July 29, 2010 Sue’s Birthday

Since it was my birthday I could choose what we were going to do. I loved the upper lake, so we paddled up there again. For starters.

Upper Priest Lake, Birthday girl

Birthday girls escort on the lake and the Thorofare

John on the Thorofare,glinting in the sun

clouds, reflections It was a perfect day

back lit, ducks

reflections, John hauling his boat from the take out to the parking lot

a moose we saw on the way back, John with my birthday dinner that he cooked

sunset on the lake, a squirrel singing me happy birthday in the morning.

July 26-28 2010 Priest Lake Idaho

John had our mail sent to Sand Point, Idaho, so we headed over there to pick up our mail and to visit with a friend from Fort Collins, Jeff who was on a bike trip the area. We met Jeff in a brew pub.

John, Sue, Jeff, and John and Sue
We hiked some more in the old trees. they are almost primeval, with ferns and dripping moss, lots of water and silence. I almost expected a dinosaur to appear at any moment. We were on the look out for bears, esp. grizzlies, we were in their habitat. We saw one on a trail the other day. A black bear. My worst fear, running into a bear in the woods. But it took one look at us and ran the other way.

the next day we hiked in more old growth forest, huge, huge trees.

Sue on a cut tree, more big trees

John trying to reach around some of the big ones

big tree, John crossing a creek. We skinny dipped that day in the Priest River. John wondered if skinny dipping in the Priest river was blasphemy?

Gasp, a bear!

July 23-25 2110 Priest Lake, Idaho

The crew dropped me off at the town of Priest River and I met John for breakfast. We hopped in the coach and headed to Priest Lake. We were looking at campsites and the campground guide said this one was big, so we drove in. It was a misprint, it was tiny  and to make a long story short there was too little road and too much bus. Crunched the front corner.  Some could say that I was standing on the road helping John navigate though the big rocks, tight trees, tight turn etc.,still a novice at that sort of thing,  but John chooses to call it a learning experience. It is the only time I have ever seen John mad.  Later he said that he was mostly mad at himself for even going in there.  He did not yell or insult  my person or anything. But he was not his normal happy, joyful self for a couple days. We could still drive the bus , no one was hurt ,insurance paid for most of the repair.  We were in a beautiful place. We found one short site left in one of the many campgrounds on the lake  on Saturday during the busy season of the summer and shoe horned the bus into it.

John at our first campsite, bus ding

bus in tiny spot, front almost to the road, and I found this hitchhiker under the bus The next day we found a new spot closer to the lake that was a huge drive through. We spent 2 weeks there waiting for the body shop to fit the bus in to repair it.

The lake is awesome. Huge, clear , surrounded by forest and mountains. Weather was warm and sunny. John in the lake

Me in the lake. John only took that photo so that the people behind me would not know he was taking their photo. He called them a breeding pair of white whales.

There was a huge  old growth forest in the area that had escaped forest fires and logging. We did a lot of hiking in it.  Really beautiful and kind of sad that the whole area used to look like it before white man arrived. John hugging a big one and my hero pushing apart big trees so I could easily walk down the train.

We took the boats on the channel between the upper and lower lake. It is called the Thorofare. Pretty flat 2 mile paddle. Into the wild untouched forests  of northern Idaho. John on the Thorofare and on the upper lake.

July 18-23 PREF crew, Idaho

Here is the crew and the work they did.

first picture, back row Paul, Bob, Hank, Frank, Carl,Mike, Sue, front row Ozzie, Bob ,Chuck, John, TedSecond photo, Back Row-sue, Frank, Bob, Chuck, Ozzie Front, Bob, Mike,Ted, Dick, John and Carl

Bob and Dick in the carpentry shop-skilled craftsmen, they made a new door for the shop, hanging the door

hanging the door, and I love this one, How many smokejumpers does to take to hand the door

Bob and Dick fine tuning the door, Chuck and Bob putting up a fence around the nursery

Hank, Chuck and Mike working on the fence, Frank sharpening his chain saw

Frank and Ted thinning and limbing the nursery, John picking up after them

Hank and Ted building trail

Mike building trail, the fire lookout we visited the last day

BBQ at Hanks house on Priest Lake the last night, and late breakfast the last day before going home.