Montana-Idaho-Oregon Road Trip

End of August 2016

Summer was winding down but it was just getting to record-breaking high temperatures in Seattle. Fortunately, Ginny and Wally were on a road trip to visit friends in Montana and after they finished there, they invited us to join them for a couple of days near Glacier. They had rented a cabin through Airbnb and we decided to bring the trailer so we didn’t crowd the small house. Good choice.

20 August, Sat – We didn’t make a particularly early start, 0915, even though we were somewhat concerned that there might be a problem finding a campsite on the weekend late in the afternoon. Driving across the rolling fields of eastern Washington, we reminisced about summer trips before air conditioning when we had to stop along the river and wet our t-shirts to keep cool. We stopped only once at a rest area before reaching Idaho and had to make a second stop to get our kayak checked (“Has it been in the water in the last 30 days? No? Have a nice trip, sir.”)[Another short stop to check our kayak just into Montana.] We got gas at Costco in Coeur d’Alene (2.259), crossed the lake and the first pass. When we got to Wallace we marveled that Matt Henzi was able to fly all the way there from Chelan on his paraglider – almost to Montana. From the border at Lookout Pass it’s only about 37 miles to Sloway Campground (USFS) and there were plenty of empty sites out of 27 possible; many have pull-thrus but we chose one that has a view and it was no problem to back into the wide parking pad. We walked down to the river which C.J. declared was swimming temperature, then up to the entrance to drop our envelope in the iron ranger. It was pretty warm after the air-conditioned car but there was a breeze as we sat down for a snack of fresh cucumber and deviled eggs, washed down with a bottle of the cider we won at the Chelan Nationals raffle. Later C.J. made a simple stir fry which we ate with some fresh bread. Dessert was “blue-barb crisp”. The first days of any trip are the best for fresh food. We were in the next time zone east of ours so it started getting cool and dim by 2100 and we moved into the trailer to write in our journals – well, actually we were both using computers because C.J. left her stack of books home; at least she hadn’t found them yet. According to the GPS it will only 2hr 15min to Whitefish so we should be there by noon. [Other options for camping include Quartz Creek Rest Area and Campground 20 miles to the east, and another place just a few miles off I-90 back to the west. There is also Cascade CG along the St. Regis River canyon although it appeared full when we saw it on Sunday.]

21 Aug, Sun – Woke up at 0730 and, since we weren’t in any particular rush we cooked up some oatmeal. We were on the road at 0900 heading back along I-90 to St. Regis. We drove along the scenic river canyon to Paradise and then north to __ and east to Flathead Lake. From there it wasn’t too far to Kalispell and gas at Costco (2.299), hot chocolate at Walmart, and a free mocha frappucchino at Starbucks for my birthday. A few more miles put us in Whitefish where we turned east on 2^nd then up Haskill Basin Road to the cabin. Ginny and Wally were out exploring Glacier as far as MacDonald Lodge, the Apgar visitor center and then up the Camas Road to the park entrance and back along the river. Once they got back we hung out in the shade visiting while Wally gave his swollen foot a rest [He had been hit by a truck while walking through a grocery store parking lot a few days before]. C.J. and I  took a walk along what looked like a ski or snowshoe trail which crossed the stream on “Cedar Span” and stopped at “Bubbles Beach”, a pretty short walk. Dinner was a very good salmon filet roasted in the oven plus two kinds of potatoes and green beans. Later we had peach-raspberry pie with ice cream in lieu of a birthday cake.

