mountains.  A variety of firs; douglas, noble and lodgepole pines follow us with some new pines, aspens, poplars, willows and cottonwoods, not to mention the forest scrub.  This road is smaller, but we are not seeing any other vehicles.  We turn to even smaller roads that are rockier and follow different creeks.  The Forestry service provides a great map of off road trails.  We could go on forever, it is time to get off the dirt. 

We end up on a road south of Salmon.  We finally hit pavement and we are on a beautiful back road by ranches and farms.  After a nice dinner, we head to the Salmon Stampede.  No, that is not a bunch of salmon with tennis shoes running the streets!  It is a rodeo, you know, one of those events where people torture farm animals in the name of fun!  There is the show inside the gates, then there are the human farm animals... those that gorge on county fair type food, let the kids run all over and generally strut their stuff.  Note to the girl trying to look like Cameron Diaz... yeah you in the black top and burgundy pants... the pants are too small!  Nobody wants to look at your ass!  Save that for plumbers...

Spouse, do we have ice in the ice chest?

Yes.

Ok, when we stop at the store, I gotta get something too.

Why are you going to the ice chest, it is probably all water now.

I thought you said we had ice?

That was this morning.

Why didn't you say that when I asked you if we had ice?

ARGH!!!!  Anybody want him?  He can be yours for a small fee... maybe even for free...

4th of July Fireworks

August 28, 2015

I caught a mousie!  I caught a mousie!  I caught it, I played with it, I ate part of it.  My humans will be so proud when they see what I left them!

SMOKY!  The smoke is incredibly dense.  It was like a campfire outside our bedroom as the smell wafted across as we slept.  The sky was obsured by the smoke.  You can see the haze in the pictures.  Oh well, let's fish!  Notice the bald eagle observing...

But wait... what is that on the floor?  Eeewww!  It is the hind end of a mouse!  Ewwww!  Oh no... the other night when Rudy was chasing something on the bed by my head... oh no... EEEWWWW!  I bet he brought the mouse on our bed!  GROSS!

After a brief stint of fishing (Spouse  caught a trout but we let it go), we decided to head up to Stein Mountain Lookout.  It is a fire lookout (getting lots of use this year, no doubt!), up a dirt road called 4th of July Creek.  We pack a lunch and head out.  Oh wait... left front tire is low.  Spouse uses his little compressor to fill it, and we note there is a nail in the tire...  We will take it down to Salmon tomorrow.  In the meantime, Spouse packs the compressor just in case.

The road starts out paved, going past homes on large properties.  After about a mile, we pass a sign that says 'beer' with a picture of a bear with antlers, the road turns to dirt. 

  Beautiful properties, many for sale, some with ponds, others with creeks.   The homes fade to woods, where the undergrowth is turning to the fall colors.  As the road continues, it gets a little rockier.  As we turn on the bridge crossing Big Hole Creek, the road gets a lot rockier.  Into 4wd we go, it is like riding on Indiana Jones at Disneyland.  We are going slow.  The road gets narrower.  If another car comes by, somebody is going to be doing a whole lot of backing up.  I am really glad I made that one last trip to the bathroom before we left!  The road climbs.  Look how steep it is going down!  Wow!  The road climbs through forest, then through what looks like major rock slides.  Uphill are a gazillion boulders waiting to fall to greet the gazillion boulders on the downhill side of the road.  The road gets narrower still.  We are crawling.  DON'T LOOK DOWN!  Spouse, DON'T FIDGET!  Both hands on the wheel!  We climb.  I look down and see a lake.  It is WAY down there!  Don't look!  We are uncomfortable with the way the road is slanted.  It leans to the downhill side instead of the uphill side.  I have to go to the bathroom again, and so does Spouse.  His is big potty, can he wait till we get to the watchtower...  The road is really rocky and slanted and we actually start to skid.  The 4wd does the job, but there is finally a clearing and we both 'use the bathroom'.  Not a chance to hold it a minute longer after that!   It seems we are at the top, then we turn a corner and another mountain creeps on in for us to climb!  At this point, it gets a little less rocky and we continue on.  The slant is not as bad.  Finally, we get to the top.  All I can think of is the ride back down... Ugh!

We are on top of the world.  Unfortunately, the smoke kills the view.  We can see some of the peaks popping through, but that is it.  We could only imagine what this view is like on a clear day. 

