As February neared its close, winter was starting to lose its grip on northern Idaho. The change was so quick that a lot of the fields we passed on the way north were covered with standing water, rivers were bank full and brown, and fields of winter wheat were starting to green up. It was finally time to escape our winter hibernation and get out on a trip somewhere, and we chose to go north for a couple days.
There was still ice on some of the lakes, but not enough for us to brave ice fishing, so we left that gear at home.
We also left our cross country skis at home, and in hindsight we didn’t need our snowshoes either. We ended up hiking around Round Lake in the sometimes icy, sometimes soggy conditions.
Winter has been nice, but it is also good to see the changes on the way, and get an early start of things to come as spring is sprung.
We also spent some time attempting to figure out burbot fishing. Burbot is a freshwater cod found in northern waters, and in Idaho burbot can be found in the Kootenay River as they migrate upstream for spawning in February and March. The wide Kootenay River valley at the very northern tip of Idaho is filled with fields, but also dotted with a few wildlife areas as the river meanders north toward Canada.
Trumpeter swans were eagerly awaiting spring as well, just knowing the ice will turn to water at any instant. Elk, deer, bald eagles and an owl overhead at sunset rounded out our wildlife list for the day.
No burbot for this trip, but I think we learned enough to provide us some success on a future trip up this way. The scenery more than made up for the lack of fish.
It feels good to be out and about again. Now that meteorological spring has come, it’s time to get outdoors and explore.