22 Aug, Mon – Up at 0800, oatmeal in the cabin microwave. We decided to give kayaking on 

MacDonald Lake a try since Ginny had found out that there were Hobies with foot-driven propellers for rent at MacDonald Lodge. We took both cars since we had the kayak on ours and had to stop just inside the entrance to the park to have our kayak inspected (actually for non-motorized boats all you need to do is fill out a self-certification form). We had noted that the wind was strong and gusty as we drove from Whitefish to West Glacier and the Ranger agreed that it looked too windy for kayaking on MacDonald. We met Ginny and Wally out at the Lodge (found one of the few remaining parking spots) and found out that only motorboats and rowboats ($18.50/hr) were rented there. No kayaks, and definitely no Hobies. [Later we found out that there were no Hobies anywhere in the park.] Since the signs indicated that there were no parking spaces available at Logan Pass, we decided to take the shuttle up there. We had a half-hour wait and then the bus that arrived had standing room only and Ginny decided that it wouldn’t work for Wally to have to stand all the way. So we all piled in Wally’s truck and did the scenic drive up the Going-to-the-Sun-Road. We stopped for the scenery at The Loop and then continued up through some one-lane construction to Logan Pass. Fortunately, there were some empty parking spots but it was cold and windy. The crowd was mostly packed into the small visitor Center. C.J. felt cold, tired and hungry so didn’t want to do the short (1.5mi) hike to the overlook and then have to wait for a shuttle. We piled back in the truck and headed down, eating lunch on the way. We made a short stop along MacDonald Creek to finish lunch in the relative warmth. After Wally dropped us at our car C.J. and I drove back to Avalanche Creek Campground just to see what it looked like – lots of tent campers and a few smaller RVs, but most sites had pull-thrus. Many of the tags on the sites indicated that the campers were leaving on the 23^rd so we figured we could find a site to camp in on Tuesday if we got there early. Just to be sure, we drove through Apgar CG, as well, and found the same situation except for more RVs. C.J. tried to mail her birthday gift to Barbara at West Glacier but we were 15 minutes too late. However, we got to Columbia Falls just before the 1700 closing of that post office. When we got back to the cabin I loaded as much of our stuff as possible so there would be less to do in the morning. Ginny heated up the stew she had made previously and we had a good dinner. We ate the rest of the pie and ice cream for dessert.

23 Aug, Tue – Up at 0600, ate some cold cereal and fruit before joining Ginny in the cabin for hot drinks and blue-barb crisp. Wally and Ginny thought they might go back over Logan Pass to see what the east side of the park looked like (since they couldn’t go back to visit their Montana friends

Sunrift Gorge

in Hamilton). We finished packing up and said goodbye around 0800. We got to Avalanche Creek CG (that's as far as large rigs, those over 21 ft, are allowed on the Going-to-the-Sun Road) around 1000. There were several empty sites and we chose one with a pull-thru and paid the fee (10). After discussing whether to take the Kia or use the park shuttle system we decided to go with our vehicle so we could go on our own schedule. We drove up to Logan stopping for a few minutes just a half-mile below the Pass at a short boardwalk loop that gave a great view back down into the valley. As we approached Logan we spotted several bighorn sheep above the Highline Trail. We had to drive around the parking lot several times until we lucked into a spot that had just been vacated. It was around noon so we grabbed our packs, poles and lunch and headed out to the Highline Trail to check out the sheep. Unfortunately the HL was still closed due to that carcass we heard about on Monday. We walked a ways down the road and found a place from which we could see the critters, although from a long ways away. The 10x binoculars were really helpful. After that we returned to Logan and headed up the Hidden Lake Trail (along with half the tourist population of Montana, it seemed). Until we reached a point most of the way up, the trail consisted of boardwalks. The last bit of the 1.5 mi walk was on regular packed-dirt trail. As we approached a stand of evergreens we saw three or four mountain goats. They were pretty close and we took some pictures. Above that we started hearing stories about a bear encounter farther along; a ranger passed us carrying a big steel mallet and we wondered if he was going up there to pound in a sign closing the trail [Our first attempt at a hike back in 1985? ended when the trail was ”closed for bear danger”.] The view from the Hidden Lake Overlook was great with the lake and Bearhat Mountain in the near distance and Gunsight Mountain with its glacier in the far distance. As we were eating lunch a little ways down the trail toward the lake, a ranger came along and started herding people back toward the Logan Pass visitors center. There was no real rush and we didn’t have to hurry to finish lunch. On the way

Jackson Glacier, GNP

back we saw six goats and three of them, a radio-collared adult, another adult and a young goat, paced us along the trail sometimes coming quite close. We took lots of pictures. Back at the VC a notice told people that it was likely that they would be turned back at about 0.75mi on the Hidden Lake Trail. Glad we got an earlier start! We drove down the east side stopping at Lunch Creek, I think, where we saw several bighorn sheep; two of them squared off and did the headbanging thing. We could hear the CLACK! We passed the parked-up Siyeh Bend (switchback) and some other full pullouts. Finally, we stopped at the Jackson Glacier Overlook for a great view of the glacier across St Mary Lake. The next stop was for “one of the most iconic views in the park” – Wild Goose Island with the high peaks of the range in the distance. Our turnaround point was at Rising Sun. We saw the Two Dog Flats Grill and checked out the souvenirs at the General Store (no ice cream). This would have been where we would have boarded the tour boat on St Mary Lake if Ginny and Wally had wanted to do it. On the way back we stopped at the Golden Staircase pullout where there were no signs or interpretive material about the building of the Road. We found a place to park at Sunrift Gorge and went upstream to see the narrow gorge and then downstream to see Baring Falls (about 0.3 mi each way). We stopped at Lunch Creek again because the bighorn sheep were still browsing close to the road. More critter pictures. Back over Logan Pass and down to Avalanche camp sometime after 1700. Ginny and Wally had stopped by and left a postcard and a chocolate bear claw for us on their way to maybe take the tour boat. We had some deviled eggs and chips for snacks and then C.J. heated up the leftover stew Ginny had sent with us. We downloaded our pictures to our computers. C.J.’s new computer has a nice long battery life, and mine is still pretty good, too.

