Lucky Peak State Park: May 5, 2014

This park has no camping, but having three units, still has a lot of variety to offer people. The two lower units, Discovery Park and Sandy Point are both just below the dam, which I've called "Leaky Peak" for years... but I don't think it's leaking... all that much. Actually the dam is named Arrowrock and the reservoir, Lucky Peak.

Sandy Point is an awesome beach unit, with impounded water that is probably always cold as I suspect it comes from the dam outlet. As you can see, no one was swimming yet, even though the day was near 90.

Just next to it and downstream just a tad, is the Discovery Park unit with shade trees and beautiful picnic areas. Even on the hottest summer days, you can get a nice cooling effect from the nearby cold water of the Boise River. No swimming is allowed here as it's a bit dangerous.

The third unit is a few miles away, and on the reservoir. It is mostly made up of a boat ramp and marina that is always packed during the summer, although in this picture, the water level is just getting up to normal pool. 

I want to mention that across the dam, the Army Corps of Engineers has provided some outstanding picnic areas, with neat roofs over tables and notched into the side of the hills. Some have nearby water access and others are up the hill a ways. If you're looking for a nice picnic spot, don't overlook this area in your quest. 

Nearby activities: there are many, many activities that are available due to the fact that this park is located very close to Boise. Some of our favorites are: The Idaho State Penitentiary where Lisa and I were married... oh, and I should tell you that it's an historical park with a beautiful mansion once inhabited by the local Bishop, great gardens (we were married next to the gardens), and a self-guided tour of the gallows (although I haven't been there since we were married, so things have likely changed); the World Center for Birds of Prey (southwest of Boise a bit), where Lisa used to work and has outstanding displays of birds around the world as well as leading scientific research into endangered species restoration from the Peregrine Falcon to the California Condor; the Boise River with great bike and walking trails along the length extending from Sandy Point way downstream to Eagle, ID or further -- the river also provides great summer floating (tubes can be rented and shuttles are provided) as an escape from the summer heat; Ann Morrison Park in downtown Boise; and much more.

Getting there our way: we drove to this park directly from our visit to Walcott State Park way east of here. Since we had hopped our way out east to Walcott, we simply drove I84 all the way, bucking a nasty wind. Doesn't is always seem like there is a headwind? This is absolutely the boringest way to get here, so if you have time, there are back roads you can take. And, of course, if you haven't seen Thousand Springs SP and Three Island Crossing SP, then you could easily break the monotony of the drive as they are just off I84. There is also the Oregon Trail back road that was mentioned in the Three Island Crossing section.

Winchester Lake State Park: May 7, 2014

Camp: During our visit, two loops were closed and only the loop with no services was open. I suspect they open the other two loops around Memorial Day weekend. We did walk through all the loops: the serviced sites are nice and fairly spread apart. There are no concrete pads, but they've attempted to level them. That said, many will need some help from you to level your RV. Tenting is available at all sites, but again, finding the perfect flat spot for some of them might be difficult. All the sites have many mature trees and this camp is very welcome on a hot summer day.

We did not get to see the showers/restrooms other than the pit toilets in the non-serviced loop. The RV dump facility was in town... and closed when we went by, which is interesting as if the camp is open, where do they want us to dump our 'stuff'? They also have yurts available, as many parks do. You get a canoe and bikes with the yurt as well. Gotta try this sometime... but they're fairly expensive.

Visitor center: Closed, but looks nice and fairly new from outside.

Day use areas: very nice and well kept. Lot's of places to fish, picnic, and play.

Cell coverage: excellent (I was surprised)

Lake: This is a very peaceful lake (at this time of year) with numerous waterfowl and my favorite to see was wood ducks. Fishing provides awesome bluegill, perch, and crappie fishing (this from the older man cleaning up sites). You can also find numerous trout stocked by IDFG -- which, by the way, are only good for sturgeon bait (as expressed by the man). No gas motors allowed on the lake. This is one of two state parks that advertises they have ice skating! Anyone having experience in that and maybe has a picture, please comment below and if you'd like, I'll post your picture. I assume ice fishing is available. Haven't done it, but I guess the perch are fun to catch in the winter.

There's a very nice and easy hiking trail around the lake with offshoots cutting up the hills. You could also ride your mountain bike on these. One noticeable artifact when you get to the lake is a number of what looks like sunken sheds with just the roof showing. These are what's left over from some wild idea to aerate the water to keep the algal blooms in check. What I hear (from the man above) is that this was and expensive and massive failure. The structures are still in the water and do provide excellent fish cover.

