Hiking

Idaho 2017, Part 2

After leaving Stanley and the Sawtooths we headed south through Ketchum for a quick restock for the remainder of the week and then we were off over Trail Creek Summit to the headwaters of the Big Lost River.  It was a homecoming of sorts, going back to a place I worked over 20 years ago.  But mainly it was a visit to one of my favorite places of high mountains, lakes and streams.  This is high country, with valleys over 7,000 and elevations topping out over 12,000.  October gets to be a bit late for a visit due to cold overnight temperatures in this country, but it’s hard to get away much earlier in the year, so we made the best of it.

 

The Devils Bedstead and Kane Canyon

The first destination was Kane Canyon.  We were hoping to get up to Kane Lake, which may just be my favorite high alpine lake, but quickly encountered snow on the trail which slowed us down.  Snow, ice and short fall daylight led us to turn around with about a half mile left so we could get back to the trailhead and find a camp before dark.  It was still nice to get up into the mountains.

 

Kane Canyon

 

Kane Canyon just shy of Kane Lake

We were back down to the trailhead with plenty of light left.  Someone had cut some large rounds of Douglas-fir and left them at the trailhead.  A portion of two rounds was all we needed to top off our firewood supplies for the rest of the trip so we quickly did just that and then headed down canyon in search of a camp.  The canyon is full of beaver dams and willows and we kept saying, “There ought to be a moose in there!”, and sure enough there was.  Just a couple of horns and some flicking ears at first, but then he came out to say hello.

 

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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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Steens Mountain, 2017

After a pretty steady run of rivers it was time to stay ashore for the weekend and head to Steens Mountain.  Steens Mountain is a huge fault block mountain in southeastern Oregon.  From the west it’s a steady incline, from the east a steep dramatic drop off.  The western side is also riddled with dramatic glacial canyons you can only appreciate with a good hike.  We arrived for the weekend just before dark on Friday night at South Steens campground.  There were about four other camps, not bad for a Friday night.  Just as we set up and had the fire started the rain set in and we spent the rest of the night in the camper.

 

Trailhead, Big Indian Gorge

 

Next morning we were off to hike up the Big Indian Gorge.  I’d only been here once before quite a while back.  It wasn’t a wilderness then, but it was probably a little more wild.  Anyhow, we made our way toward the gorge, a big glacial carved canyon cutting deep into the west side of the mountain.  Note the new snow from the night before.  It is June, right?

 

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