The keeper of the watchtower is Bob.  There is a weather station and a wind sock should a helicopter need to land.  The tower is roughly 20x20 with windows all around.  And this is where Bob lives 5 days a week.  His bathroom is an outhouse about 30 feet down the hill.  He does have a basement for storage, and a carport for his truck.  With his windows, there is no privacy, but who needs it there!  He has a heat stove, a mini kitchen, tools of his trade and a bed.  He has to bring his own food and water.  Occasionally, someone else will bring it up for him.  On a day like today, with so much smoke from so many fires, there is not much for him to do. So this is how he has spent his summers for the last 13 years.  Interesting.

But now, we have to go back down the mountain.  I start out walking while Spouse finishes talking to Bob and gets turned around.  I haven't been doing my walks the last couple of days so why not in this beautiful setting.  Spouse finally catches up to me and we start down.  At 'potty field' Spouse pulls over to put air in the tire.  That takes a while, so I start to walk again.  Much better to walk down this awful slanted spot than to ride in it anyway. Spouse catches up to me after a while.  We rock, we roll.  Now I am on the other side of the view looking up and looking down.  Long way down...  and steep, wow.  It is somewhat comforting knowing that we can only roll about a couple of thousand feet rather than 5 thousand feet, go figure.  We finally get down to the sane part of the road.  Spouse needs more air in the tire, so I walk, carrying a trekking pole should I need to fend off a wild critter.  Spouse finally catches up to me and we figure we better get down to Salmon and get the tire fixed.

Down to Salmon, tire fixed, grocery shopped, and dinner eaten, back up we head.  Do a little fishing on the way back.  See a beaver with his tail out of the water.  That was so cool!  No fish to catch... time to call it a night and have my vodka tonic.   Nothing like sitting outside with my cocktail and my cat with a bald eagle circling overhead.  No wonder why Rudy was uneasy!  Now he is sitting over by the recliner again... looking for his next toy to expose itself.  Ugh...

Browns vs. Salmon River - Part 2

August 27, 2015

I found the weirdest critter.  I wanted to play with it but my humans stopped me.  They probably thought I would eat it.  I would.  My humans got me my own chair.  I love it!

The morning started with tying new lines for the fishing poles.  Spouse has these magnifying glasses you attach to a hat.  You can really see what you are doing when you look through those.  You can also see how bad your cuticles are, and that your nails are uneven and really need some filing!  Will today's fishing be a repeat of yesterday...

Back we go... my first cast... eaten by a new rock.  Then we started finding the places.  We each caught some junk fish (mine was the biggest).  But Spouse caught the most.  He even caught 3 trout!  He wins the prize!  There was some snagging, but not as bad as yesterday.  I did keep snagging on a line that was in the water - probably mine from yesterday!  We pulled that out.  All the while, a bald eagle was watching us... probably waiting for us to leave our fish guts for him.  I gotta tell ya, I just cannot put a worm on the hook.  I have to go to Spouse for hook wormage.  He also has to take my fish off the hook.  I will cast and hold the pole and untangle tho.

Look closely in the tree for the bald eagle.

We broke for lunch and a short walk into town.  By 'short', I mean pretty much next door.  We did take the long walk up the driveway to the Ranger Station.  We got a map of roads in the area and decided we need more days here.  More fishing tomorrow, a rodeo on Saturday, roads to explore...

Our neighbor encouraged us to cross the river for some more fishing.  The current is fast and you have to go slow.  We found a shallow spot and made our way.  At one point, you have to turn into the current or you will go down even though it is only knee deep.    We fished there, just junk fish.  Lots of critter prints, some of them quite large.

After our trout dinner, we fished some more.  We picked up these nifty gizmos that you use on your fishing pole to minimize snagging.  The overachiever that I am proved I could snag that too...  It just amazes me how I can just look at the fishing pole and the line will tangle.  I don't even have to touch it.  Give it some stink eye and you may spend days untangling the thing.  Spouse caught another trout.  Such a talent! I hope when I have 60 years of fishing experience, I will be as good as he is!

 The smoke is incredibly thick tonite.  We hear they are canceling rafting trips because of the fires.  What a mess.

By the way, how many times can Spouse knock over Rudy's litter box in a 5 minute period?

Uh oh

August 26, 2015

Ha ha!  My paternal human took me off the leash to let me wander through the trees.  Then when he went  to catch me, I stayed out of reach.  Then the maternal human came and I did it some more.  Uh oh...  I am kind of far from home.  I will let her catch me but I will act like I am irritated.  Meow!

