Sunday, August 28, 2016 And Sunday we rest? Not exactly...

Sunday, August 28, 2016

My maternal human had a critter crawling up her foreleg.  She called me.  I sniffed it.  She flinched and it fell onto the bed.  I pounced.  It moved.  I pawed at it and it ran under the covers.  Then my paternal human snatched it and killed it!  I wasn't even done with it!  It would have been so much fun getting it out from under the covers but he ruined it for me.  Why is that?

Today was a series of vignettes.

Early morning vignette:  Ok, 'early' does not really apply.  We should not be on mountain time.  It is almost 8am before we get out of bed, which is unheard of back home.  We enjoy coffee and get on the stupid phones for some emails and game time.  How dumb is that?

Get moving vignette:

We readied the bikes for another ride down 'our' road, only farther.  My goal is to pedal to Indianola, which is 11 miles down the road.  There is an abandoned fire station there and a memorial to two firefighters that died in the line of duty in 2003.

Will we have enough 'gas' in our engines?  We are used to the first five miles since we have done it before by bike, but now we are going into to unfamiliar territory as far as biking goes  I scouted it out on our way back yesterday and it looked ok, but will it BE ok?  Oh!  Wait - There is a bald eagle!  He is looking at us...  Hmmm, look at that fishing hole...  You know, this is going downhill for a really long time.  You know what that means, don't you?  We weave along the road.  There are some cars coming through.  It is Sunday and lots of rafting going on.  Trucks either with rafts, or with empty raft trailers come by, as do a few cars.  We have owned the road up till now, but it is pretty easy sharing it.

Spouse is starting to worry about the ride back.  When we get to the turnoff for Sage Creek, he turns around.  I continue on to the memorial, which was about 2 miles more.  It is a shame that the property is abandoned.  This memorial will fade away I guess.  These were 2 men just about 24 years old that were heli-firefighters.  It is a touching memorial that obviously cost some money.  It is sad to see the property degrade.

Now comes the daunting ride back.  It really is not that bad.  Yes it is a little uphill, but I am not even using my easy gears.  It is so easy to pedal when you have so much eye candy to look at.  I pedal.  I pedal.  I pedal.  Ok, it is getting a little long here.  Oh wait, I am coming to the abandoned mine.  This was our turnaound point the other morning.  I pedal.  I pedal.  I pedal.  The bald eagle is still there.  I thank it for watching over me on my ride and tell him he can go fly now if he wants, and darned if he didn't take off!  I pedal.  I am at the Newland Ranch now and I am pedaling, and pedaling.  Only about a mile to go... Up the last hill... and down the last hill.  As I ride past the general store, there is my spouse fidgeting with his phone after he enjoyed his post exercise ice cream.  It seemed a little longer coming back but it really wasn't all that bad.  Back to Hannah we go.

Afternoon vignette: 

Rest. There is nothing like a good shower after a good workout.  The bikes are now loaded onto Hannah and ready to go.  Tomorrow we move on.  We weren't planning on coming to North Fork, but we are so glad we did.  It was so easy to spend 5 days here, but we think we will head to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and maybe the Grand Tetons.  We shall see...

Vodka tonic.  Make dinner.  Eat dinner.

Nighttime vignette: 

There are a bunch of little gnats or something flying around as we are reading in bed.  Then this bigger critter lands on my arm.  Naw, we are not gonna do that!  Rudy, come here!  He comes, he sniffs.  I flinch and it jumps onto the bed.  Rudy paws.  It moves.  Rudy paws some more and moves it under the covers.  Oh, we are NOT going to do that!  Spouse grabs it and smashes it.  Rudy looks like he has been crushed by his paternal human!  Tough...

Our laptop is acting a little weird.  I sure hope it lasts through this trip.

Saturday, August 27, 2016 Panther Creek and the 'mountain lion'

Saturday,  August 27, 2016

I know how to make my humans let me out.  I climb on the door.  They yell some words like roodyno or something, but in  a minute, they let me out.  They don't yell at me when I do that to come in.  I wonder why that is.

Woke up to a herd of deer on the shoal behind us.  Wait a second, those aren't deer, they are elk!  Look at the racks on those two guys.  Wow!

