Idaho 2017, Part 1

With the end of fire season and cool weather in the forecast it was time to hit the road for a week off.  Off to the high country of Idaho.  Your vision of Idaho may be from I-84 passing through the southern part of the state.  If so you may equate Idaho with a weedy wasteland of dairy cows and junk cars.  And that is what is it.  Trust me.  Disregard the rest of this post and stay home.

We were Stanley bound, but we decided to take a day getting there and made our way up into the Payette River country and stayed overnight on the way.  The river, mountains and forests were beautiful and call for a visit of their own.

South Fork Payette River

 

Payette Colors

We enjoyed an evening around the fire and were up the next day for the short drive the rest of the way to Stanley Lake.

The inlet campground at Stanley Lake is about how I left it last time I was there, which seems like quite a few years back.  There’s a few less trees, and a few more dead ones, and the infrastructure is wearing out without much maintenance, but the mountains and lake don’t change.  Beautiful as ever.

Mt. McGown from Stanley Lake

 

Stanley Lake

 

There are lots of memories at this lake.  It is always good to be back.

 

A view you never tire of

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From Summer to Fall, 2017

Well, somehow summer has passed and here we are in fall.  There were fewer trips and more work days than I would have preferred.  It was a heck of a fire and smoke season in Oregon this year.  Oh and there was this eclipse thing.

Eclipse over Sisters Oregon (dark at 10 am)

Smoke over Horse Prairie Fire

Even when we got back to fishing there was plenty of smoke and fire action to be had.

Smoke over Odell

 

Scooper on Odell headed for the Kelsey Fire

 

Smokey makes an appearance in the smoke over the Horse Prairie Fire

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Grande Ronde, 2017

The Grande Ronde was the last in the string of spring and early summer overnight floats on the calendar.  Located in far northeastern Oregon it’s a bit of a drive to get to but well worth if for the scenery and great floating.  The flows had been running high all spring and they didn’t come down enough to provide for any good fishing for this trip, but that was the overall theme for most of the trips this year.  With high flows the trip was short each day on the water, with 2 to 3 hours being enough to get you to the next camp.

 

Grande Ronde

 

As always the scenery was spectacular.

 

 

 

 

The most plentiful wildlife seemed to be swallowtail butterflies which were out in droves.

 

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