Stealth Day Camping

This last week we have been doing a lot of house remodeling.  Well, I have been at work for most of it but got sucked in during my time off.  This is Jamie whacking out the last tile from our kitchen floor.  It has been hideous.  To get a break and a breath of fresh air, we headed to this spot yesterday...

I am going to keep the location secret because it is such a popular spot but unless you take a jaunt off the beaten path you will not find it.  And I don't want anyone to find it.  It was so cool because we could sort of see people on the trail above us but totally unaware that someone was stealthing in the valley below.  We hiked in with a day's worth of luxury items and basically spent hours reading, talking, sleeping, and just listening to the amazing sounds around us.  There was no agenda other that to just relax and stay hidden from the world.

The spot was magical, a place where two very small creeks come together.  Because of the very small cascades from two different directions it was quite loud and soothing.

Ferns and water and rotting wood: my favorite.

This was my view for most of the day.  We got there around lunch and stayed until around 7pm.  By the time we left it was getting pretty dark in the deep valley.

I strung up my rain poncho to keep the dappled sun off.  Hey, it was keeping us awake.  There is something about a roof over your head that makes it feel so cozy.  I really could have just stayed there the rest of the night but we only had one blanket and it actually got so chilly before we left that Nancy put on a stocking cap.

For dinner we had one of my one-pot home dehydrated meals rehydrated on my homemade alcohol stove.

Confession time: it is from a bag of frozen Peruvian Rice from Trader Joe's that I stuck in my dehydrator.  But it is damn good!  After sweating to death the day before and breathing old tile and mortar dust the day was a welcome respite.  We did not hike a million miles or gain a summit, but the satisfaction I felt when I got home was just the same.  I just hope I can find the place again.

North Fork

Once again I am slow on the posting.  A couple weeks ago Nancy and I took off without any dogs for a weekend away.  We went camping up on the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.  It was splendid and I have to say it was quite different not having dogs along.  I did have a bit of anxiety about Walter until we called the second day and found out he slept in bed with the house sitter.  On our way down the river road to take a bike ride we ran into this lovely girl just off the road.

The first day we were there we went for a bike ride on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alene's.  Of course Nancy's bike needed some air and we did not have an adapter so we had to drive into Kellogg to a bike shop.  Even though that is not a very pretty part of the trail we started out there and road west towards Cataldo.

Nancy on the trail

The trail

One of my favorite parts

Too much cuteness

On the way back we stopped at this bridge so that I could jump in.  I have to pretty much wear long sleeves and pants these days because of my weird sun rash so I just jumped in as I was, long pants and padded bike underwear and all.  It was so hot though that I was dry by the time we got back to Kellogg.

After our ride we drove up to Wallace and had dinner at the 1313 Club.  Pretty darn good.  Then we decided to head back to the river via Murry but I headed up the wrong valley and found a mining wasteland.  There were quite a few old villages from the mining days like Burke, Woodland Park, Gem, Frisco and Black Bear.  The scars from mining are unreal and the area looks very economically depressed.

I cannot even convey the scale of the ruins that were there and this kind of thing went all the way up the hillsides.

But, along the CDA river, there are beautiful places like this.  On the second morning I went for a ride by myself along the river.  The country there is so absolutely amazing.  There are no big lakes for big boats, though there are some people who have their ATVs but you just occasionally see them on the Forest Service roads.  Generally they are families and people who fly fish.

I want to live there.

The river valley as it starts to get narrow and head away from the road.

Indian Paintbrush

On the way home we stopped by the closed Settler's Grove of giant cedars.  The road has a half barricade over it but we went anyway.  My car is so small that I can turn it around on a narrow road.  We didn't have to.  The trees are all along a creek (Eagle Creek, I think) an they are impressive.  A lot of fallen in the past few years but some big ones are still around.  This is Nancy being a tree hugger.

A path through the cedars.  We had a really great time.  We stayed for 3 nights.  I did a bit of swimming in a deep spot under a bridge and we read and talked a lot.  And true to our getting older form, we were in bed before it got dark.  And Walter did just fine and home without me.