After the morning walk (Spouse did a bike ride), we packed a lunch and headed up 'the' road past our morning beauty and beyond.  All sorts of rivers and creeks run through the area.  There are miles upon miles of dirt roads weaving through the back country.  Our road is paved, although as you go along, it is not as nicely paved.  There are no lines but there is just enough room for 2 cars to pass if needed.  We pass through the town of Shoup.  Actually, I am not sure it is a town, although it is on the map.  It is a couple of buildings that are shut down and for sale.  Last year, the little store had some homemade cookies.  This year, nada.  I don't know if somebody actually expects to make a living off of something out here in the boondocks.

We pull over to a nice rock to eat.  Wow, look at those tiny fish!  Are they the salmon or trout of the future?  They are about an inch long and there are a gazillion of them.  Oooh, and look beyond them... those are bigger fish!  We grabbed our poles.  Spouse is wormifying my line, but I don't want to push my luck.

I cannot pick up a pole without the line getting tangled at some point.  I have this incredible ability to mess things up, almost like a caricature of a cartoon character!  But, I do manage to catch fish.  We both do and we let them go to live on and go for someone else's bait!  The one thing about fishing in shorts:  bugs really like legs.  I am holding the pole and flinching like I am one of Jerry's kids, if you know what I mean.

We drive on, when Spouse yells that he sees a mountain lion...  Really?  Kind of like those 'cows' that were really bears?  Sure enough, it was a herd of mountain sheep.  Female bighorns based on their racks.  It is amazing how they can climb the side of a hill.  They were leery of us but not too bothered.  We let them have their space, even though I wanted to kiss them!  Not exactly mountain lions though...

We turned left at Panther Creek.  It quickly turns into a dirt road barely wide enough for two cars.  Once again, we are flanked by rugged mountains and a beautiful creek.  We were told there is a good fishing hole a few miles up, so we went until we saw a few good pools then pulled out our gear.  We are standing on huge boulders of stunning beauty that could easily become kitchen counters for all of southern California.  It is so hard for me to stay focused.  Look at that piece of driftwood... into the truck it goes.  And that rock...  it will make it to the lapidary shop for sure.  Oh yeah, the fishing... Easy as pie; drop in a line, catch a fish.  I am liking this!  Until my friggin line tangles.  Spouse tried to fix it, big mistake.  He pulled, tightening it...  So after a while of total frustration, he cut the line and retied it.  Thanks Spouse!  After a bit, he went into the truck to read, while I casted a few more times.  Dammit!  The friggin line is tangled.  It is so difficult to see this thin line with rushing water in the background.  The worm is resting on my leg.  Gotta thread him through here, now there.  How the heck can it get so tangled when all I did was reel it in?  I am done fishing, but I can't leave till I get this untangled... move the hook around this way, then through here...  There got it!  Now just stand up.  Dammit!  The pole flinched and it is all tangled again!  How can that be?  And so it goes... I am the great tangler, but I am also a good untangler...

Retreating our steps through the scenic valley, we notice signs posted that the hiking trails are closed due to fire activity.  We can see a bit of smoke, but it isn't too bad.  We also see some kayakers and rafters.  It is the weekend after all, so it is nice to see some people actually using the wilderness.

We arrived at Hannah for the cocktail hour, and a fish dinner.

 

Friday, August 26, 2016 Salmon gets the truck washed

Friday, August 26, 2016

I want off my leash.  I sometimes walk around things to get all tangled so my humans will get frustrated and turn me loose.  They have to untangle me.  It hasn't worked yet, but I will keep trying.

Another sunny and clear morning.  It is not too cold.  After a bit of coffee, I was able to don shorts and go for my walk up the beauty road.  Ahhhh, obviously walking, you can't get as far as biking, but I love it just the same.

Today, we are going into the town of Salmon, about 20 miles south.  It is the birthplace of Sacajawea and there is all sorts of Lewis and Clark history.  It is a decent sized town with a Chevy dealer so we can get our oil changed under the warranty. The best part of that is that they wash the truck, and after all the dirt roads we have been on, that is a really good thing!  Spouse gets a part for our leaky faucet at Ace Hardware, then we walk the main street.  Little stores and restaurants line both sides of the street.  Oh we need one of those, and one of these too.  We stop at the Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Spouse then pretty much dumped my leftovers in the truck... he was none too pleased...  Neither was I!  There is a rodeo in town this weekend.  We went to it last year.  I am not fond of rodeos.  To me, it is basically torturing animals for human entertainment.  Not my thing.