Getting there our way: This is definitely one of my favorite drives in Idaho as it always brings back great memories from college days and is a beautiful drive. If you want to take your time and enjoy this highway, I suggest you do it outside of the summer crunch season from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This road can be wicked with big trucks, RV's, boaters, and the crush of people wanting to get to their summer cabins. I've seen crazy things happen in the dangerous sections, so if you are one of the slower rigs, be kind and pull off often. Idaho has a law that if you are delaying 5 or more vehicles, you need to let them pass.

Once during late summer, there was a guy pulling a big camp trailer, who was delaying 25 or more vehicles. On one of the windier sections, where it was very difficult to pass, his brakes locked up and guess what? Sparks started flying -- setting fires along the roadside. People behind noticed this, honked and tried to pass. BUT, the jerk would not let anyone pass by pulling into the center of the road when there was a small opening. Additionally, I guess he didn't look out his rear view mirror anymore, so as so not see the irate drivers behind, and of course, not seeing his smoke, sparks, etc. After more than 20 miles of setting fires, some people got past and informed him of such. Please don't be like this guy!

We headed to Winchester Lake SP from Cascade Lake SP, so it was a fairly short drive. The weather was unsettled, so guess what? We bucked a wicked headwind and in the Little Salmon River canyon, it was the worst. But, we had plenty of time, there was little traffic, and we took it easy.

We started with Highway 55 heading north to McCall and stopped for lunch (after only 30 minutes driving) and a quick visit to Ponderosa State Park, but it was still closed for the season as they open just before Memorial Day. There were still piles of snow at the edge of the parking lot. From McCall, you head up a small pass and on to New Meadows, and you pass Brundage Mountain Ski Area and the Little Hill (I think) ski area. The road leads you into a tight, small canyon, providing beautiful and varied scenery. On the way, you pass a Forest Service camp called Last Chance. There used to be a nice, but small, hot springs just before you crossed the bridge across the creek here. I haven't been there for years, but it was a great place to stop on the way through this area. I even took my sister's dance company there one winter, but that's another story. Just as you get down the mountain graded from McCall and open into the New Meadows area (you'll see why this is called New Meadows), you pass Trapper John's Cabin. It's a small diversion if you need a break from driving. The town of New Meadows is an interesting mix of old and new, and you can see the influx of money and development. You meet Highway 95 north at this point.

Highway 95 from New Meadows to Lewiston is particularly awesome! It very scenic, starting with open grasslands and the very sinuous, lazy headwaters of the Little Salmon River surrounded by mountains just south of New Meadows. Zims Hot Springs is in this section and is a large commercial facility. There is also a very nice golf course, which I forgot to write the name down. The meadow ends about 20 miles south of New Meadows and sharply drops, starting with a small waterfall, into a canyon. The road becomes fun, in my opinion, with curves of 35 mph and a wild river just off the shoulder. As you reach Riggins, the Little Salmon River joins the Main Fork of the Salmon River (which drains the River of No Return Wilderness Area). If you turn east here, you get back into some of the most rugged and beautiful parts of Idaho.

Riggins is the terminus of incredible float trips through central Idaho. It's a permitted river and the permits are cherished by the few who get them. Riggins (or close by) is also the origin of the lower section of the Salmon River float trips. During the summer, this is a crazy area, with hundreds of rafts and other vessels on the river. You can easily get a day trip from Riggins to White Bird, if you want to experience a more mellow section of the river.

From Riggins to Whitebird is also quite varied from more a more open canyon with lazy waters, to narrow, steep-walled canyon. You may see mountain goats along this section, or, as we saw on this trip, and escaped band of domestic sheep running along the road.

Nearby activities: The Wolf Education & Research Center, St. Gertrude's Monastery and Museum (near Cottonwood), Dog Bark Park, Nez-Perce National Historical Park (on the way to Lewiston).

Cascade Lake State Park: May 6, 2014

Camp: First, we are not going to visit all the units around the lake. This is a large layout, with 12 camp units scattered around the lake and hundreds of campsites! Lots of variety from luxurious sites to primitive sites. In the last couple of years, they've enhanced the Ridgeview and Poison Creek units for RVs. Full service on some as well as power and water for others. One other unit has limited power. Be sure to check the latest information if you are interested in these kind of site. The Van Wyck unit is next to the boatramp near the dam and is an open design. First come / first served. Interesting, they indicate that just because there is a fire pit, it doesn't "define" a camp. Sounds like you are pretty much allowed to pitch a tent where you want, within reason.

