Wednesday, Sep 27, 2023 - Payson AZ to Bisbee AZ

 

Looks like about 5 or 6 of us in this campground this morning. We left the window and vents open thinking it would not get too cold, but at 3am it was 60 so I closed things up and turned the heater on. Today is our last day on the road and we have a few options on how to get home. We chose the slightly longer way which keeps out of the Phoenix crazy traffic. 

But first coffee and WiFi in Payson. There was also an awesome looking donut place a couple of blocks from McDonald's, so we walked down there and picked up a couple of really fresh donuts for breakfast. Four older guys were out front so we chatted them up. They said Payson has no industry and it’s big because it’s 10 degrees cooler than Phoenix and there are a lot of retired folks here. It’s also only an hour from Phoenix so second homes maybe. Nice guys.

Deb drove the first leg and the first part of the Tonto National Forest was kind of pretty but as we approached Theodore Roosevelt Lake it was socked in with smoke from somewhere. But by the time we got to the lower end of the lake (it’s a 22 mile long lake), the smoke was gone. The water level is really high, which is left over from a 5” storm in one day so a lot of the campground sites had beachfront right at the sites.

We saw a sign for Tonto National Monument so we drove the mile or so and found a visitor center fully staffed with almost nobody there. As usual it was a lot more interesting than we had thought. The Salado tribe lived here around 1300-1450 and they built cliff dwellings about a half mile straight up above the visitor center. We walked up and there was a very informative young ranger up there dying to answer all our questions. She was great, and we got her career history. She worked for the National Park Service for 7 years and had served in the Smoky Mountains, Mammoth Cave, Kansas grasslands park, and she was now here. We could tell she was naturally curious so perfect for bouncing around and having to re-learn each new place. She said they typically have a two week training period when they start in a new park.

We stopped at Subway in Globe for lunch and then on to Safford through the San Carlos Reservation where a lot of the tribes were moved in the late 1800’s. Geronimo was moved here but kept breaking out until they finally shipped him to Florida in 1886.

Coffee in Safford and then south to I-10 to Willcox, then the back way home down Rt 191.

We unloaded the van in the driveway and then parked it in our friend Cooper’s driveway (thanks again Cooper). The house was still there except for some new ants in the kitchen. Good to be home.

Tuesday, September 26, 2023 - Page, AZ to Payson, AZ

Test

Deb here. We both slept great in Jim and Katie’s driveway. At a bit before 8am we went inside for coffee and to chat. We met Katie and I had a great conversation with her while John chatted with Jim. At about 9:30 we said our goodbyes and headed on out. Thanks to Jim and Katie for their hospitality! 

We started out back in Page at our favorite fast food establishment for WiFi and posted yesterday’s blog. Then it was on down Rte 89, backtracking some of the route we’d been on when headed to Page. We stopped at the parking area for Horseshoe Bend, paid the $10/car fee charged by the City of Page, and walked the 1.5 mile roundtrip to the overlook. Horseshoe Bend is an iconic AZ spot and very beautiful, but the amount of people there was overwhelming. The City of Page has quite a cash cow on their hands, and good for them.

Back in the van, we backtracked down the steep road that scales the front of the cliffs below Page and once we hit the valley floor the road continued on with more cliffs on either side. Eventually we reached the turn off for the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (Rt. 64), but we continued on 89 south toward Flagstaff. We hit a couple construction slow downs with 20 minute waits.

Our plan had been to pass through Flagstaff, but my kind spouse was determined to stop at a Starbucks so that I could get a cup of tea (I have multiple Starbucks gift certificates, a story for another day), and once we stopped there we were trapped by a train from crossing the road and getting back on the highway. This led to a trip through downtown Flagstaff, which is always fun anyway. We hit smoky skies in Flagstaff, which we learned was caused by a couple of wildfires south of the city west of Rt 89A.

The traffic picked up in Flagstaff, and it stuck with us as we then headed down Rt. 89A, going toward Sedona. Neither of us had been on that stretch of Rt. 89A before, and it is an absolutely gorgeous piece of highway. It twists and turns through Oak Canyon, with many places to camp and picnic along the way. I’ve seen many beautiful photos of this canyon during AZ foliage season, and I bet it will be an even more spectacular drive in another month.