Here he is being one of 'those' smart phone people...

When we got back from the beautiful ride back, Spouse did the repair job on the faucet.  The new part is in, but the thing still leaks...  He will have to deal with this when we get home.

Now is time to enjoy my vodka tonic and the scenic river...and let Rudy tangle himself on the stairs or the chairs or Hannah's legs, or...

Oh look, there are some deer...

Thursday, August 25, 2016 The Eye Candy of Bike Rides

Thursday, August 25, 2016

My humans have brought me to this place before.  No mousies here tho.  I will make them take me exploring.  I will make them let me roll in the dirt.  They are easily manipulated.

We wake up to a herd of deer in the shoal behind Hannah.  What a sight.  The sky is blue, the air is clear.  It is not as cold as at Stanley so we gather the fishing gear and go right on site here at the place where 'Honey Hole' creek dumps into the Salmon River.  It is a little late for the morning bite but,  we both get some hits.  We don't bring anything in, but the scenery is worth standing there and holding a pole.

After we eat, we get on the bikes and head up the road that takes you to Shoup. It is a gentle downhill ride, which means it is an uphill ride coming back.  It is difficult to articulate just how beautiful this road is.  On our right, is a rugged desert brush mountain.  Then there is the road, and then the valley.  The Salmon River runs through the valley.  There is a horse meadow from Newland Ranch.  There are many nooks and crannies that the Salmon weaves in and around.  On the far side are wooded mountains, layer after layer.   We see an eagles nest high in a tree.  Then we see an osprey nest, smaller in size, the osprey perched in a branch above.

Some of you might think this is the same picture from last year.  You will notice I am wearing a different bra!

We hear the sounds of the birds, river and our bikes as we pedal along the gentle curves of the road.  Very few cars go by.  This bike ride alone is worth bringing the bikes on this trip.  If we didn't take one more ride, it wouldn't matter because we got to soak in the beauty of this road.  We pedaled about 5 or 6 miles before we decided to head back.  We stopped at a picnic area and watched Woody Woodpecker go to town.  This is a total sensory overload!

After lunch at the local store and a little relaxing, we headed back to the Honey Hole where we promptly got tangled.  Those fish are smart... they know how to eat the worm off the hook without biting the hook...  We get at least a hit on every cast, quite a lot of action.  Spouse is now not wormifying my line for the time being, so alas, my fishing days are on hold.  Now, you might think 'why can't she put a worm on a hook?'  You have to know who I am to understand that.  When I do my morning walks at home, if I see a worm writhing on the sidewalk, I pick it up and throw it on a lawn so it can either live on, or die with dignity.  It is against my nature to kill.  I am not against a worm being on a hook, I just don't have the stomach to do it myself.  It is the same with the actual killing of the fish.  I am not against it, I just can't be the one doing the deed.  And don't even talk to me about hunting...  But Spouse says he has a tool that would make it easier...  hmmm...

But, for now, I will suffer through one more fresh trout dinner... And the ones in the freezer will get eaten too...

He has become one of 'those' smart phone people...

Wednesday, August 24, 2016 We found the Honey Hole...

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

My humans brought my outside on my leash.  There were these weird mousies all over the place.  There were so many of them I didn't know what to do!  But I do know that as long as I am tethered to that darned leash, I will not be able to be the feline that I am.  I let them think I was a mild mannered feline.  Then, my human let go of the leash and I could chase them!  I showed them who is boss!  Bwwaaaaahhha!  Meow!

Since our fishing hole is kind of fished out, we skipped our morning outing and visited with our neighbors Jeff and Mary Pat.  We then headed to the walk to the Robinson Bar Ranch and back.  It is a getaway day and by the time we eat and ready Hannah, it is after noon.  Oh well, on to 75 north we go, towards Challis.

