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.