We’ve searched for surf perch before. Supposedly there are little fish in the breaking waves of the Oregon Coast sucking up bits of crab, shrimp and sand worms, but our previous trip for them didn’t provide the truth. This trip turned out a bit different. (hint: yes they are there!)
In 1863 Lloyd Magruder was murdered while he traveled through the Bitterroot Mountains on the southern Nez Perce Trail. The travel route that now bears his name was used for centuries by the Nez Perce to travel between buffalo hunting grounds to the east and salmon fishing rivers to the west. In the 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps built the road through this rugged country. In 1980, when the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness was designated by Congress the “corridor” was formed, as this is the only road that divides what would otherwise be 3.5 million acres of contiguous wilderness between the Frank Church River of No Return wilderness and the Selway Bitterroot wilderness.
We nearly let 2023 slip by without getting out backpacking. We planned a trip in September but it didn’t work out. October was here, we got the backpacks loaded and headed for the Seven Devils Mountains, towering above the Salmon River in Idaho.