Even though we were on this road the other day, it looks quite different going north.  The mountains are rugged but arid.  The valleys have alfalfa farms and riparian corridors loaded with aspen and poplars.  It is noted as a scenic drive on the AAA maps, and it certainly is spectacular.  We have a crisp blue sky with puffy white clouds with just a hint of gray.  There is barely a tinge of smoke in the air.  We check out a few little camping areas but decide to head up to North Fork, where an ex-neighbor has a motel and RV park.  We can get an oil change down in Salmon, so this seemed like a logical destination. 

The RV park is smack dab on the Salmon River.  We stayed here last year and enjoyed it immensely.  It has full RV hookups, but no bathrooms or any other amenities.  The owner, Ken, told us about the 'honey hole' for fishing.  You go in between those two buildings, walk past the tire with a tree in the middle, climb the berm and go through the bushes... Off we go, like Andy and Opie.

The creek is only about 15 feet wide at most and loaded with bushes and ' hook snatchers!'  I spent all this time practicing casting for distance and now I have to cast about 8 feet and not get the tree trunk.  This ought to be easy... After a few embarrassingly measly attempts,  I do more of a fling, and I get hit.  Each time I throw the line in, I get hit.  We both caught some fish, but we only kept one as it would be too injured to throw back.  Dinner it will be at some point.  It does not look like a stocked trout in that the fin that is normally clipped for stockers is intact.  Ohhhh!  Shhh, don't tell anybody about our honey hole!

Rudy seems a little disappointed that there are no chipmunks or squirrels around. 

Tuesday, August 23, 2016 Rudy vs. Rodents

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

It is cold and my paternal human dragged me under the covers.  Normally, it has to be my idea to be put in this situation, but I am betraying my feline heritage and staying snug and warm.  I know I should leave, then come back and make him take me in.  I ought to be ashamed of myself.

Another cold morning, around 30 so we saw on the weather yesterday.  It is hard to go fishing when you can't feel your hands.  So, I guess we will stay in Hannah while the heat is on and it is warm and toasty.  Once the sun came up, we figured it would warm up.  Well it did, but it was probably noon, so we suffered in the cold.  What made it worse... we saw fresh boot prints at OUR fishing hole!  Did they fish it out?  We sure as hell didn't catch anything so we went to the other side.  This side is rocky and quite the challenge to climb around carrying fishing poles.  There is also a lot more stuff to snag on, as Spouse found out on his first cast!  He did catch a fish, but it caught on a rock as he was bringing it in and off it swam.  After a few more nibbles, we gave it up and came back.

We finally did our walk around noon.  There is a road that goes by the campground to a place known as the Robinson Bar Ranch, home to Carole King.  It is a little over a mile and there is a trailhead there.  The trail will take you all over the region if you want.  Spouse has a bad knee so he wasn't interested in doing the trail, so I thought I would take the trail just to the top of the ridge.  This is not a trail you want to do by yourself so I kept it short.  It is a narrow steep trail.  For the short time that I used it, I had to stop 3 times to catch my breath, but at the top was a stellar view of the ranch.  There are several cabins and a main megahouse, a huge pool.  The river runs alongside and mountains flank the entire property.  Quite the spread.  On my way down, I am sure I heard the creaking sound of a door, only it was coming from the direction of the forest.  Needless to say, I jogged back to Hannah, passing my slow spouse!

It was warm in the sun so we enjoyed a little camp time.  Rudy is going absolutely bonkers with all the chipmunks and squirrels.  We have him on a leash, and the critters come right up to him.  He doesn't know what to make of them.  We are quite surprised that he is being so tolerant.  That is until we let him off the leash... he took off after them and showed them who is boss.

Our night time fishing was uneventful.  But there are others in the campground.  One couple was the same couple we met last year!  I guess it is time to share another campfire with Jeff and Mary Pat Harris of Cinncinnati.  They are about our age, and are tent camping for several weeks at a time.  We watched as they set up camp, just like we used to.  A great visit and a beautiful night sky.

Monday, August 22, 2016 I caught a bridge! Betcha you never did that!

Monday, August 22, 2016

Dear Rudy:  At night, when you jump on the bed, there is a gravitational force at work which results in you doubling your weight and your size.  You essentially become an ocelot.  Given that, I ask that you please do NOT manipulate me onto my back so that you can lay across my legs or my bladder.

Dear Maternal Human:  You are my human and I will do with you as I choose.  Where is my food?