24 August, Wed – Long driving day. We got up in the dark again so we could leave around 0800 for what the GPS said would be an eight-and-a-half-hour drive to McCall, ID. We left the park and detoured around Kalispell going to the east side of Flathead Lake through Big Fork. Just outside of Missoula we stopped at a McDonalds so C.J. could download the USHPA calendar that Nick wanted her to proof. After we both looked at it C.J. tried unsuccessfully to upload it to the server or send it by email attachment. Since we had already stopped once, we had to skip a chance for some frozen custard at Freddie’s Steakburgers in Missoula. We took Rte 12 over Lolo Pass stopping briefly at the summit before descending along the low-water Lochsa River – no rafters to be seen this time. We took a break at Kooskia where we turned off for the climb to Grangeville, ID, where we got gas (2.499). Then we climbed to White Bird Summit and descended the long grade into the Salmon River Valley. We passed through Riggins and it was already after 1630 on Mountain Time (since we were going back into that time zone at Riggins). There was a 20-minute construction delay as we climbed out of New Meadow so we got to McCall and the Ponderosa State Park after 1815. Fortunately the registration people were still working and there were lots of campsites to choose from. We selected a pull-thru near where we had camped two years ago. It was expensive though at something like $71 for two nights for out-of-state- with no ID Parks Pass. We relaxed in the relative cool at 5000 ft and ate some of our dwindling supply of deviled eggs, then C.J. made a stir fry with whatever veggies were still in good shape plus the burger patty she had brought along. Later we learned not to open the door with the lights on – little flying bugs by the hundreds came in to flutter around the lights.

25 August, Thu – C.J. had contacted Belinda on Wed and set up a meeting time of around 1130, so there was time to do a paddle on Payette Lake before then. We had overnight-soaked French toast with mixed jams and then set off to the park boat launch. There was no one else there so we were able to unload the boat and gear up before bringing the car up to the parking lot. We headed off to the north hoping to get to the end of the peninsula we had driven to the top of two years ago. It was only about two miles (as the crow flies) and there was no wind, unlike what we had encountered on Wed when we arrived. It took a bit longer than an hour to go and return. On the way, as we were passing the rock formation known as Hen and Chicks, a speeding powerboat must have hit a chunk of floating wood because there was a loud BANG and something flew into the air behind the boat which then came to a stop. We hung around a short time to see if they were going to sink and need some help, but they motored slowly away toward the nearest shore. We continued on until just short of the two islands at the end of the peninsula, then turned back. We were out of the water and on our way by 1130. Belinda was already preparing lunch by the time we arrived at the McCall RV Resort and their Spartan toy hauler. The tomato-basil salad with goat cheese was very good as were the fillo-wrapped filling fried on her Komin cast-iron skillet. After lunch Belinda took us on a walk down the Payette River past a new development of McMansions. When we returned we visited a while and then drove into town with Belinda (Davis rode his bike) to Ice Cream Alley  where the servings were “mountain-size” and delicious. We dropped Belinda off and returned to camp for showers. Along the way we passed Worldmark McCall south of Wooley St, one avenue east of Davis Ave. We had agreed to do dinner with Davis and Belinda so at 1900 we picked up Belinda at the RV park (well, it was closer to 1930 because we had to go back for the blue-barb marmalade for Belinda). We ate at Southside Grill and Cantina located at the north end of the airport, and noted for its crashed airplane embedded in the roof. The food and drinks were adequate but I probably wouldn’t return (if they are even there – we were the only dinner guests). But it was fun to spend some more time with Davis and Belinda.

