US Northwest Idaho BDR (and then some!)

[FirenzeForza4x4]

WOW! This is great stuff. Love the organization and thought you all put in. Having done some time on the Mojave Road, this terrain is more my style. I’ll have to make it out to ID someday. Great work all!

 

[reaver]

Man, seeing your photos makes me stoked to do this trip next year!

 

[M Rose]

kind of interesting to discover a mining claim out in the middle of the forest

Actually not at all that uncommon… especially when you start digging into the history of the towns in Northern Idaho.

 

[rslagle]

All the trees threw me. I'm more used to seeing mines look more like this....

This is Tonopah, Nevada

 

[rslagle]

Okay, we finished the IDBDR and had to get back down to central Idaho to begin the Pacific Ocean Spur.
On the highway, you pass Lewiston

scenic overlook

further down the highway, we passed this and had to turn around and go back and look again....

 

[rslagle]

you leave your vehicle in the Barking Lot, these guys crack me up

still scenic along the highway

 

[rslagle]

at Emmett, maintenance and shopping completed, we set out on "The Spur"

more southern Idaho farmland

we passed this lady who was herding cattle, with her faithful cowdog, along the road and Larry stopped to chat. turns out she owned a cattle ranch there locally and also another one in Wickenburg, Arizona, which is only about 70 miles from where Larry lives in Phoenix

oops, this guy didn't make the curve

 

[rslagle]

the maps indicated a lake over there to the left

this would normally be fish habitat

we saw a lot of hives along the route

some of the road was pretty good...

some less so....

 

[rslagle]

and a little stretch we dubbed "Pinstripe Alley"

another beautiful USFS campground

yet another fire lookout

 

[rslagle]

nobody here, gate unlocked, maybe we get to climb this one

great views going up

we get to the top and craaaaaap! padlocked

couple of quick photos

 

[rslagle]

and we climb back down. we're back at the vehicles and a car drives up

it's the fire lookout arriving for his shift. we ask if we can come up briefly, and he says sure. SUCCESS

his name is Rick and he mans the tower 6 days a week for a 14 week period during fire season

 

[rslagle]

he logged the weather, made radio calls to check in, and ran through his morning routine while we mainly stayed out of his way and took a few photos

I am soooo glad I found this.... in an emergency I may not have known how to get out of there....

 

[rslagle]

long way down to the potty

so we took a few more photos and left Rick to his business

that's allright, don't get up. I'm just moving on down the road

 

[rslagle]

remnants of fires past. Rick told us this had not been many fires this season, despite the dry weather

wild horses maybe?

there weren't any formal campgrounds close, but we found what was obviously a hunter's camp

after a brief rain, we were rewarded with this....

 

[rslagle]

and this.... as the sun set and the storm clouds passed

the next morning was bright and clear and the dust was settled by the rain... and we ran up on this

 

[rslagle]

I've never seen this before

a cattle guard made of string?

deer everywhere, keep a sharp eye out

 

[rslagle]

just outside of Prineville, there were probably a dozen campgrounds along the river, too bad it was noon and a little early to stop for the day

this was USFS land, but apparently some type of ATV park also

 

[rslagle]

you could feel the Jeep sliding around in the deep sand

this little guy was pretty comfortable around people

got any snacks?

 

[rslagle]

after a little shower at the campground, we got anothe rainbow. that's two evenings in a row

then a second one appeared

pretty cool

the trail was pretty good the next day, even if a lot of it did not appear to be well traveled

 

[rslagle]

we came up on this guy backing up to the bridge

when he saw us, he pulled forward and let us pass. about a mile down the road, we came to this

that's the way we needed to go and the best bypass was a short hop back the way we came. when we got back to the bridge, this guy was filling the tanker with water from the creek. it turns out he was a contractor working for the US Forest Service and was working an active fire just below the road closure we had just passed

pretty interesting