When I think about all the beautiful places I would like to visit I do NOT think of Idaho. However, as we spent a little time in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in central Idaho I felt a strong attraction to the high snow covered mountains, tall pine trees, cool, clean, crisp air, wildlife and alpine lakes. This place is BEAUTIFUL! Stopping at a scenic overlook we struck up a conversion with a couple from Tucson who were snapping photos of their cute little dog Charlie on his adventures. After we bonded over the ridiculous heat of the Sonoran desert they told us about a backpacking trip they took many years ago in this area. They took a shuttle boat across Redfish Lake and went into the wilderness for 10 days. Their fond memories of this beautiful area is what prompted them to come back today. This story just solidified the idea in my mind that this is a very special place.
We found some cold weather when we spent one night at Murdock Campground, a National Forest Campground in the Sawtooth National Recreation area. The campground only had 11 campsites so I was worried that it was getting late and we would not be able to get a spot. When we arrived there were only 3 sites occupied, we pulled into a perfect site where you can hear the river running. Very refreshing after our night in the RV park. It was a cool 45 degrees when I got up the next morning. The camp host was interested in our van so Tim invited her in for a tour. She told us about her position, she is a manager responsible for 5 NF campgrounds. She works for a company that is a concessionaire for the Forest Service. Her and her husband act a camp host for 3 of the 5 campgrounds and the remaining two have their own hosts. Of course the manager position pays more than a host, but she did not share how much. Her company also has positions in other places. Since Idaho campgrounds are only open in the summer, as an employee you can work in other places like Arizona in the winter. Something to think about for the future.
We stopped at Redfish Lake for lunch. They had motor boats and paddle boats and kayaks for rent. There were also cabins and bicycles to rent and a little general store. It seemed very cold to me by the water with the wind but there were some young girls in their bathing suits sunning themselves on the beach and two poor girls were actually in the water. I don’t know how they were doing it. There was even a dog beach, an area where the dogs are allowed to be off leash. We loved seeing the dogs play. We couldn’t help but think of our boy Max who died over a year ago. He wouldn’t be content to play with his own toy on the beach like these dogs, he would be running up to every dog and person and jumping on them with wet muddy paws! With all the amenities and the beautiful lake, Redfish Lake would be a very nice area for a family vacation.
I really wish we could have stayed in the SNRA longer but we have some reservations that are driving us to continue making progress. Even though we have heard time and time again, don’t travel too fast, stop and immerse yourself if it feels right, we have already made a full-timer rookie mistake and we are pushing to get somewhere by a certain date and tiring ourselves out in the process. We have driven about 900 miles in our first week on the road.
As we move on we are thinking all of Idaho must be beautiful. Then the landscape starts turning into something vaguely familiar… no….can’t be… we are in the desert again! Bright warm sun, barren land, no trees, what??? We see National Forest campgrounds in full sun on the side of the road. Where the heck are we going to stay? It is getting late in the afternoon, I have a bit of a meltdown trying to figure out where we can stay. In the end we found a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground on the Salmon River with a grove of cottonwood trees providing some shade. $10 for our overnight stay. Not too bad.
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