VICTORY TOUR..Monday and Tuesday, Mormon Bend, Stanley Idaho

ESDAY

Last night our bright blue skies once again became a brownish gray with smoke from a distant fire. We scavenged wood and contributed to the smoke with our own campfire. Diane is the proud owner of a cross-cut saw and took on the job of sawing the trees that Luanne and I drug back. She laughed the whole time she did it, quite a change from the woman behind a desk of four weeks ago!!

This morning dawned bright and clear, the fire thankfully extinguished. On our morning walk we watched an Osprey fishing on the river and a beautiful doe leading her two babies through the forest across the river.

Luanne is out on the river again. One fish is all it took to get her fever raging. She can’t get over being able to walk out of her camper and catch fish without getting in a car and driving to a spot.

And me, I am wondering what it says about me that I can lose things in 175 square feet of space!! I have four postcards I wanted to write and send from Stanley this afternoon and darned if I can find them. And it isn’t the first time I “lost” something this trip!!!

It is now dark and late, we were sitting around a dying campfire marveling at all the stars when Luanne heard footsteps of some sort behind her at the river bank. That sent us all scurrying to the safety of our houses, time for bed anyway. I probably was just a deer, but....

Diane caught her first wild rainbow trout today!! She waded in the river and caught a nice fish on a 4# rod. Congratulations Diane!!!

We all caught fish today, and we also went off exploring the tiny town of Stanley and the beautiful lakes which surround it. Stanley has the distinction of being, on average, the coldest town in the United States. It has officially 100 residents, but during the winter boasts only 40 hardy souls! The salmon return to Stanley every year to spawn. They make a journey of almost 1,000 miles to come back to where they were born, it’s a pretty amazing feat. They are beautiful fish, a rosy red that glow in the water.

We took the dogs to the dog beach at Red Fish Lake and they had a blast playing in the water. Teddy rolled and played in the sand, he was loving it and I love the picture I took of him there!

Luanne will be sixty on September 1st! We’ll by traveling that day and fixing a nice dinner to celebrate would have been more difficult so tonight was her official birthday dinner. We had cedar smoked salmon, caprese salad and fresh squash with vidalia onions, it was a feast. Happy Birthday Luanne!!

Miscellaneous items

A lovely storm last night cleared the air and opened our view of the mountains. The forest fire was 12,000+ acres of pine burning, far enough away that we couldn't smell it but close enough to make our skies hazy and take our sunset views away.

When the rain comes down gently onto Saffire's roof it sounds just like the rainsticks the children play with, the long tubes you upend and listen as the pebbles inside slowly drop. It's a very soothing sound. When the rain comes down hard it sounds as if someone is dropping large rocks all over the top!

This storm brought us two small gusts of wind and great thunder and rain, I loved it!

We are packing up to leave for Stanley Idaho and wilderness camping on the Salmon River for three nights.

Yesterday Diane sat in her chair in the sun reading a three day old newspaper. I think I was doing laundry so cannot claim to be an eye witness to the event described. Luanne walked by and saw Diane with her mouth gaping. At first Lu thought Diane was busy catching flies, but quickly realized she was asleep! She snuck off to get her camera and when she approached Diane and turned it on the starting up sound startled Diane and she awoke. But would she admit to her little nap...oh no! Not on your life! And the debate raged on.....

And I took a GREAT deal of abuse for my morning accoutrement. I sleep in an old, soft, white cotton knit gown. And I don't get dressed when I hop out of bed. Now that would not be a probblem if it weren't for my boy Teddy. He needs to go out in the morning. I keep a tieout at the door so all I have to do is click and send him out. OK, so when I get up I put a sweatshirt on over the nightgown to stay cozy while I drink my coffee. Not so bad really. I guess what did them in was the day I came out in my new purchase, flannel moose print pants from Yellowstone with the gown flowing over like a skirt. I guess I really was quite a sight, sweatshirt, pants and white skirt. Actually I took my design cue from my granddaughter Elyse who wears wonderfully wacky outfits and looks darling in them. How come I don't????

Keeping Luanne exercised continues to be a challenge now that we aren't hiking every day. I got the gloves and ball out last night and we played catch for quite a while. I think she'll be glad when we get back to the wilds with our bear spray, fishing out our door and hikes.

I don't know if we'll have service for a few days, but the next post will hopefully have pictures of fish we have caught!!!!

THE VICTORY TOUR...Sunday, Salmon ID

We set out today for Hayden Creek and the Hayden Fishing Ponds, determined to get a fish for Diane. I really was beginning to wonder what we had done to anger the fish gods! We drove through beautiful country and several miles into a gravel road to find the access to the Ponds. A sharp turn and a very small bridge took us across Hayden Creek and into the Ponds where we were stunned to find men and heavy equipment working!!! No water...no trout...just dirt!!!! They were turning two ponds into one, next year the fishing will be great.