On through Sedona, with lots of gawking at the bright red mesas, and then down another new to us route, south on 179 toward Camp Verde, a brief bit on the interstate, and then Rt. 260. We were both so surprised by Rt. 260, which is a remote stretch of road winding through the pine forests. Eventually we reached Rt. 87 and followed it through the charming towns of Strawberry and Pine before reaching Payson at 5 p.m. This whole part of the state on the Mogollon Rim is really lovely, and worth a re-visit to spend some time.

Since we’d skipped lunch we were ready for dinner, and stopped at Macky’s Grill in Payson and sat outdoors. Good dinner salads and cornbread, along with some fun conversation with 3 sisters from Texas who are on a 2 week road trip. From there we drove through town, found the Zane Grey cabin, and then drove out of town a mile to find the Houston Mesa National Forest Service Campground. This campground has 100+ campsites and there’s only a handful of campers here tonight. $14.50 with the senior access pass, flush toilets, and running water. A little reading, blog writing, and off to bed.

85 nights in the van

Monday Sep 25, 2023 - Grand Canyon North Rim to Page AZ

Not that cold last night which we can determine by how long the heater runs. Another crisp cool morning. Sure enough, it seems that we got the last campsite but there sure seem to be a lot of empty sites this morning. We made coffee and closed up shop. Refilled the water tank (7.5 gallons) and then drove to the visitor center. 

We took our coffee / tea to the lodge patio overlooking the canyon and drank in the morning sun. Not as busy this morning since the evening sunset is the most colorful, but still pretty nice this morning. We think the difference in the north and south rim views is from the north side you see more rocks closer up and from the south side you see more canyon.

We had contacted a family friend, Jim Blittersdorf, who lives in Page, AZ and said we were welcome to stop by to say hi. Campendium (the best campsite app so far) said there were a couple of forest service campgrounds near him, and a few others either slightly farther away or private.

Rt 89A goes across the top of the canyon and then crosses at Glen Canyon Dam bridge. On the way it spends many miles under the Vermillion Cliffs. These tower over the road to the north and the park service has a few pulloffs with info. Lots of Mormon activity around here.

The Glen Canyon Dam created Lake Powell. The drought dropped the Lake to historic lows, they gained 60 or 70 feet with the big snowpack this last year but now it is dropping again.

We stopped at the Lone Rock Campground which took some figuring out. The entry station had an auto-pay machine which was broken so we just drove in. The “campground” is really just a giant beach and you pick a spot and camp. We could see the pit toilets way up the bank from normal lake level years but now they have movable steel pit toilets they can move up and down the beach depending on the lake level. 

Lots of sand traps and we watched a car get stuck in the sand and then slowly get pushed out. The van did fine as I stayed on more solid looking ground. The traction control did almost bog us down at one point so note to self, stick to the gravel.

We pulled up overlooking the lake on the beach with the van providing a nice shady porch. A few boats, wake boards, swimming, and float boats but not too much action. We walked the beach and met an older tan couple who were swimming so Deb went back and got her suit on and went for a dip.

We left and checked out the other campsite, Beehive, and it was full since it only had 6 sites. Then to the Glen Canyon Visitor Center which gave us all the details about how it was built, who built it, and how much power and irrigation control. It seems this is the second largest dam in the U.S. They really thought big back in the 50’s and 60’s.

Jim works until 5 and we got a text saying he was home a little after 5. We found his house, beautiful, and went into town for dinner. His partner Katie was working so it was just the three of us and we went to Grand Canyon Brewery. Spent a couple of hours catching up with Jim and getting his whole story. He moved out west from Vermont at a young age and has been out here ever since. He is the brother of my best friend Dave and we'd met only once at a wedding. I’ve been meaning to come visit since we live in Arizona and now we have.

He has a nice flat spot in his driveway so that will be our campsite tonight. Another great day.

Sunday Sep 24, 2023 - Kanab UT to Grand Canyon North Rim

Clean laundry and clean bodies after a night in the LaQuinta in Kanab. Hotel breakfast which was not too bad. A big bus tour group was there so they were getting organized while we had breakfast.

We scored a reservation, the last one, at the Grand Canyon North Rim Campground which is only about 80 miles from here so an easy driving day. The road down wasn’t too spectacular and not too busy, with some really pretty alpine meadows, aspens, and pines along the way. When we arrived at the park the very friendly ranger checked us in (another $35 not paid!) and we were too early to check in at the campground, so we took the Cape Royal Road the 23 miles out to Cape Royal. Once there we hiked the Cape Royal Trail out to Angels Window, which is a precarious affair but provides a great view to the canyon.