The showers and bathrooms at Ridgeview we new and outstanding! The best I've seen in the state so far -- and it will be a stretch to beat them at any of the other parks. In fact, I have to say, they are better than the vast majority of the private RV parks we've stayed in. Cudo's to whichever organization paid for them. Since it's a site that is cooperative with BOR, then perhaps it's the BOR influence -- I don't know.

Cell coverage: good, but since there are so many units, we haven't tested all units.

We decided, mostly for convenience sake, that we would camp at the Ridgeview unit which is very near the dam. This is fairly new RV camp with 20, 30, and 50 amp services, water, and some sewar. It's within walking distance of a boat ramp and golf course and has a beautiful view of the west ridge, which right now is starkly capped with snow. Somewhere on the west ridge is Tamarack Ski Resort, which has upscale condos to rent -- or buy, as your fancy strikes you!

Crown Point is just north of the dam and has no rv services, but is a very nice unit. It's the favorite of a friend of our who works for the BOR. It has a dock where you can moor your boat and sites near the water. It's classic older layout design but sites are not too close together and have mature trees.

We also visited the Sugarloaf unit that is a newer design, with camping a little further from the shore. Trees are not fully mature, and it's a little exposed to the wind, but it's well laid out and has great views of the lake and the ridge on the west side of the lake. Especially in spring, the west side is fantastic as the ridge is draped with cornuses and heavily laden snow slopes.

In the Ridgeview unit, we have common merganzers outside our window with numerous other duck species to observe. We even saw a loon. There's definitely osprey and bald eagles to watch as well. There are numerous Wildlife Management Areas (State of ID lands) around for other excellent birding opportunities, but they are closed part of the year to help breeding birds, specifically eagles. At this time of year, the nestlings are already appearing. The ridge to the west of the lake is about as beautiful as it gets.

The lake provides all the water sports activities summer and winter. We talked with some fishermen at the dam who were reeling in numerous perch.

Nearby attractions: In the immediate area are five hot springs, and the Payette River (great white-water trips and beautiful scenery). Nearby is also the historic town of Roseberry -- which is a fascinating and well-restored historic town offering great photography as well as history. It has a museum, general store, old cabins and equipment, church, and other buildings of interest. Certainly, if you have a half-hour or 5 hours, this is worth a visit.

Tamarack Resort is on the west side of the lake and has many opportunities. McCall is about a half hour north and is one of Idaho's premier resort communities both summer and winter.

Thousand Springs State Park: May 3/4, 2014

Camping: none
Cell coverage: at least minimal most of the time.

We headed out to the Thousand Springs State Park as a day trip from Three Island Crossing SP. This park has a number of units to entertain you with a variety of landscapes, history and activities: Malad Gorge, Vardis Fisher, Kelton Trail, Earl M. Hardy Box Canyon Springs Nature Preserve, Billingsley Creek, Ritter Island, Crystal Springs and Niagara Springs. One could spend many days just exploring these units. Fortunately, they are all within short distances of each other. Some units are as close as a mile from each other, but navigating the roads (because of the canyons) can take a little extra time. They are scattered among the slash of Interstate 84, fertile farmlands irrigated with throbbing sprinklers, dairy farms, irrigation canals, the Snake River and Malad River, canyon fractures in the landscape, and small, friendly towns.

Malad Gorge: This unit is situated adjacent to the interstate. I have driven this section of highway for the last 30 years and not once stopped. It's so easy to swing off the highway and take a break here to look at the canyon, which is very difficult to even get a glimpse of when buzzing by on US I84. There's a foot bridge that takes you right over the Devils Washbowl (a plunge pool for the Malad River) when you can stop, look down and get that dizzying feeling as the bridge flexes some. The canyon at this point is perhaps 150 feet wide and 200 feet deep. As I stood on the bridge a canyon wren gave its distinctive call while swallows or other birds flitted about. Of course all this with the thump of big trucks pounding over the I84 bridge that's 150 feet away. After crossing the footbridge, there is a trail to an overlook. It's quite covered by bird poop and the information signs as old and poop covered so you can't read them. BUT, it is a good overlook even with your hands in your pockets! The trail continues on to introduce you to the craggy landscape. This unit also gives you a nice picnic area and some sort of ORV trail that was closed when we visited. (Find out more.) This may be a great area for mountain bikes. We need to figure out how to carry the bikes on the camper!

