Sandpoint, Idaho

Sunday, September 27 - Today Mom and Dad went for a drive on the Lake Pend O'reille-Kootenai River Loop.

First they drove along the north east shore of Lake Pend O'reille

Then along the Pend O'reille river to the Cabinet Gorge Dam.

Another view of the Cabinet Gorge, below the Dam.  They also
learned that, during the ice age, this area was covered by
Glacial Lake Missoula and 2,000 feet of water.  That much water
would submerge all but the peaks of the mountains in the distance.

Shortly after the Dam, they crossed the state line and into
Montana.  There they turned north and were treated
to expansive valleys and beautiful mountains.

They stopped at the Ross Creek Cedars Scenic Area
and hiked through a grove of old growth cedars. 
There were some REALLY BIG trees!

This one had a huge split, but seemed to have adjusted.

Two trees joined by a huge burl

I think this burl looks like a pumpkin with a spooky Halloween face.

The next stop was Kootenai Falls

There is a swinging bridge that you can cross.  The primary
reason for the bridge is to give wild land firefighters access to
the other side of the river, since there aren't any road bridges. 
Fortunately, it doesn't look like they needed to use
it this year - nothing burned within view.

View of the Kootenai river and falls from the bridge

Next stop, Yaak Falls

Interesting rock formations along the canyon,
downstream from the main falls.

They crossed back into Idaho and came back to me at the RV.  All in all, looks like they had a good days drive.

Monday, September 28 - Today Mom and Dad went south of the Sandpoint bridge and did a hike on Gold Hill.

View over Lake Pend O'reille and downtown
Sandpoint, from the south side of the bridge.

Mom at the viewpoint.  The Schweitzer ski resort where they
hiked on Saturday, is just to the right of Mom.  I'm there, in
the RV, at the foot of Schweitzer Mountain.

Today's stats

Tonight is our last night at the Bonner County Fairgrounds.  I'll be sorry to leave.  It's really great to live in a place visited by barnyard animals.  There was even a rabbit show here last Friday.  The poop buffet is awesome.  I love it.

Tomorrow we leave Sandpoint and move south.  Next stop - Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Winthrop, Washington to Sandpoint, Idaho

Thursday - September 24 - Mom and Dad haven't been hiking for a couple days, because it has been rainy.  It's supposed to be better today, so they are anxious to get out again.  It's still a little cloudy, but they are hoping that it will clear by the time they get up to the trailhead, which is about 45 minutes from here.  

No such luck 😞  When they got to the trailhead, it was actively raining and the sky looked worse than it did back in town.  They weren't prepared for a five mile hike in rain, so they decided to turn around and drive back into town.  Soon they came to the Washington Pass Observation Site - basically a rest area along the road.  They have never used this rest area because you turn down a road and go around a curve.  There is no indication if there is any place to park or turn around in an RV.  Today they are in the Jeep, so they decided to check it out.  

This is a rest area like no other rest area!   There is a short hike (maybe 1/2 mile) that takes you past several lookouts AND there is lots of RV parking and a nice loop to turn around, even for big rigs.

Dad in his rain gear, enjoying the view.

One of the vistas

The sun came out and there was a rainbow

They came back into town and the rain stopped, so they walked around a little in town and then came back to me and we hung out in the RV for the rest of the day.

Friday, September 25 - Today we left Winthrop and drove 262 miles to Sandpoint, Idaho.   That's a really big day for us, so all we did was stop at the grocery store on the way to our campsite at the Bonner County Fairgrounds.

On the way, we drove through a part of Washington known as the Okanagon.  This area has had a lot of wild fires over the last few weeks.  For several miles, we saw burned grass and trees on both sides of the highway.  

On this stretch, the wood posts that hold the guard rails
burned, so the guard rail was laying on the ground
on top of the charred posts.  

We also saw many burned homes, outbuildings, machinery, and some vehicles.   It was a sad day 😪  

Saturday, September 26 - Today Mom and Dad decided to drive up the mountain to the Schweitzer Ski Resort and go for a hike.