OOOh, it was cold last night, low 30's.  It took a while before we went for our walk.  Another smoky day with the Sawtooth beauty obscured.  Today, we leave the Elk Mountain RV park and move on.  The RV park is for sale, so who knows if we come back here if it will still have the Mayberry charm.  I doubt it.

So north we head on 75 past the town of Sunbeam and to one of our favorite campgrounds, O'brien.  We like the upper O'brien, the lower is closed already.  There are only about 10 sites here.  Our favorite spot is taken so we have to make do with another one.  This is not a campground where you can easily manipulate a trailer, but we find a space that can handle our size.  Oh darn, we are perched above the Salmon River and have to look at those rapids...  Come to find out that those intruders in our spot packed up and left!  Oh well, we are not moving now...  I would not recommend this campground for any rig larger than ours.  We barely fit going across the bridge.

We get our fishing gear together, hoping the pools right behind our site would be good.  It is terribly windy and too fast for us so we head back under the bridge.  I am so good at tangling line.  I look at a pole sideways and the line tangles up.  I cast, the line tangles... as I untangle the line and start to bring it in, voila!  A trout!  Easy as pie, right?

Casting a line is artwork, especially in the wind.   I have no natural ability for this.  It is a wrist thing.  Guys have so much more experience with that wrist thing; they start at such an early age, if you know what I mean.  I find I am way more accurate casting backhanded.   When I cast forward, I have caught rocks, logs, bushes and even a bridge!  Now that was something.  It went up and over the bridge and the lure was dangling down through the slats.  How the heck was I going to get that line back up?  I slowly started reeling it in and sure enough, the lure caught on the slat. I released a little line and reeled in again and it actually came up and out!  I could not believe it!  But now, even with the wind, I am getting the line out there, backhanded.  Did I mention it was windy?  And smoky?  AND WINDY!  Hey, I caught my dinner, I am game to go... and so we did.

I must admit, I am not much of a fisherperson.  I won't put live bait on the hook:  Spouse has to wormify my line:  I won't take the fish off, or clean it or cook it.  I can't make eye contact, I am a wuss.  Spouse is ok with doing all that.  Spouse gets me all outfitted with a vest with all sorts of dealybobs, most of which I probably will never use.  I would have said ALL of it I would never use if that fish didn't swallow my hook and I had to redo my line.  Sure enough, I had to reach into my pocket, and pull out the box of dealybobs and use stuff.  If I need something, I could always go into his vest - the vest with a million pockets... never mind!

There are gazillions of chipmunks here taunting Rudy.  Tomorrow, mein liebchen...  you will have some fun!  They are making a mess on our door mat throwing pine cone shells all over.

We are the only ones in this campground.  We are seeing so many campgrounds that have already closed for the season.

The flowers on my cattleya are just about done.  It was a natural decline, not from the miles of bouncy torture I have bestowed upon them!  The flowers on my dendrobium have about another week or so.  They are not liking these cold mornings...

Sunday, August 21, 2016 Somebody's been fishing in OUR hole!

Sunday, August 21, 2016

My humans are taking me on long walks.  When I see the weird mousies, they let me go free to chase them.  Those mousies are real fast and the run real high in the trees.  I can only go so far, but one of these days... I will get me one of those mousies.

After a slow start, Spouse headed to 'the' fishing hole.  I walked along the road to meet him.  There was another car there.  How rude is that!  They were leaving as I walked up.  When I started towards 'the' hole, Spouse called me from upstream.  He told me those guys were at OUR spot!  When we got there, we could see where they cleaned their fish (our fish!).  Would it be fished out?

I only got one nibble and Spouse got nothing... then I saw it...  SPOUSE!  Did you see that sea monster?  I guess it is more of a river monster...  I think it is a salmon!  It is huge!  Spouse didn't see it and probably was thinking I am crazy.  I cast my bait over the beast... no action...  About 5 minutes later, Spouse yells 'Wow!  there is a big salmon right there!'  He casts and casts.  The beast scoffs at us!  Ha!  You slackers, I scoff at you...

Now, I could turn this into a really big fish story, but the truth is... we didn't get one nibble after that and picked up our stuff and left, leaving the monster fish to meet us downstream later this week...