So, yet once again, our best laid plans went awry! And yet once again, turned into a wonderful afternoon!

We drove upstream a ways and found a place to pull out and park. The area was fairly clear, you couldn’t backcast but you could do a nice roll cast. We spread out on the stream and started fishing. Wasn’t long before I had a brookie, a small trout, beautiful little fish. We switched places and I got two more downstream a bit, Luanne got two and Diane practiced her casting! We decided to stop for some lunch when Luanne followed Tucker down to the stream and came running back with her arms spread wide hollering something. I thought she’d seen a snake but turned out she saw a BIG trout, Tucker almost stepped on it in the water!!

Reenergized and fed, we hit the stream again. I was fishing from a high bank in a tight spot, casting the fly a bit upstream and letting it drift under a huge tree to my left where the water was deep and “fishy”. WHAM, the big fish was on!!! When you fly fish you need to have your rod lifted high to set the hook and with the trees and big bend in the stream I just couldn’t do it. I got him to come close enough to see his big, white belly and the length of him, beautiful! What an exciting few minutes!

I was at first disappointed at not having landed him, but when I rethought the whole thing I’m glad all turned out like it did. I was so high off of the water getting him landed would have meant hurting him, and he was much too beautiful to do that to. We were catch and releasing, so he just got released a little bit early!

The country we drove through to get creek access was beautiful and desolate, dotted with the occasional ranch, stock pens and tons of hay baled for the winter feeding. It is so isolated, reached only by a twisting gravel road. We’ve all agreed that it would not be the life for us.

Tomorrow we head south for some dry camping for a few days on the Salmon River. More fishing is in store and hopefully some hiking too. Then we are off to Craters of the Moon before our trip ends at the Grand Teton National Park in early September.

THE VICTORY TOUR....Saturday, Salmon, Idaho

Today marks three weeks on the road, we have done so much yet it doesn’t seem like we’ve been gone that long.

We are in the country of the Lemhi Shoshone, Sacajawea’s tribe. We fished the Lemhi river this morning, it is a beautiful stream but no fish, looks like it would be much more fun to tube or kayak. Actually, when we came back from roaming this afternoon a whole crew of kids were going downstream in their tubes having a blast!

Luanne met a guy on the stream who told her the better fishing is south, closer to the Stanley area. We’ve found another spot and think we’ll make a day of it tomorrow, taking our lunch and the dogs with us.

When we woke this morning the sky was it’s usual blue with a few puffy clouds, but as the day went on it grew grayer and grayer. We had heard there were fires in this area before we headed down from Missoula, but they were 100% contained so didn’t worry about it. A new fire has flamed up over the mountain, we can see the plumes of smoke and the whole sky is thick with smoke. It will be interesting to see whether we can continue on our route to Stanley Monday.

We visited the Sacajawea museum late this afternoon. It was a tiny museum with a nice interpretive walk. When we were on our way out, I think in Great Falls, we saw the memorial to Sargeant Floyd, the only member of the Expedition to die. That seems like aeons ago and the thought of what they went through to reach Salmon overwhelms my modern sensibilities.

When the Corps agreed to let Charboneau bring his young Indian "wife" on the Expedition, the Captains had no idea how valuable her presence would be. Sacajawea was fourteen when she set out with them, she had been captured from her tribe when she was nine, then traded to Charboneau. During the Expedition, her knowledge of herbal medecines and foraging, as well as her bravery in perilous times proved time and again that SHE was the one in the couple who was earning their way. When the Corps arrived in the Lemhi area they found the Missouri River at an end, no other navigable river in sight and the Bitterroot Mountains to cross. They encountered a band of Indians and hoped to trade with them for horses. When they heard that Sacajawea was Shoshone they brought her in to translate. She was shocked when she entered the tepee and found her brother Kamahowait and the rest of her family were the very band they had encountered! The horses she procured made the rest of the trip possible.

I just looked up from typing and a small twin engine plane flew over for the second time. The Smoke Jumper's headquarters are in Missoula and I'm sure they are on alert and very probably jumping into the fire we are watching.

VICTORY TOUR...Friday, Salmon, Idaho

We had another spectacular drive today, you must be getting tired of hearing that but it is so true! We drove into the heart of the Bitterroot Mountains on a road which had 7% grade and switchback curves, following the course of first the Bitterroot River then the Salmon River.

We are in the heart of Lewis and Clark country, Salmon is actually Sacajawea's homeplace. There is a museum dedicated to her in town that we are planning to visit tomorrow. I've always been fascinated with the Expedition of Discovery and Sacajawea's roll in it. I've read much of the journals and one of my favorite books is Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo. I think after traveling the roads and rivers during my journey I'll be rereading it.