Kelton Trail: This is just upstream from the Malad Gorge unit and is an old Oregon Trail (north section) crossing of the Malad River. We stopped here on the way to Lake Walcott SP. We had to do some dead reckoning and serious map interpretation to find the parking lot. We arrived and noted the sign, which had nothing on it. (I will insert a picture here when it's downloaded off the camera.) A small sign to the right and hanging on the fence told us that it was state park land. The road into the parking lot was very rough with potholes and rocks, but hey, what's a big Ford truck for? We were very glad we stopped there as it was at the head of the Malad Gorge, where the river first starts slicing it's way through the basalt formations. Very interesting eroded basalt with holes and dished out pools that was difficult to walk on. It also was a bit treacherous to look down into the very narrow gorge, which in the beginning was perhaps three feet wide. The Oregon trail was marked using white posts, but was not thoroughly identified. It took us some time to figure things out but it was a fun walk. Additionally, the area is trenched with an irrigation canal that adds to navigation issues, but we found the small bridge to get us across the section we were interested in crossing. Of course, the canal made it more difficult to imagine the wagons making their way through these maze of rocks and cracks, but certainly it was a curious mind exercise to think about the daily chore this landscape must have been.

Earl M. Hardy Box Canyon Springs Nature Preserve:

Billingsley Creek: What an interesting unit! You enter this unit from a small parking lot (don't even try to drive a big rig into this lot as my truck camper was almost too big). Immediately you are introduced to the ruins of an old fish farm. Races full of aquatic vegetation, crumbling concrete, old fencing and netting to keep birds out, dangerous holes and the old ruins of Vardis Fisher house who wrote Mountain Man (1965) that was the story line for the movie Jeremiah Johnson. As we entered, a group of men we coming out carrying scuba tanks. They had been to the small Fisher lake taking a certification course. One guy said there were no fish, but in the small stream next to the hatchery, there were many trout. AND some were big! I would suspect they got hit hard by the local kids, but hey, someone needs a challenge. Dangit... I need to pack my fishing stuff. You can put a small boat in here and float down to Billingsly Creek Unit or just past to a State of Idaho WMA where you can easily unload your boat up some steps and a short haul to the parking lot. BTW, the WMA unit and loads of marmots along the road as you enter. We must have seen a dozen. Most were young of the year, but they scampered everywhere.

Ritter Island:

Crystal Springs:

Niagra Springs:

Nearby activities: See Three Island Crossing State Park

Lake Walcott State Park, May 4, 2014

Cell coverage: Okay
Site layout: RV sites are close and flat. Some trees, but not great shade for hot weather.

We headed to Lake Walcott State Park after staying at Three Island Crossing SP, stopping at one more portion of Thousand Springs SP on the way. We filled in some more information about that park.

Getting to Lake Walcott SP was easy -- getting off I84 at the Burley area and following the course set by our GPS unit. We knew from the Idaho SP website that this park was undergoing some electrical upgrades and there would be no power, but since the park is open all year, we decided to camp anyway. As we entered, we assured by the posted sign that the showers and water were functional. Again, we were assured when we pulled into the site we chose by a sign on the power box. HAH! No, the water had not yet been turned on for the spring, the bathrooms were locked and therefor the showers were unavailable. We talked with some other campers just leaving and they said it was due to the unavailability of a camp host for another couple weeks. My disgust was in the fact that they could have very easily posted that information on the web and perhaps helped folks make proper preparations... like me... I purposely didn't fill the water tank this morning as I knew I had a bit to drive and who wants to drive with full tanks when there is water at the next camp? So now, we're quite short on water. We walked around trying every faucet, finding only one stand pipe that worked. I only needed a 100' hose to hook up and fill my tank!

Anyway, I'm disappointed at the State Park for not putting this simple piece of information on the web.

Getting on to other experiences in the park: it's a great birding place, with many spring-time birds flitting about. We observed a number of birders scoping around. Additionally, this is a popular fishing lake. My assumption is the spring time bass are just starting up as well as other pan fish. I'm sure the lake is stocked with trout as well.

I think, most interestingly, this is a big park for disc golf with a sprawled 21 station (do they call them holes?) course. We noted a number of folks spending the Sunday afternoon flinging those colored disks about with some raucous "oh's!" coming from them from time to time. They weren't annoying at all, they were just having a good time. They have a big tournament there every year.