I'm planning to take a nap while they are gone

They hiked to Picnic Point.  In the background, you can see part of
Lake Pend O'reille in the background.  Sandpoint is on the shores
of Lake Pend O'reille.  The great part of this trail is that you drive up
the mountain, so there was only about 300' of elevation gain from
the trailhead to Picnic Point (in 1.6 miles)

They mostly hiked in open woodland.  In the winter, these
are cross country ski trails for the resort.

The trail description was to return the way that they came, but
they decided to take different trails back.  They climbed
higher and had great views back to the downhill ski runs
for the resort.  In total, they hiked 4.1 miles on this hike.

After the hike, they went in to Sandpoint.  They said it's a cute little town and appears to have lots of nice restaurants and breweries.  They bought some craft beer at a store and brought home to drink.

Mount Baker Scenic Byway

Sunday, September 20 - Today Mom and Dad are going to hike the Chain Lakes Loop.  There are three places to access this hike.  Mom and Dad decided to start at the Austin Pass Picnic Area.  That means the hike starts with a steep climb to Artist Point.  They think it's better to do this at the beginning when they are fresh, rather than at the end when they are tired.

The first "stairway".  Almost a ladder!!

The white line through the middle is the trail
that lead them to this second stairway.  The Jeep is parked
in the valley at the upper middle of the photo.

There is probably more beauty behind
those clouds, but it's still stunning!

After more climb, they reached Artist Point, then they hit fog

They reached a pass and the fog cleared
and beautiful vistas opened up.

The glaciers just below the clouds are on Mount Baker. 
Even though we can't see the rest of the mountain,
it's still pretty magnificent!

The first view of the chain of lakes

Iceberg Lake

At the top of the pass, climbing out from Iceberg Lake

Looking into the next valley to Bagley Lake

That white line through the red/gold in the middle
is the trail with a glimpse of Bagley Lake

The wild blueberries are putting on a good color show

Made it into the valley to Bagley Lake. 
The Jeep is just up the hill to the right!  Mom and Dad were
really glad that they didn't have to climb to Artist Point!

Today's stats

Monday, September 21 - Today Mom and Dad went back to Artist Point and hiked parts of three trails for a total of about four miles.  The North Cascades (where we are) is an area known as the Alps of North America.  It's clearer today, so I'm starting to see why.  

First they climbed the first part of the Table Mountain Trail
and had a nice view of Mount Baker.  Clouds were starting
to move in around it and shortly after this photo,
it disappeared from view.  

Next they went to the Artist Ridge Trail
and were treated to this view of Mount Shuksan.

And another view of Mount Shuksan, reflected in a
small lake on the Artist Ridge trail.

Then they hiked part of the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail
where they still had nice views of Mount Shuksan 

Another view from the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail

The last stop was Picture Lake

View a few days ago.  Glad they were able to see it when it was clear.

 Tuesday, September 22 - Today we say good-bye to Silver Lake Park and our spooky tree

Today we are driving over the North Cascades Highway to Winthrop, Washington.   We are going to spend three nights at the Pine Near RV Park (named by the owner's young daughter, who had heard the term Pioneer, but didn't know how to spell it).  😄

Once we got set up in Winthrop, Mom and Dad looked for a quick hike that was nearby, so they could do it before dark.  They settled on this trail...

The first part of the trail was through a wooded area and
looked like this.  At one point, Mom and Dad came up
on a flock of about 10 wild turkeys, just sitting in the
middle of the trail.  The turkeys scattered as they
came up, so this was Mom's best photo. 😞

The rest of the trail was along Patterson Lake

After the hike, they drove up on the ridge and took
another look at Patterson Lake from above.  

Wednesday, September 23 - It's rainy today, so Mom and Dad hung out with me in the RV and caught up on computer stuff.  Silver Lake Park was pretty remote, so we didn't have cell or internet service, so there were several things that they needed to do.  The rain let up a little in the afternoon, so they took a walk into town and along the river, then came back and we all had dinner.  While we were eating, we had a little visitor at our campsite.

Our dinner time visitor.

We have one more day in Winthrop and then plan to move on to Sandpoint, Idaho for a few days.  I'll tell you about that next time.

Love,

Doolin