Category Archives: Idaho

Riverside Campground – East of Idaho Falls, MT

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11

Stopped in Idaho Falls

Traveling from the Leadore BLM I made a stop at the Walmart in Idaho Falls, ID to pick up some supplies.  Then it was a pretty drive along the Snake River out to the Riverside Campground just down stream from the dam.  I was thinking of going to the Calamity campground and the instructions were to turn right at the dam and drive over the dam and then up to the campground.

Well that was not going to happen.  Ever since 9/11 the government has closed off all the dams and traffic is not allowed on them.  I did see a sign for the Riverside Campground back about a mile and so I turned around and headed back.

When I was approaching the entrance I was greeted by the camphost driving a golf cart.  I asked him about the Calamity Campground but he stated it was about 5 miles up a washboard gravel road so this campground seemed like a good spot.  Plus it was right on the Snake River.  He lead me to a nice spot and I got settled in.

About an hour later this guy pulls up and told me I have his spot.  I had already paid for the spot and put my receipt on the post.  By the way there was no other receipt on the post at that time.  I mentioned that the camphost had directed me to the spot as well.  He left but soon returned with the camphost.  The camphost explained that the weekend camphost had assured him that spot.  He had camped in it for several days prior to me taking it over.  I pointed out that there was no receipt on the post and that it was his responsibility to post it.

To make a long story short, the camphost offered to let me stay in a double spot on the river side of the road with a path to the river at the same rate.  I would have stuck it out and told the guy to take a hike except that he mentioned that his wife had difficulty being in the sun.  The spot he wanted was partly shaded.  Anyway I gathered up all my stuff and moved to the nicer spot.  What a way to start the day.  YUK!

I signed up for 6 days here as I have to return to Idaho Falls Walmart to pick up a prescription.  When I came through there it was too soon to get my prescription.  What a bummer.  Here is my campsite.

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Right on the Snake River.

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Right below the dam

The campsite is located right below the dam and Chica and I had many nice walks all around it  Her is a pic of the dam.

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All the water is released on the right side of the dam.  Here you can see some fisherman out trying their luck at catching something.

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I also got a pic of this seagull taking a break on the roof of this small building.

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Headed up to Calamity Campground to check it out

I decided one day to drive up to Calamity Campground to see what I missed.  It was about 5 miles on a washboard gravel road and mostly up hill until a mile from the campground where it goes down hill.  It is a really nice campground and one that I would prefer except for the road going there.  I could have made it OK with the rig, but everything would have really got bounced around.

There are three loops and one is expressly for tent campers only.  Down below there is a large boat ramp that has access to the reservoir.  This was taken from Loop A.

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Scenery was beautiful

It was really beautiful up here although very dense.

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An Aspen grove.

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Lots of curves and dust.

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I am heading out tomorrow to drive back to Idaho Falls where I can pick up my prescription and other supplies.  I also want to take Chica to the Petsmart there to have her nails clipped and teeth cleaned.  Then it is off to Gros Ventre just outside of Jackson, WY to meet up with many LD’ers who are there through Labor Day.  It should really be fun.

Sula, MT to Leadore, ID

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Out of the forest

I decided it was time to descend out of the forest and head on down the road.  I have been in the Warm Springs Campground for 4 days and figured that was enough.  Besides I had to find a dump site and get some groceries.

I checked the atlas and noted that the Sula Country Store and RV Park was only 5 miles away so I headed out of the Bitterroot Forest for the last time and drove over to the country store.  It was a quaint little spot just off of highway 93 and a full hook-up site was $25.

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  I pulled in and found a pull through site so I wouldn’t even have to unhook the “Sami”.

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It was nice and cool here and didn’t even have to run the A/C.  The store was very small and everything was rather expensive so planned on hitting a Walmart soon.

This place is right on the Bitterroot River and you could walk right down to it.

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Treated myself to a great breakfast

This little country store had a restaurant as well that was open for breakfast and lunch.  Since I didn’t have any breakfast fixin’s left in my rig I decided to have someone else cook breakfast for me.  Two eggs over easy, sourdough toast, bacon and coffee.  YUUUUM!

Oops – took the the wrong turn

When I left the next day I filled up with gas and turned left on the 93.  My goal was to turn east on the 43 over to Wisdom, MT and then up to Butte, MT.  I wasn’t paying much attention and continued down the 93 for a ways then realized I should have turned right coming out from the gas station.  By this time I had climbed up a rather steep pass and almost down the other side.  I didn’t want to have to turn around and go up that pass again so checked the atlas to see what was available in Idaho.

I passed a recreation site but it was right off the highway.  Then I came to Leadore, ID where there was a ranger station.  The nice lady inside told me of a couple of spots.  One was a forest service campground about 10 miles up into the mountains and the other was a BLM site about 4 miles out of town.  Since I was only going to stay one night I opted for the BLM campground.  It was a nice little campground and again had a stream running about 20′ from my rig.

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It was also at the base of the the Beaverhead Mountains, which run along the Continental Divide.

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Found an old miner’s cabin

There was a old mine around there somewhere and I happened to spot this old miner’s cabin while on a hike.

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It was very dilapidated.  I walked around the cabin to see if I could find any relics, but all I saw were a bunch of ammo shells.  Someone else must have cleaned it out.

Run Chica Run

I am very careful to always have Chica on her leash, especially in campgrounds and around other dogs.  I am also aware of birds of prey such as hawks or eagles.  There was another couple camping but they were at the far end of the campground.  I also didn’t see any hawks or other animals in the area.  So I let her off her leash for a short time.  We walked around and with a bit of coaxing she walked out on the bridge to see the creek.

