We’d just finished up our backpack trip around the Alice Toxaway Loop. It took us about six hours to drive to the trailhead. We thought we’d take the backroads home, which took us about three days, where we discovered along the way entirely new (to us) parts of Idaho.
The Lower Salmon is local for us. You just can't see it from the road - or the highway at least. It was an easy trip down to Lone Pine Bar outside of Cottonwood one fall morning. We found a nice campground, white sand beaches, salmon spawning in the gravel and chukars clucking on the hills. We didn't come home with a sample of the salmon or the chukar but it was good to find…
Steelhead on the Salmon River? Yeah, it might sound a bit strange, but that was what we were there for. Well, yes, there’s also the camping, being on the river, a bit of wildlife, time around the campfire, all in a place not too far from home. Throw in a chance for steelhead? Count us in. And yes, there are salmon as well, but that season was winding down while steelhead should be ramping up.
