Today was another active hiking day, after yesterday's long circular drive. I had driven US93 back in 2009 when I explored western Montana, so I knew what to expect. The highway travels in a north-south direction; the creeks and canyons in a west-east direction. There is a creek in every canyon. The Bitterroot mountains to the west are a natural border to Idaho, and there are many creeks in the narrow canyons along the way. I had a choice of a number of scenic creeks to chose from, and after talking to the young lady working the espresso stand in Hamilton, took her advice and hiked the Kootenai Creek trail. The description of the trail was accurate: it borders the creek for the first two miles, proving deep shade, but then the trail turns away from the water and climbs steeply into rockier terrain, a rugged terrain that suffered damage during the 2010 fire season. The trail eventually gets hikers to an alpine lake and other wilderness trails, and there's even a horse ranch hidden up there.
The grade was quite doable and not taxing at all, but as soon as we got away from the creek and in the exposed burned section, Minnie started panting. I had my GPD tracking us, but my phone was not charging properly off the power bank and had to turn the tracking off at eight miles, but we did more like 11 in the end and didn't feel too exhausted.
Most people I saw at the trail head seemed to just hike up a mile or so and turned around. I went until the trail faded away. Now in the wilderness, I didn't want to get lost with no GPS helping me, so I turned around. Six equestrians and then an angler hiked up as I was turning around, determined to let the dogs play in the water for a while. I had no other plans today but a decent hike, and this Kootenai hike fulfilled that.
The entire creek is swift whitewater, so I was careful not to throw any sticks far into the water. The rocks and floating debris could easily hurt Minnie, who seemed determined to look for sticks and rocks in the water. At one point she did get carried away by the current, and for five seconds I panicked, but luckily she was right off shore, I was right there, and two snags kept her from getting swept over a small cascade. Minnie gave me a helpless look; she was too week to fight the current and I pulled her up via her collar. This short scene of terror didn't calm her down any, as she was ready for more fetching and water diving once she was pulled back to safety.
I sat at this spot for a while, soaking my feet and even washing my girly parts. That cold water felt good on a body that hasn't showered in a few days! My feet were getting numb from the cold, and getting up to resume the last three miles wasn't easy. I'll gladly do this hike again when in the area and turn around where the trail moves away from the creek. There are several low water areas away from any whitewater or swirls to let the dogs enjoy.
I then made the decision to put my entire lower torso in the cold water, to wash away some of the grime in my shorts. That also meant walking back with visibly wet jeans! Like I cared. I met two women hiking a short distance uphill before resuming their drive back to Seattle. They were in the area to look for horses to buy. "Did you see the sign on the bulletin board?" asked one of the women, referring to a printed notice on plain white office paper that there are trappers setting traps just off the trail, and to be careful of pets. Seriously? Trapping is still allowed in these times? When I got back to the trail head I made a slight edit to that notice, changing "trapper" to something more profane.
The dogs were now calm enough for the remaining drive. US93 is a scenic road along its entire length, starting on the northwestern part of Phoenix to the Canadian border. I was now going to see a stretch of the road I missed back in 2009, but first I had to get to the Idaho border. Traffic was calmer this time than in 2009; not as many logging trucks chugging on by.
Lightning had started a forest fire south of Darby Friday and the fire was still burning as I drove past. It's now tagged as the "Observation fire" that began June 24th. The brown smoke coming from the ridgeline reminded me of the 2011 Monument fire in southern Arizona. I parked off the road a bit to photograph the smoke. The lightning sparked blaze has burned about 1,400 acres with containment growing to about 30 percent. There are over 500 people, eight helicopters, 21 engines, 15 dozers and eight water tenders assigned the fire which started on June 24. Lost Horse Road to Gold Creek between Hamilton and Darby is the focus of evacuations, but for now the sheriffs department and fire chief were assessing the situation. The fire hadn't moved into the valley when I drove through, and winds were calm. I hope this fire can be contained fast. The forest here suffered enough fires in the last few decades but there remain plenty of dead and dying trees from beetle borer damage. At least a fire will get rid of the dead trees (and hopefully the borers!) and give the forest a fresh start.
Today's hike had taken up most of today's activities and I had no intention of driving far. Stopping outside Darby to watch the fire was a nice break, but I wanted to make it to the state line for the day. Last time I turned eastward on MT43. This time I stayed on US93. A rest stop on the border between the two states marks an area where allegedly Lewis and Clark contemplated their route of travel. History signs posted here show the route historians believe (but do not all agree on) the team took back east. The mountains here are rugged and the canyons steep, so travel in any direction was very difficult without native guides helping them. Trees are dense here, but there is water in the canyons. I stayed at the rest stop for a bit, let the dogs out to pee, and contemplated staying here for the night. But in the end I decided to continue down the road into Salmon and I'm glad I did so, as it's a very scenic drive as the road meanders along the steep grade, past long lush green fields and rocky cliffs right off the road.
Salmon, ID was already shuttered for the night, but it has a brewpub off the Main Street and I knew this was the place to rest. I found a secluded Salmon Meadows RV park were I stayed, parked in the tent area and shaded by a mature tree. What a nice discovery for a wary traveler.
More later
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