Thursday, August 4, 2016

Camper Mate for the Night

Since Steven was feeling better, he decided to join me on the two day trip from Jackson Hole to Boise. He started out fairly interested in the scenery, looking at the maps, and chatting with me. But as the landscape grew more and more stark, his interest waned and he asked if he could watch Netflix videos. If I hadn't been driving, I would have watched Netflix videos with him! That drive along Highway 26 near Craters of the Moon National Monument is some of the ugliest area I have ever been through. My apologies to those of you who are enchanted with lava rock and desert, but it's just not my bag. Nor Steven's.


We made a stop at the Visitor's Center and looked at a few exhibits, then got back on the road. We still had lots of miles to get to a cool campground and it was already after noon.

We pulled into North Fork Campground just north of Ketchum, and found a nice space. After setting up camp, we walked around the campground and discovered we were just a few hundred feet from a beautiful stream! There was a camp space right by the water that was open, but we figured it wasn't worth breaking camp, moving, and re-setting up just for a quick overnight.

We got back on the road early the next morning, and headed up over the pass to Stanley. We were chagrinned to see the condition of the Sawtooth and Boise National Forests. Half of the pines were beetle infested, and a quarter of the trees were burned. It is the saddest looking forest land I have ever seen. We did enjoy watching the beautiful Payette River flowing along in the canyon below the road, filled with kayakers and fishermen.

The last sixty miles (from Garden Valley to Eagle) was over a very steep hill. Poor Minnie struggled to hold 40mph and just about gave up before the blessed summit appeared!

We arrived at HiValley RV Park in Eagle about 2:00 to find a welcoming party of Robin and Megan waiting for us!

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