August 2001

Another month drawns to an end and we continue the arduous task of visiting National Forests and compiling a complete and comprehensive source of information on their developed campgrounds. WHAT!!!!! No sympathy?!?!? Some friend you turned out to be. It is, after all, hard(ly) work.

We left our comfortable full-hook-up site at a private campground in North Fork, Idaho (pop 170) the second day of August. It meant leaving behind an assortment of delicious homemade pies at the adjacent Caf‚ and some very interesting people. One gentleman we enjoyed particularly well was a true cowboy from the old school, Mike Carr. Mike has been a sheepherder (in his preteen years), a Marine radio man with two tours in Viet Nam under his belt, a career as a rodeo performer (everything from heeler to bull-rider), a rancher in Nevada, had a two year stretch as the Marlboro man in some tv commercials (but we never saw him smoking), and the list goes on. He is recently divorced and "starting over". We predict he won't be alone for long. Anyway, it was great fun listening to his stories and tall-tales.

From North Fork we set up at a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River near Clayton, Idaho (pop 26). Here Dahlia, Suzi's daughter, and her friend, John Rolfe, joined us from Bozeman, Montana. It was great to see her and meet John, who is as special as we were told. The visit was much too short but Dahlia and John needed to get back to their jobs and school. John is head chef at the EZ Lodge in Big Sky and Dahlia began her work at the University of Montana toward a Masters in English and preparing for a Teaching Assistant position at the University.

We must remark at this point that every river in Idaho seems to have a "fork" in the river name - north fork, south fork, and middle fork, e.g., North Fork of the Salmon River. It can be fairly confusing once we leave one area for another if we don't properly identify the fork in our research.

From Clayton we headed for the bustling metropolis of Stanley, Idaho (pop 71). The locals proudly announced the town's roads, all four of them, are now graveled. The reason for going to Stanley wasn't to check the road conditions but to work on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) around Redfish Lake. Dahlia and John helped us research some campgrounds nearby where we got to see some returning Chinook Salmon. They return upstream (900 miles) from the Pacific Ocean where they spawn and die. Some of these Salmon were four feet long.

We had heard so much about the SNRA and Redfish Lake, we were really looking forward to our time there. Unfortunately, lots of other people had heard of the area's wonder and beauty and it was packed. The only campsite we could find was in Sunny Gulch campground. It may have been a delightfully woodsy place at one time but pine beetles had their way with the Lodgepole pines in this little Forest Service campground (plus most of the Redfish Lake area). The Forest Service had to remove most of the trees (greater than 6 inches in diameter) leaving only very young, skinny, lonely looking things standing. Of course, the absence of trees gave us an magnificent vista of the Sawtooth Mountain Range and tons of sun to dispel the morning's freezing temperatures. Another thing residents of Stanley are proud of are their frosty summer nights (go figure). Another delight of this campground was the Salmon River (no fork). Tory found this especially pleasing particularly since its very rocky and she is a "rockhound" who has accepted the mission of removing rocks from every riverbed she can access. Weird dog.

But back to the SNRA and Redfish Lake - it is everything you might have heard and more. Except for the number of fellow campers, it would have been a fabulous place to stay for our week's work of research. We are probably spoiled but we find having campers within spitting distance of our campsite distracting; all the campgrounds around Redfish Lake are like that. Plus just about every type of water craft is permitted on the lake making it noisy and crowded. It reminded us of Colorado's campgrounds.

While at Stanley we drove to a little community called Sun Valley (near Ketchum) for an Arts and Crafts Show in which our neighbor, Sally Brock, had a booth displaying her paintings and delightful handmade books. It was a pretty amazing show with lots of talented people. Next to Sally's booth was David and his unbelievable gorgeous handmade canoes. Morrie, Fred's step- father, would have been very impressed.

After completing our work at Stanley we moved to another Forest Service campground in the SNRA near Ketchum, Idaho. Ketchum (including Sun Valley) is a "cute" ski town with every indication of money and lots of it. We enjoyed exploring the town. Fred was almost ready to move there. After all, the grocery store had an excellent selection of wines AND liverwurst, every tavern we visited offered a good quality draft beer, and there is an excellent ski mountain. What more could a man want?

Our next stop was another Forest Service campground next to the community of Lowman (pop15), Idaho which boasts of one tavern/restaurant/motel/gas station/convenience store and that's about all there is to the town. We were within a stone's throw of the South Fork of the Payette River and State Route 21. Our days were full of work, the nights overflowing with songs of amorous frogs, and mornings filled with screams of hunting ospreys.

Just in case you weren't counting that's 28 days without hook-ups! That's four weeks of hauling water from a hand pump to the trailer. Four weeks of quick showers or spitz baths. Four weeks of using vaults (outhouses) and producing our own electric power. See the sacrifices we make for our work and writing this journal!!! (Grin)

Okay, so the end of the month finds us in a private campground with full-hook-ups. Here we are serenaded by the sounds of passing highway traffic and the comings and goings of our fellow campers. Oh well, we continue our dedicated ways into September with plans to complete the Boise and Payette National Forests, and maybe begin work on the Humboldt National Forest in Nevada. Another "tuff" month but we are ready for it.

Suzi and Fred