The rest of the day was spent at leisure, running a few errands and doing some Hannah cleaning.  Tomorrow, we head to the O'brien campground - off the grid.  The day started out smoky, and by the end of the day, it was really smoky.  It seemed like dusk and it was only 4:00.  Ugh...

We did give Rudy some treat time today.  He has been eyeing the little chipmunks here.  So we let him off the leash to chase a couple.  They ran up the trees screaming, but Rudy never even got close.  But, we will let him have his delusions, just like we have our delusion about that huge salmon...

Also, there are three things my spouse should NOT have:

-too many pockets in his fishing vest

-too many buttons in the car

-a smart phone.  Yes, he has become one of 'those' people...

Saturday, August 20, 2016 When things go south

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Every morning, my paternal human smears some stuff on his face, then puts a stick in his paw and wipes all the stuff off.  He puts it in a bowl of water and it floats.  I sit in front of him and I try and play with it.  Sometimes, I dip my tail in the water.  My human then throws me on the bed.  Why is that?  It is harder to supervise from there!

This morning, we had to tie some leader line on to fishing hooks.  This is when I want my 'boy' to kick in and do my dirty work.  Leader line is incredibly fine line that is difficult to see and difficult to wrap sufficiently enough times to secure the hook.  I am wearing two pairs of glasses to magnify, while Spouse is wearing a jeweler's loupe and we are both full of potty mouth.  Ultimately, our poles are ready to go.  Rudy tried to help, so as soon as the hook was on, the pole went outside while we tied the next one.  With our poles ready to go, we headed out across the street and up a wee bit, to Sheep Bridge.

Sheep Bridge is where the meadow meets the creek, and the creek meets the mountain.  There are gazillions of trails anglers have made through the brush and along the creek, most of them lead to somewhere, others are dead ends.  It is a little smoky, the winds have shifted.  That old wildfire is expected to burn into winter.  Oy.  Spouse starts out by getting his lure eaten.  I cast and cast and cast.  I walk up the creek.  Spouse walks down the creek.  I decide I need different bait and go back to Spouse... who has just found 'the' pool.  Let the fun begin!  We both catch some, release some and are forced to keep those that are bleeding.  Oh darn, another meal...

My morning walk buddy

Today we are going to do some exploring a bit south of Stanley.  We know how beautiful the campgrounds are to the north, can the South compete?  We head south on 75 towards Ketchum.   Another beautiful drive with the Salmon River, meadows, and mountains.  Yawn, yawn, yawn...

In German, there is a word used to describe something on the cozy side.  It isn't quite cozy, but it is comforting.  The word is 'gemutlich' with an umlaut on the u.  On hwy 21 and points north, there are lots of campgrounds that have that gemutlich thing going for them.  South, not so.  It is beautiful without question.  But there are more people and they are lightweight frolickers as opposed to serious outdoors enthusiasts.   That is not to say that we didn't get lucky on some of these campgrounds by catching them at the right time, but I think not.  The campgrounds we tend to like are smaller, woodsy with firepits and with easy access to fishing and not a whole lot of amenities.  There are not a lot of kids (oh, kill me now!).  For RV parks, we prefer something on the smaller side, with trees and a little room.  Electricity, sewer and water are great!  But many parks may only have electricity, or water, and we are good with that if the feeling is right.  What we don't like are mega parks where you are parked cheek to cheek so to speak.  And we are not a fan of KOA kampgrounds.  They usually have lots of nice amenities, but they are geared towards kids, and are usually quite zoo-like.    So, after checking out the southern side of the Sawtooth area, we decided we will head north.  Not exactly what we planned, but, alas, we will adjust!  It may mean taking an interstate highway at some point in time...  who knows!  We expect to be off the grid for days at a time, so my blog posts may be scattered. 

Petit Lake south of Stanley

We have seen some interesting people on this trip.  This is a heavy off road paradise.  When you think of offroaders, you think of a younger crowd.  Not so here.  There are some reaaaal old folks on quads and you can tell they have broken some bones in their lives by the way they walk!  I look at us and think 'do we look like that?'

This weekend, there is a folk concert going on, so there are lots of people around.  We see 'no vacancy' signs on all the motels.  Stanley is a small town, and has been hit hard, economically due to the wildfires.  It is good to see so many people here to enjoy the concerts.

