Are you sure this is Idaho?!?

When we left Flathead Lake the day after Labor Day, the skies were dark and threatening. Kyle reminded us that all this weather was coming over from Idaho. Nonetheless, Idaho was the next state for us to explore. We set off towards Kalispell, and then took Highway 2 all the way to the State Line.

Along the way, we crossed over Moyie Canyon Bridge.

There was a pulloff for this area, complete with its own hydroelectric dam. (I guess that should have been my first clue about the weather here… but then, sometimes I’m just not the brightest bulb.) There was also a little trail that went down closer to the bridge itself. At this point, to ward off the rain, I was wearing Danskos. Not the best trail shoes, in case you were wondering. But my feet did stay dry.

I even got all artsy with Photoshop:

Moving on, through Bonner’s Ferry, south through Sandpoint, and even in to Coeur D’Alene, it never really stopped raining. Clouds hung so low in the sky I couldn’t even tell you if the view was great or not. I thought it was pretty, though.

I was kind of surprised to see that we also crossed over into Pacific Standard Time. But then, I’d never been to Idaho before.

We arrived at the Coeur D’Alene NFS Ranger Station at about 4:25. Only to find that they closed at 4pm. I tell you, if you can actually get into a ranger station, they’re super helpful. But their hours are worse than the post office.

At least there was a map outside the building, so we were able to plan from that. We found our campsite up a winding road above Coeur D’Alene, up in the clouds. The forecast for the city was rain overnight, but then just cloudy the next day. And sunny and 70 after that. And that whole 70-and-sunny thing went on for days. Just one more night of rain? Winner!

As we climbed up towards our campsite, I looked around at the rain and the mist and the moss on the trees and said to Michael, “are you sure we’re in Idaho?” I mean, like I said, I’ve never been here before. But I kind of expected Idaho to look a lot like western Montana. We’d barely crossed the state line, for Chrissakes. But it was so dark and rainy I was expecting Mulder and Scully to jump out of the trees at any moment. Seriously, it was like Vancouver up there. (For those of you who are not geeks, The X-Files was initially filmed in the Vancouver area.)

Well, the rain did let up the next day, and the sun peeked out here and there. Michael got in a CrossFit workout, I went for a run with Bailey. A couple of hunters walked past our little camp, and let us know that it was open season with guns for bear and grouse, and bowhunting season for deer and elk. I put the bear bells on Bailey and took him with on my run. And we stuck to the main road.

We packed up the next day and headed south. One of the things we’ve learned after a month on the road is to set our goals low when it comes to driving days. A five-hour drive may sound like cake to you, but for us, it’s more like to be a 10-hour day. We have to include breaking down camp, as well as the search for a suitable campsite before dark. So generally we try to keep our next destination no more than three hours out.

Our next destination was actually so far out we knew it would take several days to get there: Red River Hot Springs. This was Michael’s idea, but who doesn’t love a good soak? We haven’t been to a hot spring since Steamboat. Let’s do it!

So our stopping point for the day was Emida, Idaho. Or, I should say, the St. Joe National Forest, which sits just outside of Emida.

We found a lovely campsite, wide open for the early morning sun. (Tired of all that shade outside of Coeur D’Alene!) It even had a giant fire ring. We saw a lot of signs about logging in this area, so firewood was not going to be a problem. Perfect!

And then it rained. What the hell, Idaho? You are making it so hard for me to like you. Good thing our bonfire was already going strong when the first drops fell. I put the chairs underneath the truck, made sure everything was closed up, and hung out in the tent with my Kindle. After about 15 minutes the rain stopped.

I made the hugest bonfire I could. Take that, rain!

Apparently the weather in Idaho likes a challenge. Because we woke up to a cold, shaded, and completely socked-in campsite. I had planned on a run that morning, but I was so cold that we just packed up camp fast and got on our way. The sun came out around 10:30, and we were halfway to Moscow by then. It was a beautiful drive – once again, I was surprised by the amount of water in Idaho. This time it was in the form of lakes and rivers. Water is everywhere here.

We decided to refuel in Moscow, mostly because we saw a giant grocery store as we came into town. Moscow turned out to be a neat little college town with a really cool downtown area. With the gas tank, water containers (we had to pay for water this time, but even at $.45/gallon, it wasn’t that bad), pantry, and cooler full, we continued on south, confident we could make it to Red River Hot Springs that day. Here’s the view just south of Moscow:

I turned to Michael. “Are you sure this in Idaho?” I asked. Seriously, it was just like the song – amber waves of grain. A sea of brown, inexplicable after so much green in the panhandle.

We passed through Grangeville and eventually headed east on Highway 14, along the Red River, towards Elk City.

We thought Elk City, being called a city and all, would have an outdoor store where we could get some information.

Here’s a tip for you: Elk City is not a city. They do have a NFS Ranger Station, which of course closed an hour before we got there. We did get some information on the area from a nice lady at the General Store, though.

Unfortunately we had a hard time finding a campsite in the Red River Valley. We went up a few Forest Service roads, but couldn’t find a single site. Time was getting short. Now that we were in Pacific Standard Time, it was starting to get dark at just 7:30.

Eventually we found the oddest site. It was clearly marked as a Forest Service campsite. It had a pit toilet and everything, and an established fire ring. But it looked like a big parking lot, right next to the road. And it was free. (I have NEVER seen a free NFS campsite before. Is this just an Idaho thing?)

As we were cleaning up from dinner and preparing for another bonfire, I was already wearing my down jacket and wool hat. A group of ATVers stopped by, waiting for laggers in their group, and one of the group mentioned that it would be getting cold down by the water tonight.

He heard 30 degrees.

Oh boy…

**This adventure will conclude on Thursday** Stay tuned!