Lochsa River 2009

What I learned on this camping trip:

1) My nose is a magnet for wispy spiderweb strands
2) The hippie movement for "natural" outdoorsyness is alive and well
3) Mushrooms will do in a pinch for a game of baseball
4) and Fly fishing and hail don't mix

Our yearly camping trip to the Lochsa with Chris and Jeannette went really well this year. It was a lot of fun, the weather was mostly great, and we were able to get in both hiking and fishing almost every day, which made everyone happy. We also camped in this:

It had a stove!
It had BEDS!
It's gonna be hard to go back to a tent after this. :)

On to the ADVENTURE!

The first trail we tried led to a hot spring, which should have been our first clue. It was also more like a road than a trail, which should have been our second clue.


We found a really neat little spot where a spring of hot water was actually draining into a pool beside the river.

It was beautiful.

Here's some crazy tree roots we found while climbing back to the trail. We had only been out for an hour but we had to turn back pretty soon after that.

Question: Does soaking naked in a hot spring that is situated directly beside a trail where anyone and his brother (and their little kids) could walk right up and say, "Hi," sound like a good idea to anyone here? No? No! It doesn't to me either!

For Pete's sake, hippies! Please go and be "natural" where no one else has to see you! Sheesh!

Okay, I'm better now.

Obviously we didn't want to run into any more "nature lovers," so we decided to do a little exploring in the direction away from the water.

Jeannette walks along a log.

Ryan and Chris have fun moving the bridge.

And that was about it for the hike on that day. The guys went fishing after that and we wives went along to take pictures. We found:

A dragonfly

A bunny-shaped rock (I would have packed this thing home if it weren't the size of a basketball)

And a little spider. Yes, I finally took a spider picture like all the rest of you weirdos! Joy. Moving on.

Here's Chris fishing from the comfort of his very own boulder.


I love taking pictures where more than one thing is going on.

And here's one of everyone.

Fascinating as fishing is, the wives do tend to get a tiny bit bored after hours of sitting on the same piece of rocky river-side, so Jeannette started making balancing thingies. I joined in because it looked like too much fun to keep out of.

Zen-like, isn't it?

We got a little elaborate. Jeannette had a lot more patience than I did. She made the rocks balance; I just tried to keep from knocking them down. :)

The next day we drove a little further and found a trail that had no hot spring and was much less "road-ish." It was more of a trail on the side of a hill. I discovered that I have the stamina to hike from breakfast to lunch on one day--very proud of that fact--but I won't be able to move well the next. :)

Found some cute little mushrooms.


Ryan contemplates.
Don't ask me why the horse's skull is tied to a tree. We found it that way.


Hi there.


The view at the top was great, but it meant that 4 miles of downhill were between us and lunch!

We covered around 8 miles on this hike (Go, us!), and only saw two people at a distance. Their big dog came up to say hi, but then left with them. Ryan thought he'd be funny and scare the dog off, but the dog only took this as an invitation to play. I'm not sure which was funnier; Ryan waving his arms and yelling like a maniac or the dog's response. It started bouncing around in the brush so excitedly. Oh, boy; a new bestest friend! Oh, boy. Oh, boy! It was hilarious.

The next day was the day of mushrooms.

We decided to do an easier hike.


See the gentle trail meandering through the woods.


There were a few obstacles to overcome.


Don't jump, Chris!


What is it about little mushrooms that makes them just so cute?

The mushroom battlefield. Evidence of Chris and Ryan's violent nature against the fungus of the field. See the following videos for true mushroom carnage!

And that's about it, except for the hail.

It kind of interrupted the guys last day of fishing, so we all played cribbage instead, and then we drove home the next day.

The Lochsa River

Last weekend (Oct 16-18) we went camping with Chris and Jeannette. I'm adding their website on the menu so go and check it out. They're amazing photographers and great friends.

Here's a pic of our campsite.

Jeannette brought her famous chocolate-peanutbutter balls.

And here is Ryan, looking at the chocolate-peanutbutter balls. Yes, there probably is a tear of joy in his eye.

Anyway, we went camping on the Lochsa river (pronounced "Lock-saw") in northern Idaho. We drove up Thursday night and found a great camping spot. We pretty much had our pick of the lot. No one else was there and we didn't see anyone else at the campground until Saturday night. A big truck with a camper on the back drove in just as we were packing up to leave. It was so nice to have the campground all to ourselves and not have to listen to any little punk partiers playing their rock music out in the WILDERNESS! Honestly, people! If you're going "camping" go camping. Hike, fish, take pictures, bring your well-mannered dog along and have fun. Don't throw a kegger and invite all your rowdy alcoholic friends. Sheesh!

Friday, the first official camping/fishing day, was beautiful.

There was sunshine!

It was warm.

The fishing was good!

The river was clear!

And then on Saturday it rained off and on the entire day. But even then it wasn't so bad. It was still surprisingly warm for October, and the rain and mist gave the landscape a very interesting type of appeal.


Luckily, Chris and Jeannette brought their big canopy that they use for craft fairs. That thing really came in handy. Jeannette and I were able to get out of our little tents and still stay dry and out of the rain and the guys got to go fishing and muck about in the rain as much as they wanted. It worked out well.

This trip was everything we all hoped it would be. It was a nice relaxing break from the hectic world of work and college, where we could all kick back and say "Ahhh. Pass me another chocolate-peanutbutter ball." :)