Ron and Sally Jo Blog

Archive for the ‘Idaho’ Category

Flowers

Saturday, August 30th, 2014

We were thrilled with the many wild flowers that we saw while traveling the Northwest this summer. We tried to identify some of the flowers but we could not find the names for all. Maybe some of you can help us!

: Glacier Lily

: Glacier Lily and White Dryas

: Common Harebell

: Indian Paintbrush

: Glacier Lily

: Beargrass

: Fire Weed

: Indian Paintbrush

: Devils Club

: Showy Fleabane

: Thimbleberry

Posted in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Washington | No Comments »

MCC West Coast Bike Ride (and more)

Saturday, August 16th, 2014

Hiawatha Trail

The MCC West Coast Bike Ride was held in the Idaho panhandle. We camped at the Middle School in Kellogg. We sometimes started from Kellogg and sometimes drove to another starting point. In the evenings we visited, made home-made ice cream, and generally relaxed.

Day one – Kellogg east to Shoshone Park on the Coeur d’Alene trail – 46 total miles
Day two – Spokane River Centennial Trail from Post Falls to Riverfront Park in Spokane – 50 total miles – temperature was 100+ degrees!
Day three – Kellogg west to Harrison – 76 total miles – through wilderness, along a river, along edges of small towns, saw moose
Day four – Route of the Hiawatha – 30 total miles – 9 tunnels (longest 1.8 miles) and 10 trestles – fabulous scenery – gravel path
Day five – Harrison to Plummer on Coeur d’Alene Trail – 35 total miles

Since we needed to wait for our car to be repaired back in Sequim, Washington (see blog post about Olympic Peninsula), we decided to spend several more days around Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho.

We hiked the Pulaski Tunnel Trail. During the August climax of the 1910 wild fire Ranger Ed Pulaski is credited with saving the lives of all but six of his 45-man crew when he herded them into an abandoned mine tunnel and threatened to shoot anyone who attempted to leave. (The story of the massive 1910 fire which burned more than a million acres is a good read – often called The Big Burn or The Big Blowup.) We took a tour of a silver mine (Wallace is the silver capital of the world) and attended a melodrama.

We returned to Kellogg and rode the Gondola – the longest in North America. It takes 20 minutes and gains over 3000 feet. We took a 3 mile hike around the top of the mountain and rode a chair lift. In winter it is a huge ski resort but in summer there is hiking and mountain biking.