Marie Creek

Ahhh, no house sitter this weekend, and no working vehicle until last night. My camping plans were foiled. The poor Festiva needs new front brakes. Evidently one of the calipers is stuck in "stop the car" mode. And the Blazer was having a wheel issue but that is now fixed so Walter and I went to Marie Creek today for a hike. Two weekends ago on a day that was too damn hot for hiking we went and found the trailhead. Today it was just a bit less than too damn hot for hiking. A trail description for Marie Creek can be found in Best Hikes with Dogs Inland Northwest. The trailhead is like 15 miles from Cd'A.

When we got there again today the trailhead parking lot was full of horse trailers. The trail is maintained by the Panhandle Backcountry Horsemen but we only saw 7 horsewomen on the trail. That was pretty cool. Walter and I always stand off to the lower side of the trail and make sure they all know we are there. The trail is really great, but I do not advise hiking it on a really hot summer afternoon. Morning or evening would be great, not 1:00pm. The first mile and a half or so is pretty hot as the trail climbs up and over a ridge to the creek valley and has minimal shade is spots. I actually got a wee bit too hot and did not have a normal cool down once we got into the shady valley. Can anyone say heat exhaustion? I was probably heading in that direction.

Walter and I walked along the creek for about another mile and a half, through a really cool meadow and along the edge of basalt slopes. We walked almost to Skitwash Creek. There are several nice camping spots on the edges of the first meadow. Unfortunately one of them has a lot of junk that was hauled in by horses and not taken back out (a huge foot locker and a big-ass tent). We also saw this really weird metal pyramid thing made out of fence posts that had fencing on it. It did not look to be over anything special, such as a rare orchid or anything and I don't think anyone was growing pole beans in the meadow. Really weird. If anyone knows what it could be let me know. It comes up to about my chin.

Even though the trail parallels the creek, it is not really within contact of it for most of the hike. There is a great spot before the trail heads back up over the ridge to the trailhead that is perfect for getting wet. I soaked myself and got Walter wet, then we found a shady spot in the breeze and had a bit of a rest and some snacks. While we were resting there were two hawks doing battle in the air above us. It was so weird. I heard them making noise and thought that maybe we were too close to the nest but as I watched I realized they were fighting each other. Maybe they were mating and it was some violent hawk mating ritual, but it seems a bit early for that sort of thing to be happening. It was really wild to watch and incredibly loud.

We took our time heading back up over the ridge to the trailhead. The trail from the ridgetop to the creek is the hottest part with very little shade. By the time we got back to the trailhead I was pretty darn tired and had a pounding headache. Aside from the women on the horses we did not see anyone else on the trail. There were some folks at the trailhead when we got there but that was it. In all we walked about 6-7 miles. The ridge is really the only hilly part. There is some undulation along the creek portion but not much. The meadow area looks like a most excellent place to spend the night. There is a camp spot at the other end that was really clean and it look nice. It is actually in the trees rather than in the meadow.

I am not sure what the next few weeks looks like. This coming weekend I will be replacing the brakes on the Festiva. I have been told the front are easier than the back and I have successfully replaced the back brakes before. Maybe we will get in some fun on Sunday. I am really liking this no homework thing in the evening!!!!!

Pictures from top to bottom: Wally in the water; looking down into the Marie Creek valley from the ridge above; three trail shots; the meadow;

the goofy pyramid thing (note the flowers around it...they covered the meadow).