Uh oh...  I don't like the way Rudy is sniffing around the reclining chair.  Looks like he is on rodent patrol.  Spouse set a trap.  We shall see... 

Uh oh...  Spouse left his credit card back at the last RV park.  Discover canceled it when the RV park reported it had been left.  Good thing mine is still ok.  Good thing we also have another credit card.

Uh oh... no fish are hitting and nowhere to walk.  It was nice seeing the beaver swimming up the river, but let's hit the road towards the town of Salmon, the birthplace of Sacajawea.  We had let Rudy off the leash to wander through the thick brush.  He played a cat and mouse game when we tried to get him.  He is grounded for the time being.

Uh oh... the pin that lifts and lowers Hannah to the truck broke again!  It breaks every year, usually in Canada, so since we were not going to Canada, we thought we were off the hook.  This will become a pain in the behind.

Since we left the O'brien campground, we have been following the Salmon River as it snakes through its valley.  The valley has been somewhat consistent; meadows, pastures, riparian flora and such.  The mountains have been changing a lot.  We went from rugged rocky fir forested peaks, to Nevada brown desert scrub, some with firs at the top and between the mountains.  Then there are some red rocky bluffs, then some more brown grassy mountains.  It is definitely more arid here, and less cold at night, maybe into the 40's.  The contrast between the valley and the mountains is quite beautiful.  Every turn inspires an ooh or an aah.  We checked out a few of the places we could camp. Deer gave us some stink eye.  We continued on. 

Salmon is a fair sized town, bigger than we expected.  It has a few traffic lights, a Burger King and a Subway, lots of commerce, even a few car dealers.  We just eat and fuel up then head north to North Fork and the River's Fork Lodge.  The owner used to live near us.  It is a small lodge, maybe 8 rooms, not sure.  Only 8 RV spaces and they back up to the Salmon River.  It is a warm day, good to be at an RV park so we can use the air conditioner.  There was a folding chair near the trash.  We picked it up for Rudy.  He appreciates it!  He found the weirdest worm critter outside.  Our neighbor said to use it as bait.  Spouse chose not to!  Our neighbor caught 4 trout this morning...  this sounds good! 

Spouse and I did some preparation before we started to fish.  We tied some lines.  What a pain in the behind.  First we tie some 4 or 6 pound test line to a swivel.  Wrap it around several times before you thread the end thru.  DON'T pull the end thru unless you actually put it thru the loop, otherwise, you get to do it all over again.  Ask me how I know...   then you get to tie 2 pound test to the swivel.  2 pound test is like a newborn baby's hair; extremely fine, difficult to see and difficult to maneuver.  You get to wrap the line around several times and hope you get the end thru the hoop.  Then you get to do the same thing to attach the hook.    You have a different hook for worms than you do for salmon eggs.  So you have to have a variety of lines prepared, because in river fishing, YOU WILL SNAG YOUR LINE!  Ask me how I know...

River fishing offers all sorts of challenges.  First the casting... cast it way out there and let the current take it to whichever rock will eat it.  That is if you can cast it without a shore plant eating it on the way out.  At least those, you can recover.  Although, when you tug, don't be surprised that the line snaps back and flings the worm in your hair.  When the rock eats your line, you can wade out there (the water is cool but refreshing since it has been warm), but watch those mossy rocks, and get the camera out of your pocket.  Sometimes, you can get the line out intact.  Other times, your neighbor will help.  Other times, you are just screwed and get to use up one of the precious lines you tied earlier.  Then you get to do it all over again.  Spouse and I both caught some bull trouts, but you have to let those go.  I keep thinking about those beautiful rainbows we released back at O'brien...  As the rocks ate, Spouse realized we do not have enough gear and ran to the store. 

With my broken line, I sat down and tied another swivel, messed with that stupid 2 pound test and tied a hook.  Now, I am going to have to put a worm on my hook myself as Spouse was gone.  I pulled one out... it wiggled, I squirmed.  I put my big girl panties on and put the worm on the hook.  It wiggled more when I started.  I squirmed more.  I know I did not do a great job, but it was on the hook.  I cast out far... the current took it right to that friggin' rock.  THE ROCK ATE IT!  I snapped the line a said a whole lot of four letter words!

Uh oh...  I need some chocolate...

Off the grid, the sequel

August 25, 2015

My humans are not letting me chase the critters here.  I wonder why that is.

It wasn't quite as cold last night.  Our neighbors Jeff and Mary Pat came over for coffee, and we traded stories for quite a while. 

