Idaho: Sawtooths and Craters of the Moon

Well after posting my last blog in Kalispell I had a long day ahead of me. I got stuck in traffic driving to Missoula. Now most construction that I've been through is usually concentrated on a certain problem. Well apparently the entire state of Montana is a problem because I was on a gravel road for a good 20 miles crawling along. I had to stop and get gas along the way. I finally got through that then had to deal with traffic in Missoula and I finally left around 1:30. I didn't stop again until I got to my campsite at 6:15 in Idaho. It was a pretty drive (I followed the Salmon River scenic byway) but I was so exhausted and had a major headache from lack of food and water. I've considered renaming my car "The Intimidator" after Dale Earnhardt because I've gotten quite adept at forcing people off mountain roads so I can pass. Usually I try to go slow and easy to save gas but I just wanted to get there so I floated around most of the corners. One thing I find funny about towns west of the Rockies is how every sign that has the town name on it lists the population. In Colorado the elevation was listed as this is a bragging right. Out here, a bragging right is above 100 people. Stanley, Idaho had 26 people and there were many more towns just like it.


I camped in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area right along Redfish Lake. After driving all day I was restless so I wandered along the lakeshore taking in the vista. I made myself some popcorn on the Whirly Pop and enjoyed the night. It was freezing though. My car had frost on it the next morning so I bundled up and made myself some oatmeal and tea. I decided to go hiking and struck out on the Fishhook Creek trail. There were no warnings about bears on any of the signs but I just can't seem to part with my bear spray. If I don't end up using it by the end of the trip I'll walk down a dark alley and spray my first attacker. The trail was really nice and I did see a lot of deer and it ended up at a big meadow surrounded by the Sawtooths.


I had to go back over a few mountains but then I ended up on the plains of Idaho. I drove through Sun Valley which was very ritzy. I continued on to Craters of the Moon national monument. I was driving along hoping to see some potato farms when all of a sudden I am surrounded by black rock. Craters of the Moon preserves a massive rift of volcanic rock. It was quite a change of pace from the mountains. I found a campsite and set up camp and then went out to drive the loop drive. The rock is so abrasive that you can only walk on the paved walkways otherwise your shoes would be torn up. There was a nice breeze so it wasn't too hot. I walked along all the trails and was amazed at how much vegetation grows. The most recent lava flow was 2000 years ago and that is the stuff that is very abrasive. However, the older lava flows have ground down and are now able to support sagebrush and some flowers. I climbed a cinder cone which was quite intense. I then went to the lava tubes which I was most excited about. However, they scared the crap out of me.
They are basically caves and I made it as far as the entrance and it went black and the temperature dropped 30 degrees so I turned around. It would be my luck to not see a bit of wildlife but be trapped in a lava tube due to a collapse. I ventured a bit further into one because I could see and hear people ahead but then I stepped in water up to my ankles and almost ran into an icicle and I turned around. Outside that cave I ended up talking to a few people who had just come from Yellowstone. They had seen black bears, a grizzly and 6 freakin wolves! I was pissed. I spent over a week in prime grizzly country and all I saw were 3 damn mountain goats. I could have slept in a huckleberry patch and never seen a grizzly. I'll just have to come back. I was starving so I went back to the campground only to find my poor bungalow had been attacked by the wind. Luckily someone had put rocks on top of her so she didn't blow away. I got her set back up and hammered some more stakes down but it's hard to keep stakes when the "soil" is ground up lava rock. Later on when I was eating my supper of stewed tomatoes (last can) and a lady came over to check on me because she was the one who secured the Bungalow. I would have been SOL if I came back to find my home had blown away.