Chief Joseph bronze in Joseph, OR

26 Aug, Fri – I wanted to get going at 0800 because the GPS had shown that while the straight-line distance Wallowa Lake State Park was only sixty miles, the route by road was 176 miles and would take four hours. However, we didn’t get up until 0715 so we didn’t get out of the campground until just after 0900. We were lucky to have only a few minutes to wait at the construction on Rte. 55 and we were soon on Rte. 95 going south through Tamarack (big lumber mill), Council and Cambridge where we turned NW and wound down to the Snake River at Brownlee Dam. We crossed at the bridge just below the dam and drove along the west side of the Snake until Oxbow Dam where we started uphill going over a couple of summits of 5000 and 6000 ft. We stopped at the Hells Canyon Overlook about three miles off the paved Forest Service road; it was a good view but you could not see the bottom of the canyon where the Snake flowed. Our gas was getting low as we approached Joseph; the low-gas light came on just outside town. So we pulled into the one Chevron station in town and filled up (2.809). By then it was around 1300 (PDT) so we drove directly to Wallowa State Park hoping that there would still be sites available on a Friday. There were a number of sites to choose from but they were all in C Loop where the restroom was being demolished so it would be a long walk to the next nearest restroom [But at least my disabled vet pass got us two nights camping for no charge]. After getting set up, we had lunch at the picnic table and C.J. spotted a paraglider soaring Mt. Howard. That gave us a bit of an impetus to get going over to the Wallowa Lake Tramway. The operator fortunately had a phone we could use to call Todd Wiegan since our ATT-based phones had no coverage (except for emergency calls). Todd gave us the info about the site and told us that today was the best chance for a flight since it was supposed to be windy and the wrong direction on Saturday. C.J. got hold of the soaring pilot (Peter) on the radio (151.625) and got an update on conditions. We also ran into another pilot who was doing “laps” (he was on his fourth) who told us

Wallowa Lake from the tram

about the launch, too. It was getting pretty late by the time we had driven down to the LZ at the delta where the Wallowa R empties into the lake and returned to park in the shade across from the Tramway station. We filled out the paperwork for the lift operator and had our USHPA cards and IDs copied, paid the $28 ea for the lift and loaded onto the gondola for the long ride to the top at 7800 ft. (or maybe a bit higher because the trail went down from the upper lift station. About halfway down the lefthand trail we stopped because we thought we might have taken the wrong trail. C.J. went a bit farther down the trail while I bushwhacked east until I ran into the middle trail. I followed that back until I thought I was below where we had left our packs and then bushwhacked uphill. I was lucky to come out close to where C.J. was waiting for me. She hadn’t found anything but the trail continuing down with no sight of the big orange windsock on launch. I called Todd (the phone worked up on Mt. Howard!) and he said we were on the right trail and just had to go farther until we hit a junction and then take the Valley Overlook Trail which continued down even more. We eventually spotted the windsock and were soon at the smooth, grassy launch, a great improvement over the old one on a scree slope that we had launched from 15 years ago. C.J. took a number of tries to get off as conditions were changeable with some big gusts and some crossing from the left (west), plus the new-site jitters. I managed to get my wing overhead on my first try and got into the air at 1646. It took me a while to get settled and comfortable enough to make use of the widespread lift. I got to 8500 from the 7800 launch; meanwhile C.J. had climbed to 9500 and run into turbulent air, maybe a shear layer. I flew out above the bump out front to the left and worked some lift, but mostly I was going toward the big moraine on the east side of Wallowa Lake. I flew along it a ways until I got down near the top of it then turned back. There was more lift and I got back up several hundred feet. Then I flew west across the state park to the boat launch, and returned to the delta where I did a bunch of s-turns in the buoyant air and a final that took me farther than I expected, just missing a streambed and having to run it out. (0:34). C.J. landed a few minutes later and we packed up in the sand. The sun had already set behind the mountains to our west before we landed. I walked the quarter-mile back to get the car and met C.J. in the parking lot. We tried to get hold of Todd to see if he wanted to go out to dinner with us but, of course, our phones did not work and neither did the radio. Oh well, C.J. fixed a great dinner of stir-fried vegies with some pasta and ham. Later we finished up recording our last couple of days in our journals.