  We bid our goodbyes as I headed for my walk, and Spouse a bike ride back to Robinson Bar Ranch.  We then readied Hannah for departure.  How will we get out of this spot?  We have one chance to make a wide turn, and it is doubtful.  If we do this, we can be royally screwed.  So we elected to pull forward out of our space and back up.  Good move.  We then headed over the bridge where we caught our fish, and headed north.

What's that on the left?  Oh goody... another fire.  You can see the orange reflecting off the smoke cloud.  This can't be good.    When we got to Challis, we got our fishing licenses.  No more looking at the river longing to fish.  We had no idea there would be this much opportunity, otherwise we would have gotten a license before we came.  We now know.  We may be back up here next year, and we will be much better prepared.  After lunch, we continued north.

We ended up stopping at a little campground called Cottonwood, about 20 miles north of Challis.  Another banner day for us... 60 miles or so!  Here, it is a somewhat primitive campground.  We do have water, but no electricity.  I am out at the pavilion writing this, and we can get the internet here.  Miles from anywhere, and we can connect.  Love it!  We are right on the water again.  The BLM has improved this campground with paved roads.  It has nice fire rings and the sites are good.

We tried fishing right behind Hannah.  There was a gaggle of geese laughing at us.  Rudy didn't know what to make of them.  An osprey was on a branch right above Hannah.  It doesn't look big enough to get Rudy, but we will watch him nonetheless. 

When we get to a new location, I like to take Rudy out for a walk right away so he familiarizes himself with the surroundings.  Then, should he get out, he knows where Hannah is.  When he is scared, he runs to her steps.  Of course, he spotted movement.  I let him lead me... then I saw it!  No Rudy!  It's a snake!  Don't know what kind, it was gray, almost black and only about 6 or 8 inches, but Rudy didn't need to catch it!

We were told the fish were not hitting here, and it proved to be true.  I guess this makes up for us fishing without a license yesterday!

Now it is time for another campfire...

Off the grid, continues...

August 24, 2015

My maternal human calls it a chipmunk.  I call it a toy...   And look at the meat on that ground squirrel.  wow!   My paternal human let me off the leash so I could chase one.  I had it!  It was so much fun!  And then the human picked me up and put me back on the leash.  Huh?  I wasn't done!

This California girl is not used to wearing sweats and a jacket in August!  A little less cold here,  just 20 miles from Stanley.  We were told Stanley consistently rates as one of the coldest places in the lower 48 states.  I believe it!  With the time change, it gets light a little later in the morning making it easier to sleep in some.  And since we are off the grid, we have no clocks to tell us what to do, and when.  Thus we slept in till 7:30.  And we took our sweet time venturing outside.  Made some coffee and enjoyed the scenery.

Eventually, as the sun crested over the mountain and started to warm things up a little, we got our bikes ready and pedaled up the road along the river.   The road is not maintained, but as we found out, there is a ranch back there so somebody does some amount of upkeep.  It is the Robinson Bar Ranch, recently owned by Carole King.  We just followed the river.  We saw rafters, and fishermen.  There is one lone campsite right on the river.  This wilderness area is definitely set up for hard core campers.  Yet many are conducive to RVs too. 

We decided to stay another day here, even though we don't have a fishing license and the river is calling our name.  What to do...  read, I wire wrapped a stone my friend Sandy gave me.  

There was a ground squirrel taunting Rudy.  Apparently, he knew just how far Rudy's leash would allow him to go, and he stayed out of reach... until Spouse undid Rudy's leash then the fun began!  Zooooom, zooom, squeak!  Zooom, zoom, roll over and squeak.  Zoom some more!  Rudy could have had him but chose to chase him instead.  Spouse picked him up before Rudy could do the poor critter in!  Quite the cardio workout for them!  We put Rudy back in Hannah where he passed out from exhaustion!  Nobody is gonna make a fool out of Spouse's son!

Did a little fishing... shhhhh, no license yet.  We are planning to do that in Salmon.  There should be a way to buy a fishing license here in the campground.  Anyhow, I caught 3, let them go.  Spouse was afraid to get caught.  What a weenie...  Really, we don't like fishing without the license.  It just wasn't easily available. 

Another campfire and a visit from our neighbors, Jeff and Mary Pat from Cincinnati.  Some great stories.  They are in their mid sixties and still tent camping, and travelling all over doing it.  Good for them!

As our heads hit the pillow in our comfortable, cozy bed, we could smell the scent of campfire in our hair.  Love it!