Lazy Days in Idaho
Friday 19 - Monday 22 May 2023
Our journey from Salt Lake City up to Spokane would take us up the west side of Idaho, a state that neither of had visited previously. The campgrounds in the State Parks recommended in the National geographic guide were completely booked out weeks in advance, but we had been able to secure reservations at two other parks, so we spent two nights at Three Island Crossing State Park, about 30 miles south of Boise, and one night at Winchester Lake Sate Park, another 250 miles north. Both turned out to be really nice places to stop.
The weather turned really hot (low 90s oF) and so when we got to Three Island Crossing we were delighted to be camping on a lovely site in the shade of some large trees. The park is on the banks of the Snake River, and whilst picturesque, there isn’t that much to do there. So basically we spent Saturday hanging out and relaxing. We took a short walk down by the river and in the afternoon cycled a half mile to the local Y-Knot winery. We spent a very pleasant hour working our way through a set of five tasting sample, seated on the veranda in the shade. We debated driving to Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park but decided that the light wouldn’t be great for photography (and it was much too hot to enjoy slogging up the sand dunes). So for the rest of the afternoon we sat in the shade reading and moving our chairs every half hour to stay in the shade. We started to feel like human sun-dials. When things started to cool off we lit a campfire and grilled some tri-tip steak and potatoes which we ate with Brussel sprouts sautéed with bacon. It was awesome!
The drive north the following day was spectacular. Once past Boise we started climbing up through the Payette River gorge. This appears to be a popular spot for rafting and kayaking, but at the moment the river looks terrifying. For the best part of twenty miles all we could see was a raging torrent of white water, with no visible sections of flat water or eddies to stop or pull-out. Many cars and vans with kayaks on top were parked along the road and saw many kayakers studying the river, but for the most part they remained on dry land. It looked incredibly dangerous to us.
Once at the top of the canyon we found ourselves in an alpine meadow that was reminiscent of Switzerland, and shortly after that, we started down the northern side of the mountains, following the Salmon River. Once again, it was beautiful scenery with impressive rapids and waterfalls, and we did see a couple of rafts and some kayaks on the river. The further north we went the more tributaries merged and the bigger the river became. We were quite shocked to see how many tree trunks and limbs were floating downstream.
Seemingly abruptly we were into rolling hills again as we approached our destination—Winchester Lake State Park. The weather was looking threatening as we set up our tent but the storm seemed to pass by us. After a walk and dinner we retired to the tent having seen the forecast for 100% chance of rain at 8 pm. I think we both fell asleep before the rain arrived. The powerful thunderstorms did wake us in the night. The tent doesn’t feel like the most secure place to ride out a big storm like that! It’s hard not to wonder if we’d placed the tent a little too close to that pine tree…
On Monday morning we packed up our wet tent (all dry inside) and drove the remaining 150 miles up to Tasha and Mac’s ranch outside of Spokane. We’ll be here for the next six days and probably won’t be blogging until we head out again. There are simply too many house projects and a lot of socializing to be done!
Gloria and Mike
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