It's been a while since winter rolled into the rear view mirror, (a month if are a meteorologist, or almost two weeks if you are an astrologer) so there's a bit of catching up to do around here. It seemed like February was more spring like than March here in North Central Idaho. Here we are at April 1st and we have a winter weather warning that extends into the next couple days. Go figure.…
We’ve been on several sections of the Elk City Wagon Road but up until now, we hadn’t made a trip of driving the length of it. Time for that to change. After all, the road starts within a five minute drive of home!
What is the Elk City Wagon Road? The road was constructed in 1894 and 1895 as a route from the South Fork of the Clearwater River to the goldfields of the Elk City area. Most of the route is still drivable today, even though there is very little left of the inns, stables and towns that popped up along the way to support the miners on their way to discover riches. It remained the main route to Elk City until the 1930’s.
The Gospel Hump Wilderness is fairly local to us, and it actually wasn’t on fire this year when we were able to go, so we packed up for an overnight, laced on the hiking boots and headed that way.
We’ve actually been in the neighborhood of the Gospel Hump several times, including last fall, but this was are first time to make it a primary destination for a trip. There is a ‘cherry stem’ road that takes you up high and right into the middle of the wilderness area, and that seemed like a good jumping off point for a couple of day hikes and exploring the access into the area.