C.J. on Hurricane Creek Trail

27 Aug, Sat – We slept in until the sun was up – which wasn’t all that late because we’re in the next time zone and on the far eastern side of it. After breakfast we drove to Joseph where the USFS office was closed on the weekend, but there was a small Farmers Market which we visited. Right next to it was the visitors center and the guy who was manning the desk had information about the hike we had chosen: Hurricane Creek to Slick Rock Creek. He even let us make photos of the relevant pages from the guidebook. Meanwhile, we also picked up messages from Todd about what he was doing and how the weather looked. He thought there was only a small window when conditions would be good and the next four days didn’t look so hot either. Driving out of Joseph to the west, we found Hurricane Cr. Road and followed it to the end at the trailhead; surprisingly, it was mostly paved and there was still room in the small parking lot (~5000 ft) (we had expected a huge crowd as it was a beautiful Saturday at the end of summer) (1105). The trail ascended moderately along Hurricane Creek reaching the Eagle Cap Wilderness boundary at 0.75 mi at an obvious avalanche swathe. At 1.5 mi we crossed a meadow with several dry streams, one or all of them could have been Deadman Creek. Mt. Sacajawea, the highest peak in the wilderness was visible in the clearings. At around three miles we hit a pair of long switchbacks which carried us above the creek gorge and to the cascades of Slick Rock. There were several people up on the upper levels enjoying the water but we pushed on to find a place to have lunch with a little shade and some views of the mountains. We found it about a half mile up the trail (5800 ft) (around 1320). After lunch we returned to Slick Rock and filled my empty water bottle. Then we used the new USB Steripen to purify it; the pen needed a few minutes of charging using a power bank, but then worked fine, especially considering that it had sat in my pack without being charged for several months. [On the way in we had passed several hikers and a ranger who had all been working as volunteers farther into the wilderness. They pay $300 each and their food, tents, chairs, stoves and tools are packed in by horse and mule. They go in on Sunday, work Mon and Tue, have a day off on Wed, work Thu and Fri and then hike out on Sat. We were overtaken on the way out by their pack train.] We reached the trailhead right around 1600 and returned to the State Park for showers. On the way we contacted Todd and arranged to meet for dinner at Embers Brewhouse at 1930. On the way back to camp we stopped at our “traditional” ice cream shop across from the tram for something to tide us over until dinner. Back at camp we downloaded our photos from camera to computer. Around 1915 we drove along the lake (and moraine) to town and found Embers. Todd wasn’t there yet so we chose an outside table near one of the firepits. A text let us know that he’d be there shortly, and a few minutes later he joined us along with his significant other, Whitney, whom we had not met before. There were more than a dozen microbrews on tap and you could go up to the bar and get a sample of any of them before you made your choice. C.J. chose a pineapple cider and I had a Pelican Crème Ale. We split a sausage calzone and for an additional $4 we got two big salads. It was fun catching up with Todd and getting to know Whitney. We had one of the local tourist magazines with us and Todd was featured in an article about paragliding at Mt. Howard. The author mentioned that Todd had flown across Hells Canyon of the Snake into Idaho for the longest flight from Mt. Howard. We found out what the article had left out that he had landed at Mackay Bar on the Main Salmon River far from any roads, and hitched a ride out on a raft. It took two days to get down to the takeout point near Riggins. Apparently the Wallowa Tram people really like Todd for all the business he brings in – not just the tandems but also the visibility of people flying and landing on the beach near where the Wallowa River empties into the lake. Anyway, they include Todd under their own insurance so he did not have to go through the RRG and USHPA for his insurance. I didn’t know that the season is pretty short; it doesn’t begin until the lake drops down enough for the beach to be exposed and that was only about two weeks ago. We stayed at our table talking until the staff was closing the place up around us at 2130.

28 Aug, Sun – Up at 0645 as it got light (and we had had a restless night). We had cold cereal and got packed up pretty quickly. Then we went down to the marina to see the dragonboats and some of the nine teams who were competing in races. We didn’t stay for the races themselves but it was fun to see the colorful boats with their dragonhead prows and dragontail sterns. We pulled out of Wallowa State Park shortly after 0900 and drove through Joseph and Enterprise stopping a few times to look south to Hurricane Canyon and Mt. Sacajawea (on the east) and the Hurricane Divide (on the west). We stopped again at the Joseph Canyon Overlook. Then we descended into the deep canyon of the Grande Ronde and climbed up the other side to the high plateau again. We descended once more near Asotin to the Snake River. At Clarkston we stopped for gas at Costco even though the GPS gave us an incorrect address on the first try. We took SR 12 down the Snake and then up over another high divide into the Palouse. We stopped for lunch at Palouse Falls State Park which was pretty busy with daytrippers [There’s not much of a campground there, and only for tenters]. From Washtucna we took SR26 west along the Saddle Mountains to hit I-90 near Vantage. At Ellensburg we found a place to park just west of the CWU campus and got an ice cream at the Winegar’s located in Jerold’s Bookstore. We were really low on gas as we approached North Bend so we stopped at the Warrior Station near Ken’s Trucktown at Exit 34 (2.549). We were in the driveway at home about 1740.