We walked about and checked out the facilities. Nice boat launch, excellent day use areas near the lake and under the shade of mature trees, excellent tent camping sites close to the lake, and an expansive group use area. Idaho Power operates the dam and produces some electricity making it necessary to have big, heavy power lines strung through the area. The bathrooms facilities are in need of some maintenance -- at least a good paint job on the exterior. We didn't see the interior of the camping bathrooms, but some of the others were at least accommodating.

This area is managed in conjunction with the US Fish and Wildlife and much of the area is a refuge. With all the miles of shoreline, this is a great place for birds. I assume fall hunting would be excellent as well. Fishing is big here with an excellent boat ramp and facilities. Big small mouth bass, sturgeon, 3 species of trout are all sought out here. There is at least one bass tournament. No walleye, perch, or bluegill.

Nearby activities include:

Three Island Crossing State Park: May 3, 2014

Cell coverage: weak but adequate

Site layout: close

Headed here straight from Bruneau SP. It was a short drive through ag and crag country... maybe 45 mins. Saw some interesting rock formations along highway 30 and impressive irrigation as the spring growth season was in full swing. We stopped in Glenn's Ferry to buy groceries. Very interesting and cute town with heaps of history as this was the crossroads of the Oregon Trail and it's many forks, the river and treacherous crossings, and later, the railroad. They've done a great job with museums, restoration of buildings, and information for the public.

Drove up to the attendant at the front gate and noticed the sign "Campground Full". Ugh... 11 am in the morning! Okay, lesson learned: make reservations way ahead of time for this time of year and the weekend. Stopped and said I noticed the sign, but the attendant jumped right in and said he has one place just for us! We grabbed it for the normal $23.32 (no old fogie discount for weekends). It was one of the sites labeled W on the web, meaning Walk-In (or in this case) "drive up". The don't reserve 3 sites at this campground and leave it for bumblers, like us. BUT, they are going to have ALL sites available for reservations for next year. Is that going to be the way for all state park camp sites next year? I need to call and ask. I don't know, but I think this is a bit much. They've got 82 sites... they could leave 3 or even 5 for drive-ups!

Maybe one of the reasons for the full campsite was that the C... winery had a free golf day. The winery has an adjoining restaurant (which our camp neighbors said was good) and RV park with full hookups for $25 per night. The RV park is just across from the park entrance and looks quite nice and shady as well.

Anyway, we pulled in and right away we noticed the truck camper next to us was one we saw at Bruneau SP. Struck up a conversation and they are from the Deary, ID area.

Sites are all very shady (welcome for our anticipated 90+ day). Lots of elm trees that are right now dropping their seeds for the spring, locust and other trees adding diversity. In fact, as we walked around with the dogs, we noted that there are numerous species. Sites are clean and well kept. Showers are clean and warm. Can't ask for much more.

This park has a very nice admission free education center (name?) with new displays and a more sensitive approach to the Native American's influence and culture. The center overlooks the Oregon Trail crossing of the Snake River used heavily from 1841 to 1848. Thousands of wagons cut the trail over those years and you can see the scar on the opposite hill where the trail lead down to the crossing . One of the park employees indicated that the crossing came ashore just at the end of a road along the edge of the property. We walked down there and tried to imagine how difficult it would have been to cross here: swift, deep, and dangerous. The interpretive center has good information about how the Native Americans helped with guiding the crossing and what the choices immigrants had at this juncture of their travels. Additionally, it had interesting information about the costs of supplies for their travels, cost of the ferry crossings, and lots of quotes from immigrants journals.

But wait! Don't miss this if you have about an hour or so. After you explore the north side of the river where the main park is, you must pick up the booklet called "...." and navigate your way to the south unit of this park. It sits high on the bluff overlooked the three islands and gives you a spectacular perspective of this area. Portions of the Oregon Trail are marked with white posts (and other portions are curiously not). One thing I noticed was the trail could clearly be seen bisecting one of the islands. Two of these islands are State Park Property now and the third is BLM.

Gus Glenn finally built a ferry (1869) located upstream a couple miles and basically ended the use of the crossing. There is so much interesting history here and rather than rewriting what others have written, take some time to search out information on the Oregon Trail, Native American culture, and geology.