Then back the 23 miles and we stopped at the campground registration cabin where a nice (and very thorough) older woman checked us in. This campground is laid out to easily get a lot of smaller campers into and out of a small space. Running water, real flush toilets, and dump station. There is also a central place to get a shower and do your laundry. All for $9 with the senior pass.

Since we were still early (we’d picked up an hour when we drove into AZ)  we walked the Transept Trail the one plus miles to the Lodge and Visitor Center. This trail follows right along the rim of the canyon and gives lots of places to stop and see the canyon. We then hiked out to Bright Angel Point for more amazing views.

We ended up at the visitor center, which was small but the women working there were great, and they had a little gift shop. The lodge is right next door and is pretty okay, national park wise, with a killer view from the large outdoor patio or the floor to ceiling windows and leather couches inside. They have a dining room which is generally totally booked, along with a deli where you can get simple food. They also have a saloon where you can buy alcohol. We got a couple of drinks and took them out on the patio overlooking the canyon in the mid-afternoon sun.

We enjoyed the view for awhile and had a great chat with some others sitting nearby, but finally decided to return to the patio just before sunset (6:24) and see what colors came out then. We hiked back to the campground on the Bridle Path, which is also a mile plus, and had a snack to hold us until dinner. We drove the van back to the Visitor Center and got there 30 minutes before the sun went down. What a difference! Beautiful shadows and lots of reds. The moon even made an appearance of the canyon as the sun set.

Back to the campground where we made some supper, washed dishes and off to bed.

Saturday Sep 23, 2023 - Great Basin National Park to Kanab UT

I think the park ranger was right when she said this is the most beautiful campground in the entire National Park system. We woke up to another sunny day which we deserved after yesterday morning’s snow. We are on a streak of high altitude camping. This one was 9,886 ft. Our heater ran last night more off than on as it was not as cold. I need to look up the information about Wabasto heaters at high altitudes.

So coffee & tea this morning and kind of hanging around and soaking in the vista. We have poor cell connection up here, making it hard to research where we’re going next. We packed up, chatted with the young New Hampshire kid (sleeping in his Subaru, ski bum working this winter at a ski area, the good old days…) and then went down the 12 miles to the lower visitor center where the website said there was a cafe. The nice volunteer there said the cafe was 5 miles back up the mountain at the upper visitor center but she said there was a truck stop 6 miles away which was good. We really were looking for WiFi but a truck stop sounded good. The truck stop is exactly on the border between Utah and Nevada. They had a casino of course, but they had a good breakfast and great WiFi. 

What we decided on was to head toward the Grand Canyon’s North Rim and stay somewhere in-between. Deb was able to reserve a Grand Canyon campsite ($9!!) for Sunday night, and there were lots of options for tonight as far as campgrounds. More wonderful, empty Forest Service ones.

The morning consisted of a long barren dry stretch and then a mountain pass, then another long barren stretch followed by another mountain pass. This repeated until we got to Beaver, UT where we stopped and uploaded the blog and got coffee.

We started south to go to Cedar City, which is big enough for a decent grocery store, and while heading there the weather turned gray and it looked like rain approaching. We got our groceries and filled up with gas and then decided to get a comfy motel in Kanab, which is a quaint tourist town about 80 miles from the Grand Canyon. We had a lot of Wyndham credit card points so we scored a free room at LaQuinta. It did indeed rain off for the rest of the day but the forecast for tomorrow is for sun and clear skies which would be perfect for the Grand Canyon.

We found a restaurant down the street (Wild Thyme) and had tasty impossible burgers and salads, then walked back to the hotel for hot showers and just about due laundry.

Friday Sep 22, 2023 - Angel Lake Camprground to Great Basin National Park

Oh crap, it snowed last night here up at 8300 ft but it stopped some time in the night so if the road did not accumulate ice, we should be ok. So we made our coffee and tea and were taking our time when it started snowing again. Oh crap again. We could either hang out here until the sun came out and it warms up or we could go now. Since it’s snowing and there is no sun to warm anything up, we chose the leave now option. We crawled down the hill in first gear and tested the traction with the brakes. The unnerving thing is this road, while paved, is really skinny with no guardrails and million foot dropoffs. After a slow mile or two we crawled down in 2nd gear, testing the braking traction and it all looked ok. Once down a couple of miles we could see that the snow was just behind us up in a cloud where our campground is/was.

