July 2019 - Elk River Back Country Byway, Idaho

   So far this summer, I have visited the New Horizons factory in Junction City, KS - Home of the Big Red One, and had some work done on my slideout, which now is working somewhat better.  I guess you'd call that "faint praise."
   Then I visited Colorado Springs for my annual medical checkups, and was stunned to find that my blood pressure has spiked from its previous relatively normal level.  But medication is now helping with that.  Then I left in the middle of June for the Boondockers summer gathering on Lake Koocanusa near Libby, MT.  On the way to this gathering, I traveled along Seeley Lake on Montana Hwy 83, and discovered one area, where the forest floor beneath the mature pines was covered for many miles along the highway with bear grass in luxuriant bloom!  I have never before seen them blooming in such abundance.  The blooms stand about 3 feet tall.

Lake Koocanusa is a large reservoir on the Kootenai River, which empoundment extends 48 miles in the US and an additional 42 miles into Canada.  Almost all on the US side is wilderness, with dense forest cover and a few campgrounds, of which we were camping at the Warland Creek campground.  This was a peaceful and fairly quiet CG, even over the 4th of July, and I enjoyed trying to identify the wild plants I was unfamiliar with, succeeding finally with one,

which an old Field Guide written by John and Frank Craighead identified as a native honeysuckle, Lonicera ciliosa.  It was a climbing vine, but only about 8 to 12 feet tall, with bright orange tubular flowers, and very attactive, especially when found blooming in combination with the wild roses.
Meghan greatly enjoyed the large sandy beach, digging, digging and digging some more, plus playing in the water, and chasing sticks thrown in the water, but only to a depth of neck high on her.  Her feet are so tiny that she's just not a super swimmer.  But she sure had great fun!
   After two weeks relaxing there, I adjourned to Boise, ID to visit long-time friends Walter and Sabrina.  But I took the long way around getting there, traveling first to Missoula, then to Stanley, ID where it was deliciously cool (38 degrees in the morning), then on to Boise where it was HOT.  After a week of catching up with friends, I decided to try Idaho's Elk River Back Country Byway, headed north for Orofino, IT, where I turned NE onto the Dent Bridge Road, and after many miles of winding, twisting and switchbacking, finally arrived at a very large pullout, big enough for many large RVs and with a great view of the Dent Bridge.

    This bridge was judged to be one of the 18 most beautiful structures in America, and received the "Long Span Construction" Award in 1972.  No lives were lost during construction, and the only significant accident was a backhoe which, improperly secured, rolled into the river.
    Pressing on northward, I was dumped onto a variety of dirt logging roads, and met several large trucks coming in to pick up their load of logs, but all were very courteous and slowed down greatly when they saw me.  Finally, just as I was about to give up, I came upon an attractive lake with nice campsites along the lake.  Turned out, Elk River, my destination, was just around the corner!  So I quickly took possession of one of these nice lakeside camp sites.

    Turns out, by now Elk River has changed into Elk Creek, and back in 1910 that Potlatch company built a dam on the creek to create a millpond for storing logs for the new sawmill in town.  Logs were towed in by horse-drawn skids or sleigh to the pond where they were floated to protect the logs from insects and from drying out.  One day while I was here, I heard a racket out in the forest across the lake, grabbed my binoculars, and saw that an osprey was bedeviling a bald eagle, and finally succeeded in driving it away.

    There is also a small rustic housing area about a block's distance away from where I camped, which is a historic fire camp, and still houses a crew of 10 seasonal firefighters, and is owned by the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association.

    The Potlatch Company purchased more than 4,000 acres of timberland in 1909, and in 1910 built here in Elk River, the very first fully electric sawmill in the world, and could, with a work force of 250 men, produce over 300,000 board-feet of lumber in every 10-hour shift.  

    Logging is still done, and hauled right by my campsite, but again, the drivers were very courteous to all.  Below, neighbors passing by:

    While at Elk River, I took the opportunity to visit Elk Creek Falls, which entailed a walk of about a mile through dense mature forest on sandy walkways carpeted with fallen pine needles.  Then I had the choice - to view Upper Falls, Lower Falls, or Middle Falls.  I chose Upper - it was closer.

    Later, I saw on the Internet that Middle and Lower Falls are even nicer.
   Another day I chose to drive 10 miles or so through forest roads to view the largest known tree in the North America east of the Cascade-Sierra Crest.  It is a massive Western Red Cedar, approximately 18 feet in diameter and 177 feet tall - taller than a 16-story building!  And estimated to be more than 3,000 years old!  And it's surrounded by other massive red cedars, but none quite as large or old.  I like my trees, and it was really a special treat to see this entire group.

    Hearing the forecasts of 90-degree weather coming my way, I packed up and drove north to Saint Maries, ID on the Saint Joe River, again in old logging country.  Upon arrival, I stopped to camp at the Benewah County Fairgrounds, where I had stayed several years ago while biking the Trail of the Coeur d'Alene which runs 72 miles across the panhandle of Idaho.  That afternoon, I drove out of town and east along the St Joe river, and decided that this was definitely NOT the place for me.  The campgrounds and the river were filled with high school and college age float-tripping party people.  Not the peaceful and quiet environment I wanted. 

     That's it for now - who knows my next destination?