We headed out to the Thousand Springs SP. This park has a number of units to entertain you with a variety of landscapes, history and activities: Malad Gorge, Vardis Fisher, Kelton Trail, Earl M. Hardy Box Canyon Springs Nature Preserve, Billingsley Creek, Ritter Island, Crystal Springs and Niagara Springs. One could spend many days just exploring these units. Fortunately, they are all within short distances of each other. Some units are as close as a mile from each other, but navigating the roads (because of the canyons) can take a little extra time. They are scattered among the slash of Interstate 84, fertile farmlands irrigated with spitting sprinklers, dairy farms, irrigation canals, the Snake River and Malad River, canyon fractures in the landscape, and small, friendly towns.

Malad Gorge: This unit is situated adjacent to the interstate. I have driven this section of highway for the last 30 years and not once stopped. It's so easy to swing off the highway and take a break here to look at the canyon, which is very difficult to even get a glimpse of when buzzing by on US I84. There's a foot bridge that takes you right over the Devils Washbowl (a plunge pool for the Malad River) when you can stop, look down and get that dizzying feeling as the bridge flexes some. The canyon at this point is perhaps 150 feet wide and 200 feet deep. As I stood on the bridge a canyon wren gave its distinctive call while swallows or other birds flitted about. Of course all this with the thump of big trucks pounding over the I84 bridge that's 150 feet away. After crossing the footbridge, there is a trail to an overlook. It's quite covered by bird poop and the information signs as old and poop covered so you can't read them. BUT, it is a good overlook even with your hands in your pockets! The trail continues on to introduce you to the craggy landscape. This unit also gives you a nice picnic area and some sort of ORV trail that was closed when we visited. (Find out more.) This may be a great area for mountain bikes. We need to figure out how to carry the bikes on the camper!

Kelton Trail: This is just upstream from the Malad Gorge unit and is an old Oregon Trail (north section) crossing of the Malad River. We stopped here on the way to Lake Walcott SP. We had to do some dead reckoning and serious map interpretation to find the parking lot. We arrived and noted the sign, which had nothing on it. (I will insert a picture here when it's downloaded off the camera.) A small sign to the right and hanging on the fence told us that it was state park land. The road into the parking lot was very rough with potholes and rocks, but hey, what's a big Ford truck for? We were very glad we stopped there as it was at the head of the Malad Gorge, where the river first starts slicing it's way through the basalt formations. Very interesting eroded basalt with holes and dished out pools that was difficult to walk on. It also was a bit treacherous to look down into the very narrow gorge, which in the beginning was perhaps three feet wide. The Oregon trail was marked using white posts, but was not thoroughly identified. It took us some time to figure things out but it was a fun walk. Additionally, the area is trenched with an irrigation canal that adds to navigation issues, but we found the small bridge to get us across the section we were interested in crossing. Of course, the canal made it more difficult to imagine the wagons making their way through these maze of rocks and cracks, but certainly it was a curious mind exercise to think about the daily chore this landscape must have been.

Earl M. Hardy Box Canyon Springs Nature Preserve:

Billingsley Creek: What an interesting unit! You enter this unit from a small parking lot (don't even try to drive a big rig into this lot as my truck camper was almost too big). Immediately you are introduced to the ruins of an old fish farm. Races full of aquatic vegetation, crumbling concrete, old fencing and netting to keep birds out, dangerous holes and the old ruins of Vardis Fisher house who wrote Mountain Man (1965) that was the story line for the movie Jeremiah Johnson. As we entered, a group of men we coming out carrying scuba tanks. They had been to the small Fisher lake taking a certification course. One guy said there were no fish, but in the small stream next to the hatchery, there were many trout. AND some were big! I would suspect they got hit hard by the local kids, but hey, someone needs a challenge. Dangit... I need to pack my fishing stuff. You can put a small boat in here and float down to Billingsly Creek Unit or just past to a State of Idaho WMA where you can easily unload your boat up some steps and a short haul to the parking lot. BTW, the WMA unit and loads of marmots along the road as you enter. We must have seen a dozen. Most were young of the year, but they scampered everywhere.

