We clean the prettiest Adopt-a-Highway.
- November 4-5, 2020
- Team: Julie
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
We have had a spectacularly busy summer. But in the back of our minds has been our duty to clean our Adopt-a-Highway. Things were always in the way: the highway's too busy on the weekends, it's too hot, the Trap Fire is too close, etc. Finally, the stars aligned and we were off in the sissy wagon (the ground is too hard, etc.). Thanks to some searching of the interwebz, we chose the Lola Creek campground. And bonus-- we were the ONLY ones to choose it! |
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About 20 steps from the camper, you can look down Marsh Creek. Yeah, that's ice. |
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And about 1/2 mile down Marsh Creek is the Marsh Creek trail, which leads one into the Frank Church wilderness on a very pleasant trail. Note: This was all planned ahead of time. |
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| We found a trail or old road that paralleled the actual road from the campground to the trailhead. Along the way, we ran into this. At first, and from a distance, it looked like someone was stashing equipment. I believe it's a fish weir, so that 'someone' would be Idaho Fish and Game? |  |
But anyway, on to our trail. It passes through a not-too-old burn. According to the Fire History feature on CalTopo, which I promised to show Julie when we got home, this was both the 2010 Banner fire and 2012 Halstead fire. |
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It wasn't really that late in the day, but down in the bottom of a north-south trending canyon, the shadows fall early. The shadows made photography a bit challenging, and also kept the temperatures on the cool side.
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But the other side of the canyon was sunny and gorgeous, basking in the sunlight above the gin-clear water. |
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Time to cross that water. The bridge had been our planned turnaround point, but as often happens, Julie was enjoying the hike too much so wanted to push on a bit. I gently reminded her that we were walking DOWNstream at the moment, which has its consequences when it's time to head home. |
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| So now on the sunny side, we eventually found a log to sit on by the creek and bask in that sun. (lots of basking today) |  |
Ruby explored each log in turn. And then it was time to hike back. Round trip from our camp site was about 3.5 miles. |
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Back at the camp site, it was shady and cooling off. We built a fire and told campfire stories. But still sort of early; remember, it's no longer daylight savings time. If Ruby looks spoiled, she is. But it was also her 4th birthday. |
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As the sunlight dimmed, we moved inside. Yes, my wine cup really is that big. |
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The next morning, we eagerly anticipated early sun. But it wasn't to be. Despite the burns, the thick lodgepole on that side of camp was filtering our sunshine. So we packed up anyway, and headed to the Elk Creek turnout on Highway 21 in our Adopt-a-Highway section between mileposts 122 and 124. Time to get to work. Avid readers may remember we did this last year as well. |
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| Our section has nice views. I think those are the Sawtooths. |  |
| I put that driveshaft there last year in hopes the highway department would pick it up. That didn't work and it was still here. So I used some garbage bags to mark it sort of like "I put that envelope under that pile of garbage". |  |
When we were finally done with the work, Julie looked fabulous in her Found sunglasses. Note the lack of bullet holes in 'our' sign. We were pleasantly surprised. |
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| All done, and it's not too late yet. We decided to do a little sightseeing and ended up at Redfish Lake. Only one campground was open, which considering that on our arrival there was only one other camper, seemed appropriate. So we did what I would almost never do; we set up to camp at Redfish Lake. |  |
One of the more scenic places you could find to do the dishes. And there's internet here! Unfortunately, that allowed Julie to see her webcam showing our cat back home outside our house. It was pretty obvious that Julie was not going to sleep, so we broke camp and drove home early. I knew that I wasn't destined to camp at Redfish Lake. |
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