The rest of the 12 mile descent was fine and we actually got some nice views. 

We got right on the interstate, I-80, for one exit and then got back on good old Rt 93 south. The first sign you see is “No gas next 160 miles” but we had enough. This van has a range of about 500 miles which is comforting (and expensive).

Guess what, there is a whole lot of not much in that 160 miles. We did stop at a Pony Express marker / rest area with “Beware of rattlesnakes” signs on the door, but other than that and nice mountain views to the east and west, not much.

We were hoping for a nice breakfast place in Ely (pronounced Eel-y) but all we found was McDonalds. We talked up a couple from France who had left Montreal 4 months ago and ridden  their bicycles all the way across Canada to Vancouver and were now heading to Phoenix, which they hoped they could do in 20 days. Wow..

We filled up with gas in Ely and headed east on Rt 50, the plan being to go to Great Basin National Park. We could see Wheeler Peak from the west side of the mountain, which is in the park, but to get to it we had to go north a ways and then cut through a pass and back south to the park entrance. The Visitor Center ranger told us about the campground options, and the one we liked the best was the topmost campground, Wheeler Peak Campground. It’s 12 miles up the paved park road at 9,886 ft altitude and she told us that it might be open, but the last mile of the road had closed the night before (along with the campground), and they were still clearing snow so no guarantees. We climbed the 12 miles and pulled into a parking lot where the rangers were stopping traffic. 

Deb talked to them and just our luck, they had just finished clearing snow and the campground was open and first come first serve. We were the second vehicle in, so we had our choice. The ranger at the top told Deb that this is the most beautiful campground in the entire National Park system. We think she might be right. Part of the beauty is that we hit it the day after the snowstorm so the mountains were all white, and also it was a bright sunny day which shows off the mountains and lakes. We picked a campsite with a bit too much of an angle, so moved to another which was more level. Then off for a hike. 

Deb here. I downloaded 3 hiking options on All Trails, all of them starting right near our campground at the end of the road. We decided to hike the Alpine Lakes Loop, a 3 mile loop that passed by two lakes with Wheeler Peak in the background. What can I say except absolutely stunning?! The water, snow on the peaks, golden aspens, sunshine, and blue sky all equaled a really wonderful hike. It was still cool and windy, but gorgeous. 

After the lakes I split from John and headed up a trail to visit the Bristlecone Pine Forest. It was a bit under a mile uphill to reach the Bristlecone Pines, and snow covered the trail through the trees. I’d hoped to visit a similar forest in CA but time ran out, so it was great to finally see some of these ancient trees. Gnarly and old, the trees were as much as 5,000 years old. Unbelievable.

By the time I finished the interpretive trail loop it was getting dark, so I beat it on down the mountain to our campsite. John had dinner waiting and our van felt cozy after spending the afternoon in the cold and wind.

Thursday Sep 21, 2023 - Elko NV to Angel Lake Campground

 

Deb here. Great stay at the Esquire Inn last night. Walked to the Coffee Cup for breakfast and got well-fueled for the day with delicious honey/whole wheat pancakes.

We then drove the short distance to the Ruby Mountains, only 30 minutes from Elko. Once we departed from the main road it was up a beautiful paved 12-mile dead end road. Wow, wow, wow, what stunning scenery! And yes, it really did feel as though we were in the Swiss Alps, just as the Nevadans had told us. We stopped at the parking area at the end of the road and decided to hike to the Dollar Lakes, about a 4+ mile round trip hike. I’d downloaded the hiking route on All Trails, which is always a very helpful thing, since most of these areas have zero cell service.

By the time we started it was close to 11 and sunny, although pretty cool and windy. The trail turned out to be spectacular, climbing steadily but with switchbacks and vistas all the way. This was indeed a trail that ranked highly on my effort to views scale. The trail is the start of the Ruby Crest Trail, a 38 mile backpacking route that passes by many alpine lakes. We reached the first Dollar Lake, and then walked on to the second, third, and fourth. We took a break at the fourth lake and thought we might stop there (as All Trails did), but we ran into a couple of hikers we’d talked with earlier who said it was worth hiking to Lamoille Lake, only about a quarter of a mile further. We walked on and ran into a 7 year old, his father, and grandfather with full backpacks. Turns out they’d spent the night camped at Lamoille Lake and encountered a super scary thunder and lightning storm on the mountain. The grandfather said in 40 years of backpacking he’d never had a night on a mountain that was that scary. Glad we made the decision to stay in town.

