It’s great to be in Idaho! The temperature dropped into the 40s last night, with a high in the 70s. We spent our first night here north of Soda Springs, near a campground and next to a beautiful stream. That meant one thing: showers! Many of you may wonder how we keep clean. One way is to use our Zodi camp shower. It is a small, portable version of an on-demand hot water heater. We also have a catch-basin system to properly drain our grey water. We pulled water from the creek, and fired up the Zodi. It felt great!
Next morning, David found a promising off-road trail out of Darlington. We decided to take it all the way to Lost River, then on to Sun Valley and Stanley. My, how Stanley has changed since we were last here! It has turned from a little country town to a bustling tourist destination. We left as soon as we gassed up the truck.
As we entered the national forest, we passed through several herds of range cattle. It was obvious that many of the calves had never seen a vehicle before. They dashed off the road or gazed at us from under their mother’s bellies.
The highlight of the day was seeing a bull moose in velvet. We quickly took several photos, concerned he would dash into the timber. Instead, he posed and finally laid down in the brush. Wow!
We found a lovely spot to camp. Both evening and morning, we strolled the road, looking for more wildlife. It was chilly the next morning, and I discovered several bees on the nettles, looking almost frozen while they waited for the sun to warm them. David spied a paper wasp nest nearby, and we spent over a half hour taking photos and videos of them.
We finally broke camp and wove our way along this spectacular road. Although rugged and stoney, we only had to pop the truck into 4-wheel-drive a few times. We were definitely grateful, however, for the truck’s high clearance. Finally we reached Antelope Pass, and its 8,934-foot vista. It was absolutely stunning. This is what we’ve been wanting! One of our favorite phrases is from John Muir: "The Mountains are calling, and I must go."
Too soon, we were back in civilization. We needed to resupply in Pocatello. It’s always a shock to come back to crowds and traffic, even in smaller towns. We had to pick up a few grocery items and change the oil. We also stopped by the forest service office for maps. On the off-chance, I asked if Idaho had any wild horses. To my surprise, they said yes! I now have a general idea where three horse management areas are... now we just need to connect to WiFi and find their exact location.
The following day we traveled a four-wheel-drive road past more beautiful scenery, on to Custer, and then to Challis. Unfortunately, it is still too smokey for grand landscape photos.
We were delighted to find that Challis is our kind of town... a rural, working town with lots of friendly folks and very low key. Once in Challis, we stopped by the library for WiFi to check on Hurricane Laura. Thankfully neighbours had informed us that Hurricane Laura missed us, but our hearts hurt for those in her path.
Before we left the library, I checked for wild horse information and was shocked to find that one of the wild horse herds was right here... in Challis! Another stop took us to the Bureau of Land Management office. Bart was able to show us exactly where the Challis horses reside.
This trip is definitely taking a turn. We are now focusing on off-road trails and wild horses. How wonderful is that?
No comments:
Post a Comment