We opted for a commercial campground and electric rather than dry camping the next few days. Tomorrow we head to the river for some fly fishing and the rather momentous occasion of Diane catching her first fish on fly!

THE VICTORY TOUR...Thursday, Missoula

Thursday was a day which brought interesting women into my path, women whom I'd like to spend more time with.

As we left Glacier I saw a woman of my age on horseback. She wore a wide brimmed Georgia OKeefe straw hat and a buttoned up cardigan sweater which appeared to be hand knitted. Her dog trotted at her side and she was followed by a pack horse which carried a large basket on its back. My story for her is that she lives back in the mountain and comes to town once a month to do some shopping and get her mail. She left her mountain home at dawn and was looking forward to the news and conversation which would soon be hers. I wish I had a chance to talk to her and find out what her story really is!

Then in the evening we joined Diane's cousin Dianne and a group of her friends for an evening rafting trip down the Clark Fork. There were eleven of us with two rafts loaded with not only us, but deluxe hors d'oeuvres and a wide variety of libations.

We began the trip floating under the highway bridge and train trestle and quickly were in a lovely canyon. Dianne said they called it Hell's Canyon because the Indians used to attack us white skinned folks in that area. We continued leisurly making our way downstream, rolling past the University and the heart of downtown as the evening lights came on.

The float was fairly gentle with a few rapids as we descended and Dianne handled the oars admirably. One last rather awesome drop came near the end of the float. Diane was in the front, her cousin Dianne told her to pull back on the ropes at the nose and down we flew, crashing to the bottom and struggling back up, water splashing everywhere! It was wild and wonderful!!! Diane thought she was going to die! I thought I was going to be soaked and I was. We were screaming with victory as we righted and slowly finished our float downstream.

The women on this float were interesting, open and generous, a group you would like to know better. I am sworn to secrecy on the name this group calls themselves, but am able to share Diane's new title with you. The person who sits closest to the cooler and is in charge of passing everything is dubbed the "beer bitch".  Diane did a pretty good job so we are thinking of making her our permanent "beer bitch"!

On today to Salmon, ID where we hope to find some good fishing!

Thanks again to Dianne and ">>>>>>>>" for a wonderful evening in Missoula!!

Morning musing

As I slipped under the down comforter (couldn’t resist that for all you reading in 100 degree weather) last night I was thinking about all we had seen and heard yesterday.

At one point we were stopped for construction next to a towering rock wall. The snow above that wall was melting in the hot summer sun.

The melting water dropped in a musical cascade of plinks and plonks like a xylophone.

Somewhere down the mountain all those drops joined together and became one of the multitude of waterfalls cascading to the valley floor.

Then all those waterfalls drained into the river which continued the flow downhill in ever greater momentum. The river water was crystal clear, in spots where it was deceptively still you could see ten to fifteen feet to the bottom and see every rock in the stream bed.

Then when the river narrowed, the water surged through the rocks with a foamy spume of the most amazing aquamarine color created by the glacial waters.

The river continued down until it poured into Lake McDonald, a short walk from our campsites. Tucker and Teddy waded in the water, perhaps the same water we heard dripping high in the mountain that afternoon.

Note to readers..

Nancy informed me I had a "secret word" required to leave comments. It was so secret I didn't know about it.

I went in and changed it so anyone anytime can leave a comment.

Hope you are enjoying our travels with us!

Patricia

THE VICTORY TOUR....Tuesday & Wednesday Glacier

The winds we experienced Monday during our hike escalated to epic proportions during the night. A good thing Luanne had ropes over the top of the ALiner or she would have blown apart during the night. I pulled the slides in on Saffire because I was afraid the awnings were going to be ripped off. We were rocking and rolling, and not rocking to sleep! The winds were very warm and brought no rain with them. The owners of the campground said it was very unusual to have winds like that and they were as shocked as we were.

Today, Wednesday, Diane left for Missoula and some needed repairs on her trailer. Luanne and I moved to West Glacier and the Fish Creek Campground which is beautiful. This side of the park is totally different from the other, and the Going to the Sun road from the West is much more spectacular. I love driving the switchbacks and narrow roads!

I think this park should be called Land of Many Falls instead of Glacier, there are falls everywhere. The hikes to the waterfalls are all so spectacular. On the west side we have Lake MacDonald and although it is a beautiful huge body of water we didn’t bring the kayaks so all we can do is look.

We’re going to have a quite night then head to Missoula tomorrow. We’ll meet up with Diane and her cousin Dianne. Dianne has a raft and is going to take us for an evening rafting trip down the Clarks Fork of the Snake River.