We hiked back down by the same route. There’s a forest service campground partway down the 12-mile road called Thomas Canyon, and we’d learned that there was a beautiful trail leading out of there. I thought we might camp there, but by the time we came down from Lamoille Lake the temperature had dropped and clouds were rolling in, so we decided to push on.

Back into Elko for a stop to use WiFi at our favorite free Wifi establishment, then onto Rt. 80 East. We’d learned from someone on the trail that there’s another gorgeous dead end paved road on the other side of the Ruby Mountains, with 2 forest service campgrounds, so we headed that way. 

Yet another paved and spectacular road into the wilderness, with a steep and twisty route and no guardrails. We passed the first campground, Angel Creek, about 8 miles up the road, but decided to push on to the Angel Lake campground, 12 miles up at the end of the road. We arrived there about 6 p.m. and walked up to see Angel Lake, an alpine lake in a beautiful glacial cirque, about 8,300 feet in elevation. The temperature kept dropping, and we hunkered down in our cozy van, made dinner, and read, listening to the rain and hoping the precipitation wouldn’t turn to snow!

Wednesday Sep 20, 2023 - Redfish Lake ID to Elko NV

Well the party had to stop sooner or later. We knew it was coming and today the music stopped. Sadly we left the newfound beauty of the Sawtooth Mountains and entered Nevada.

But first we stopped in Ketchum, ID to check out the hip city with the big fancy lodge and two ski areas. We found the Java on 4th coffee shop downtown and ran into the couple that camped next to us last night. They're from Reno and are fountains of information about nice spots, campgrounds, and hikes. They told us to check out the Ruby Mountains near Elko, NV. 

We found the Sun Valley Lodge which is a big beautiful complex with manicured lawns and an outdoor skating rink. The doorman told us to feel free to wander around the lodge. All of the hallways are full of photos of famous people who visit Sun Valley and presumably the lodge. It is indeed beautiful, but we both agreed the Redfish Lodge is the real deal as far as ambiance. Did not see any famous people...

Then south to Shoshone where Rt 75 becomes Rt 93. South of Ketchum the mountains get smaller and rounder until it is pretty much open plains and kind of dry but not yet desert. That was a quick transition. We passed through Twin Falls which has an amazingly deep chasm with a golf course in it. Might be something interesting to come back and visit there.

We crossed the Nevada border in the town of Jackpot, and the casinos smacked us in the face again, like crossing into Nevada from California back at Lake Tahoe. We stopped for a bathroom break and kept going.

So on to the town of Elko, when a big thunderstorm came rolling through. We could see it off to the south roaring away over the Ruby Mountains where we wanted to go. So Deb found a rare cheap but well kept motel in downtown Elko, the Esquire Inn. We hadn't done a motel since Palm Springs so hot showers tonight!!

Elko is founded on gold mining and it seems to still be a mining town but we couldn't find the mine, so it must be in the hills nearby. There is definitely a mining theme to this town of 20,000, but also a heavy cowboy theme as well, which is really fun. We found a Basque restaurant called The Star Hotel which is really old and offers big family style meals. All meals included bread, cabbage soup, salad, green beans, pasta, and pinto beans along with the entree. So much food! We sat with a young couple from Los Angeles who were driving to Montana for a family get together. It's always interesting to talk to strangers and these two were very interesting. So back to the motel, a little TV (Gunsmoke of course) and a couple shows on Deb’s laptop.

Tuesday Sep 19, 2023 - The Point Campground, Redfish Lake, ID

 

Deb here. We woke up to a cold but clear morning. We decided to walk over to Redfish Lake Lodge for breakfast, and had a great eggs, sausage, toast, and homefries meal in the lodge, all served by fun 20-somethings. The lodge is the place to go for WiFi, so we were able to get caught up on our communication. The lodge has been around since the 1920’s, and the owners have kept the spirit of the place alive with its rustic feel, dark knotty pine, and warm lighting, After breakfast it was back to our campground to talk with the host and see if we could stay here again tonight. He said that the sites were all pretty much wide open, so we moved the van to a spot with lake access.