Ritter Island:

Crystal Springs:

Niagra Springs:

Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park: 5/1-2/14

After spending last night with friends in Boise, we arrived fairly early -- noonish -- at the visitor center. Did a quick go-around, picked up maps, etc. Headed to Broken Wheel Campground and found many/most sites were reserved for Friday/Saturday nights. OMG!!! I never thought that, especially when we drove up as there was only two campers there besides the host. Stopped by the host and asked. He had a list of reservations and gave me some site numbers. We checked them out... ugh. Seems like they had been reserved after they printed his page this morning! Even looked at a couple sites at Eagle Cove Campground. This is where they "rack-em-and-stack-em"! Big rigs all in a row with perhaps 20 ft. separating the pull-throughs. Ugh. Not my cup-o-tea... Came back to host at Broken Wheel and talked more. He went around with me checking all sites and sure enough, it looked like we were snookered for Friday night (the 2nd). Tonight is fairly wide open. Alternative for tomorrow night is to move to Equestrian Camp as they don't reserve those sites. They are all dry camps.

We chose a site in Broken Wheel, which is a very nicely laid out camp with most sites having power and water (some dry sites), and some having wind shelters for the picnic tables. I'd bet these are very welcome when the wind howls (which, I understand is often -- for how did the dunes get here and how do they stay!). There are numerous mature trees which would provide welcome shade during the heat.

Today is about 78 for the high. Very comfortable. We went for a hike with the dogs around the smaller lake, but soon found out that walking on the sand was too hot for the dogs! They really suffered and we ended up not going more than a half mile on the sand, but about 1.5 miles with walking on grass and rocks, etc. So warning to dog owners... be wary of even slight heat. Our dogs are around 10 y.o., but are in good shape and they suffered. Nothing that a dip in the lake and a short rest back at camp didn't fix up.

I'd rate the showers and restrooms as a 9 for cleanliness and 8 for maintenance and modern setup. Fairly good, IMHO, for a state park. Although since the camp was mostly vacant, cleanliness was expected. I wonder what it's going to be like tomorrow when the huge influx of campers arrive.

So we're here with only about 6 campers in Broken Wheel (so far) and it's cooling off, peaceful, and only a light breeze! Awesome day! (Oh yeah, there's some black flying/biting bugs that are bothering one dog and Lisa... but they don't seem to bother me. I've been warned by the ranger to have bug spray handy.)

Well, we didn't have the luxury of a mostly empty campground last night as a Junior High School group from Boise showed up. About 30 or so kids and adults. They were noisy late (maybe 11pm), but were fine in the morning. Other campers felt they had been invaded and moved across the camp closer to our location (invading us!... not really), but hey, I think it's great that the school takes these kids out and has them experience things like this. I'm going to whine here... I NEVER GOT TO GO ON TRIPS LIKE THIS IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL!

Very clear night with stars bursting through our skylight window in the camper. Spectacular, even though I didn't spend much time viewing it when I got up in the night to hit the head. Cool night, maybe 45 or so. Dawn was peaceful except for the constant cooing of Eurasian Collared Doves... well, I'm telling ya that it wasn't bad, but noticeable.

We got going early on the 2nd to move camp over to the Equestrian Camp and make it to the base of the dunes by just after 9:00. Absolutely a perfect morning for hiking. The junior hs kids were just ahead of us and we followed in their footsteps. Soon, I found that if I stepped in someone else's print, that it was a bit easier to climb. At the bottom, we only fell back about 1/3 of each step. Towards the very steep top, fallback was more like 2/3 of each step. I can't deny this was the greatest workout I've had for a long while.

From the top, we had a great view of both lakes, a marshy area below, and the back side of the dunes. They don't extend far, and fall precipitously back to the 'regular terrain'. I hiked a ridge to the "vortex", which I understand is an artifact of the wind swirling. So there's this hole, basically in the center of the dunes that is cleared of sand... so cool! If you're going to climb the dunes, you must see this as it's behind the saddle between the two highest parts of the dunes.

I shot some fun photos of grass and plants at the lower part of the dunes as well as a beetle. Very interesting some of the plants had the sand blown away from the base, but long roots shot out across the dunes and minimally anchored them. I suppose since they were greening up that they had enough water to survive the severe environment. I'll add them here when I have time.

By the time we got back to the truck, it was getting warmish... in the high 70's. We let the dogs out and they swam in the lake. Both had great fun. Got back to our camp around 11:20 and sought the shade. Heat topped 120 in the sun (on the back of our camper) and 88 in the shade. Plenty hot for May 2nd!

Spent the afternoon reading, catching up on sleep, drinking iced tea, taking a shower, and blogging! Tonight we're planning on going to the observatory and hearing the talk, looking at stars, and general laziness. More on this later.