Did I mention it is getting pretty smoky?

Friday, August 19, 2016 Ghost town, dirt road and fish. A full day as it turns out...

Friday,  August 19, 2016

ME-OWT!  There are big mousies here!  I see them in the trees!  ME-OWT!

We got a bit of a slow start this morning, enjoying coffee and electricity.  But, we got moving.  My walk took me along the highway towards town.  I usually do not enjoy walking along highways, but there are very few vehicles and the Sawtooth Mountains tower above, with pines and meadows.  Across the highway is the usual stream snaking through the meadow with mountains behind.  The air is crisp and clean and it makes for a very enjoyable walk.

Rudy wants out big time.  There are chipmunks around and when we take him on the leash, he inspects every tree and runs to all the out buildings searching for rodents.

We decide we will go scout out fishing holes.  One of our homies in the cafe told us about a ghost town, and that there were some pools up there so off we head to the town of Sunbeam and the ghost town in Custer.

Sunbeam is about 15 miles north of Stanley.  Here we go again, weaving along the Salmon River with towering mountains and lush meadows.  Custeris about 10 miles up the road from Sunbeam.  The first few miles of road were paved, then onto the dirt.  Miles and miles of piles of rocks (tailings from dredging) line the road.  We are surrounded by mountains, meadows, streams and pools. 

Custer and Bonanza City were quite the places a hundred years ago.  They made a monster dredge that totally tore up the area in the quest for gold.  Ultimately, the town fizzled out.  There are a few of the original buildings.  There are a few restored buildings with articles from the period inside.  And there is a cemetery with very interesting stories.  There was the suicide by self inflicted gunshot, there were the usual unknown illnesses, falling down, and not putting out enough fuse when lighting dynamite.

Whenever I see the tools and homes of an era gone by, my imagination goes into overdrive.  That tool really meant something to somebody.  That person cared for the tool and for their home.  There was quite a diversity of people in the town, but they kept the Chinese separate.  They wouldn't live together, but they would do business together.  The Chinese did the laundry, farmed pigs and chickens, and everybody celebrated the Chinese new year.

We heard the dirt road wound through the territory up to Challis, so what the heck.  Off we go.  This was the original toll road for the miners.  There are two toll stations that are evident, but pretty much dilapidated, and there is a corral that is all that is left of a rest station for people and animals.  The road is good for one car, maybe one and a half car and it goes for about 33 miles.  We wind through the mountains with any number of streams and meadows.  There is an occasional primitive campground.  There are pines, there are aspens, there are burned up pines - lots of evidence of wildfires, and recent too.  Every time we climb a hill, we lean forward hoping to see if someone is coming the other way.  Fortunately, we only passed one offroader and it was in an area of visibility and where the road was wide enough to pass.  Ultimately, we come upon an arid mountain pass - brown and brushy with a few pines and we wind our way pass some alfalfa farms onto Main Street in Challis.  The 33 mile ride took about 2 hours.

Last year, we bought a fishing license here.  This year, Spouse bought a fishing pole at the same place.  I guess we are regulars!  Now, let's go use it!

We head back towards home on 93, then 75, stopping at one of our favorite spots:  O'brien Campground.  We see our camping spot is taken for now, but we aren't coming here till next week anyway.  If we were to stay on the road passing the campground, we come to Robinson Ranch, which was recently Carole King's hideout.  But for us, we like the fishing hole under the bridge.  It has a deep pool and it is calling our names. 

Spouse has to get his fishing vest ready.  It has pockets... lots of pockets.  And he fills almost every pocket.  My vest has three pockets:  my license, a pliers to release the fish and salmon eggs. 

Spouse, do you have a hook? 

Yeah, it is in my pocket.

Which pocket?

It's in there somewhere...

 

Note to Spouse:  Too many pockets is not necessarily a GOOD thing...

 

At first, the fish are taunting us, laughing at our lures and salmon eggs.  As the sun starts to shift, and shadows start to form, we pull out the big guns - worms!  Hah!  You are mine!  Some trout and brookie!  By now, it is after 7, we haven't eaten much all day, but we have our dinner!  We are about 20 miles from home, driving along the river in deer country at the worst time!  Fortunately, the deer didn't come in to play.  We got back and ate our catch - fresh and wonderful!