I’d learned last night from the folks in the campsite next to us that the Bench Lakes Trail is a good hike. When we had WiFi I downloaded the trail on All Trails and it looked like a winner. There’s all kinds of hiking in this area (the Sawtooth Mountains Wildnerness), and there’s even a chance to take a shuttle boat from the lodge to the other end of the lake and start hiking there.

John had thought he’d hike part of the trail with me, but his stomach was feeling off (a polite interpretation), so at 10:30 he dropped me at the trailhead and I headed up the trail. What a gorgeous trail! An 8-mile roundtrip hike with about 1,300 feet elevation gain. The trail climbed steadily to the lakes, but at a nice pace and with many switchbacks. I started in the pine woods, and then popped out on a high ridge with views of Redfish Lake down below, before finally reaching the first Bench Lake. From there it was a short walk to the second (and bigger) Bench Lake. There are 5 lakes total, but I’d been advised that after the second lake the trail isn’t well marked, and the best spots are the first 2 lakes, so I took a break there before turning around and heading down. Sunshine, blue skies, magnificent rocky mountains in the background, a lovely trail, and water. For me, it just doesn’t get much better than that.

By 2 I was off the trail and walking the half mile back to the campsite. John was feeling better and sitting on the beach reading. I put my bathing suit on and we took our chairs to the bigger campground beach. I jumped in the water and boy, was it ever cold!

A bit later we drove into Stanley to see what that was like (pretty sleepy), stopping at the local mercantile store. On the way back to the campground we passed a spot run by the lodge for laundry, pay showers, and a dump station. We decided to do our laundry, take showers, and dump our grey water. A very productive hour and a half indeed!

A stop at the lodge on the way back. We sat at their rustic bar (the kind of place that makes you want to talk fishing) and ordered some wings and drinks. That turned into splitting a burger before heading back to our campsite. We enjoyed talking with the young bartender and learned that the lodge’s season runs from Memorial Day to mid-October, and all of the workers are housed on site and provided with 3 meals/day for $10/day. The employees we talked with all really loved working there and planned on returning for another summer. I would have loved that job in my 20’s. The consensus from employees, the campground host, and other people we’ve bumped into is that this part of Idaho is absolutely overrun with people between Memorial Day and Labor Day, so the best time of the year to visit is September. We would love to return in the future. 

Monday Sep 18, 2023 - Anaconda MT to Stanley ID

OK, Idaho, you impressed us today. We got kind of a late start since Milo slept late (8:00) after turning in at 10 pm so, yeah, 10 hours of sleep. This van is a sleep machine. We did all of our van fluid stuff at the RV Campground next to the hot springs place and then decided to stop at the nearest city, Anaconda, and get caught up with WiFi. We did a run through town and back to see how healthy things looked in this former booming copper mining town, and they have a lot of home town proud going on here, but they also have a lot of the classic post industrial decay going on. You can tell they were once thriving during the copper boom but once the mine closes, that’s it. The smelter stack still stands on a nearby hill overlooking the town and they have groomed the waste piles and covered them with grass so they look like normal hills but they are too perfectly shaped to be a real hill.

We took a small cross lots road, Rt 569, which wiggled up and over a small flat pass until we came to Rt 43. We turned the wrong way, east, and figured it out  20 minutes later, did a U-turn and headed back west on Rt 43, made the turn in the town of Wisdom, then stopped at the Big Hole National Battlefield. On this spot in 1877 the U.S. Army slaughtered a group of Nez Perce Indians. My brother did a lot of Lewis and Clark research and the Nez Perce were some of the friendlier Indians at the time, but in the late 1800’s, an Indian was an Indian and we were not so PC about dealing with them. But it is nice that we have memorials to remind ourselves of how carried away we humans are capable of getting.

Nicest pit toilet of the trip!

At the end of Rt 43 we crossed back into Idaho and hit Rt 93 which goes north and south, and we also start following the Salmon River. Here started the hour after hour spectacular vistas. Wow, just wow. It was mostly sunny all day with a few clouds in the afternoon, but not much traffic, lots of pull off opportunities, lots of BLM or Forest Service services like picnic areas, campgrounds, rest stops, fishing access, etc. And lots of fishermen out in the Salmon River mostly fly fishing. By the end of the day I was ready to learn to fish.

