The Old but Wonderful Standby

I had grand plans yesterday of a paddle down the St. Joe River with Nancy providing a shuttle but our wonderful dog sitter is out of town.  We always have her come over and let the dogs out when we are gone for more than 6 hours.  So, we had to improvise and turned once again to Mt. Spokane State Park.  It is so close and so beautiful.  In all we hiked about 6 miles.  Walter and I let Nancy and Arlo come along which we figured was a nice thing to do.  Arlo, who is 1 1/2 years old was really fatigued and we had to stop and rest for about 20 minutes after we got to the saddle between Bald and Kit Carson.  I am a bit concerned that he may have a hip problem so he is going to go in for a check next week.  Walter was of course right on his game.  He certainly does not seem like a 10 year old dog.

Two minutes into the hike and already the rocks start jumping into shoes.

Tons of little rills and roaring creeks coming down the mountain.

Mt. Kit Carson meadow.  Next time I am going to take a blanket and take a nap here.

Arlo looking totally cute.

Nancy enjoying some fresh air.  I was just about to have her take a picture of me for my blog since I hardly ever post one of myself but then my batteries died.  I didn't even get one of Walter!  I am bound and determined to make the most of this summer.  Last summer was sort of a loss.  I still do not understand how having a hysterectomy could have knocked me out for so long.  I realized yesterday that I was only up on Mt. Spokane once last year and that was in the fall.  No skiing because of my knee issues and surgery, no hiking in the summer.  I am still having some immune issues, inflammation and anemia but I think it is getting better.  I do not want another summer to slip by without me enjoying it.  Afterall, we only get so many of them in our lifetime.

Benewah Solstice

Walter and I had an amazing day yesterday.  We usually go up to Priest Lake for the Solstice but Nancy is out of town and I wanted to save the house sitting funds for later.  We took a fabulous day trip to Benewah Lake, St. Joe River, and Round Lake in north Idaho.  All three are separated from each other by narrow bits of land (see satellite view at end).

We started off at the boat ramp on Benewah Lake.  There is a nice little campground perched on a hill that I think I stayed at once.  It is all part of Heyburn State Park.  To reach the St. Joe you have to paddle across the lake and under the train bridge, which is pretty cool.  Then find the small opening into the river.  There was actually a bit of a current coming around the turn from the river into the lake that sort of surprised me.

This area is an avian paradise.  There are nesting platforms all over the place for osprey.  The sound of the birds is fantastic.  Though you can't see roads for most of the paddle you can hear them, especially the logging trucks, but it is possible to get around some of the corners of the river and hear only the wildlife.

This has always intrigued me.  There is no train track there...

I did not really have a plan other than to just paddle up the St. Joe and then back down, but I looked at the map and noticed that I could get trough to Round Lake.  I had never been on that bit before so decided to check it out (especially after getting totally pissed off by some big-ass boats that did not slow down when they went past me).  Round Lake turned out to be an amazing surprise.

This is my first pelican while out paddling.  I actually took the picture from a long way off so it is a bit blurry.  Round Lake is really shallow and it was empty except for us and the wildlife.  There were grebes, heron, osprey, red wing blackbirds, a flock of pelicans, and mosquitoes. 

The osprey had a fish in its talon.

Walter kept his eye on the pelican in the background.  He loves to watch the birds and sometimes he hangs his head over the edge and watches the rocks go by underneath the boat.  He actually fell out of the canoe after we had gotten back in from a potty break.  He just sort of rolled over the side and into the water as I pushed off from shore.  Not long after taking this picture he would start to fall asleep and then catch himself as he was starting to sink to the bottom of the boat.  He always has to keep watch.

Heron from a very long way off.

Looking towards Indian Cliff

After we got back onto Benewah Lake we stopped to have some dinner.  Walter had kibble and I had a tarragon chicken wrap from Trader Joe's.  I have been taking my little alcohol stove with me because it is so light and small and made myself some tea.  We spent about an hour just resting along the lake.

Ahhhh.......

The end of the longest day.

This is our route.  I think we probably paddled about 10 miles.  When we got back towards the car I was not quite ready to stop so I followed Benewah Creek for a bit.  It is a very winding narrow passage between the cattails and horsetails that twists and turns.  I would love to paddle it sometime just as the sun in coming up.  Oh, and as an addendum, I tried to upload a video that I took but Blogger kept erroring it.  At one point along the river where it was really quiet and cool, I could hear this cacophony behind me on the hillside.  It was this amazing sound of screeching and carrying on and I the only thing I can think of it that it is a heron rookery that I could not see.  It was one of those magical moments of the water, birds chirping, a frog croaking and this wild noise behind the trees.  The day was so magical and left me feeling more content that I have felt in a very long time.