Like discovering Rt 395 in California, we felt like we’d entered a secret place in this central part of Idaho,

We stopped in the town of Salmon and picked up some literature about this area from the visitor center, then walked up and down the main street of this population 3000 or so town. Deb checked TripAdvisor and the JunkYard Bistro was #1 and they were open (Mondays are iffy in tourist towns). Had a great lunch and peppered the hostess with questions.

From Salmon we continued through more twisting vistas until Challis, where we scored some great maps and info at the Forest Service Ranger office. Then we turned onto Rt 75, since we wanted to end up down near Ketchum, ID where Sun Valley ski resort is. We saw some pulloffs with cars and surmised that there were hot springs (Sunbeam) that the Forest Service Ranger told us about. We found a young couple laying in one of many hot pools that people had built with rocks. The CCC back in the depression had built some buildings and stone stairs that were pretty much still intact. We may have to come back depending on what we find later closer to our as yet to be determined campsite. They said the Point Campground near Redfish Lodge (where they were staying) sounded good, and we ended up scoring a site there. The sign said they were full but we drove through anyway and found one or two empty sites. The campground host told Deb there were empty sites but they gave up on trying to keep the sign up to date. 

So here we are on Redfish Lake next to Redfish Lodge for $12 a night. There is a day use area with a sandy beach and lots of hiking opportunities so we may stay a couple days. The host said he might have another site available and the folks next to us with a site even closer to the lakefront might be leaving tomorrow so stay tuned.

We were pretty full still from our late lunch so chips, salsa and a couple of sandwiches for dinner. Off to bed to get my next 10 hours of sleep!!

Sunday Sep 17, 2023 - Chewelah WA to Anaconda MT

Another good night's sleep in the van in Todd and April's camp driveway. The kids were wearing out the dogs, Todd and Riley were planning out the fire wood workflow, coffee was brewing, it was going to be an active day here. April heated up a delicious quiche and after breakfast of quiche and turkey bacon we sadly said our goodbyes and headed down the road.

Deb here. The big dilemma was where to go next? Yesterday Todd made a convincing plug for the Canadian Rockies, pointing out that Banff was only a 5+ hour drive from Chewelah, with nice provincial parks for camping up that way. That sounded great, but when I checked my weather app this morning the forecast was for 2 days of rain, which didn’t sound so great. I mentioned this to Todd, and he suggested instead heading to a hot springs in Montana, which we decided was a good alternate plan.

The drive to Fairmont Hot Springs (near Anaconda, MT) was absolutely beautiful. We first  headed up and over Todd and April’s ski mountain (49 North), and then basically followed the Pend Oreille river for a long stretch. Within about an hour we crossed the WA border into Idaho, soon arriving at the sweet town of Sandpoint. Alyssa had told us to stop at the Bluebird Bakery, owned by a friend of hers, but she learned before we left that it was closed for the weekend. Sandpoint appeared to be doing well, with lots of folks outside enjoying the cafes in town. We stopped at a Subway on the outskirts of town to split a sub, and kept moving.

The Pend Oreille eventually emptied into a large lake (Lake Pend Oreille) and the beauty kept on going. Pinetree covered mountains, running water, boats, cabins… all of the things that remind me of the best of the Adirondacks and spots in New England.

Our sights were set on the Fairmont RV Park, within walking distance of the hot springs. I read that the park stayed open for registration until 6 pm, and we planned to arrive by 5 or so. What we’d neglected to factor in was the time change, losing an hour as we crossed into Montana and Mountain Time. I called the RV Park and he said he’d wait for us, so we continued on.

We arrived at the park just before 6:30, checked in, and walked to the resort to use the hot springs. What a treat! Fairmont Hot Springs Resort offers 2 huge outdoor pools and 2 huge indoor pools, along with a 365 foot water slide. There’s a cooler pool (still close to 90 degrees) and a hot pool (105) indoors and outdoors and we had a great time enjoying both of the outdoor pools. The area has natural hot springs that are 165 degrees, and then the resort balances that water with cold water. I swam a few laps in the cool pool and John chatted up a Montana couple in the hot pool. Very fun.

We walked back to the RV park at 8 and were both pretty weary. We made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, did Wordle, and off to bed.