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Then I let her run.  Chica loves to run and she will run circles around me.

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Then when she is finished running she heads straight for the rig.

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It was really a fun time.  Tomorrow I will head to the Walmart in Idaho Falls, ID to pick up some supplies and then who knows where I will be.

Start of the Canada Trip

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8

Good bye Baker City, OR hello Winchester, ID

We started our trip into Canada at Baker City, OR.    We went through Hell’s Canyon on the Salmon River.  What a site! Sorry but I don’t have any pics as my co-pilot (Chica) was too busy sleeping.  It is a place I would love to return to some day.

One of two stops before crossing the border was Winchester Lake State Park.  It is a beautiful spot and would be a great spot in the summer months where you could enjoy the lake.  Day 1 – 268 total miles.

I got confused and went down a frontage road used by the park crew.  There was no place to turn both my rig and the toad so it was the first spot I had to disconnect in order to turn my rig around.  Fortunately I have got the process of connecting and disconnecting down so it didn’t take me long at all.

This is a pic of my campsite and a another of several LD’s in their sites.

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Chica was cold

It was cold out so Chica wore her stylish leather coat.  It helps to keep her warm and she does not object too much when I put it on her.

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We took a walk down to the lake and Chica even went out on the dock.  However she does not want to go near the water.  I can’t really blame her as it was very cold.

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Second Day – Farragut State Park, ID

Our second day we drove to Farragut State Park just south of Sandpointe, ID.  This was a huge state park with lots of loops and campsites.  Most of us were able to park in the same loop. Day 2 – 179 total miles.

Once I knew I was going on this trip I made reservations for the Idaho State Parks since we were going to be arriving there on Memorial Day weekend.  It is a good thing as both parks were filling up.  At Farragut State Park there were a lot of families pulling in with all the kids bikes and toys.  Canada celebrates their Memorial Day at a different time so we did not have a problem with reservations at any of the Canadian parks.

I only got one pic of my campsite at Farragut.

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Crossing into Canada

On Saturday we crossed into Canada.  During our meeting at Baker City we had all discussed what we could and couldn’t bring across the border.  I was a bit worried that I had too much wine since John, Linda and I had bought wine at all the wineries on the way to the rally.  We were going to split up our wine with some others who were not carrying any, but decided at the last minute that we would just chance it.

The line at the border was very short.  I was right behind John and Linda.  I was asked if I had any liquor and I did tell her I had 4 bottles of wine.  She did not even ask me about Chica (who was sound asleep on my lap), but I had her papers to show just in case.  The crossing was very easy and took less the five minutes.  The customs people were very friendly.

Just after crossing the border we decided to stop and take a break and let the dogs out.  We were now in British Columbia.

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I bought Chica a new coat at the Petco in Lewiston, ID.  She really doesn’t like it since you have to put her legs through it, but I’m sure she will get used to it eventually.

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Crowsnest Pass RV Park

After crossing we drove to Crowsnest Pass outside of Bellevue, Alberta.  Most of the time we were in British Columbia until we hit the Alberta border.  The Rocky Mountains up here are spectacular and there is no way to describe it.  I will get many photos of it before we leave so our first priority was getting to our campsite as it was a very long day.  Day 3 – 255 total miles.

The GPS had us driving through the center of Coleman which is right next to Bellevue.  We finally found it and got settled in.

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Happy Birthday Nikki!!

It just happened to be Nikki’s birthday so we celebrated with a cake and ice cream.  It was the first time we all got together as a group on the road and it was a lot of fun.

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That is Nikki in the middle cutting the cake.

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We will be here at the Crowsnest Pass RV Park for two nights so we plan on seeing some of the sites and museums in the area.  This area is know for coal mining and includes some natural as well as man-made disasters.  It should be a fun day.

Winery tour from Colorado through Idaho

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10

Wineries and Farms

When we were at the RV Show in Quartzsite Linda, John and I had met with Don and Kim of Harvest Hosts and told them we were making a trip to Canada.  They had suggested we stop at some wineries along the way and had mentioned several that we might enjoy.  Linda did the planning including contacting them along the way to make sure they knew we were coming.

Our first stop was at St. Kathryn’s Winery in Palisade, CO which I mentioned in the last post.  Now we were headed into Utah where we spent the night at a farm in a little farm community south of Salt Lake City called Santaquin, UT.  On the way we saw some fabulous Utah scenery.

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We stayed at South Ridge Farms.  They had a fabulous store that included all kinds of preserves, great apples and cherries, apple cider and even ice cream sodas.  After we ate dinner in our rigs we went in and had an Ice cream soda.  Yum!

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Stopped at the Elks Club

The next day we had to drive through the Salt Lake City area.  Lots and lots of cars.  But we made it through all the traffic without a snag.

We stopped at the Elks Club in Roy, UT. We did some shopping at the Walmart in the area.  Sorry but I forgot to take any pics of our spots. That ended our trip through Utah.

Off to Idaho

Our first stop in Idaho was Snyder’s Winery located in Buhl, ID.  They weren’t open for wine tasting, but they did let us spend the night there.  Again I forgot my camera, so no pics.

Then it was a short 57 miles to our next winery and overnight stop.  This one was in Hammett, ID at the Cold Springs Winery.

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Our favorite winery

Bill was the owner of Cold Springs Winery and he introduced himself and showed us where we could park.  After we got all set up we went over to the tasting room, which he had opened up just for us.  Bill was a very friendly guy and told us all about the history of the winery as well as the local area.

We really had a great time there.  There was a big lawn where the dogs could check out all the wonderful grass smells and romp off leash and they loved it.  Here is Sadie enjoying all the smells.

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Here are a couple of pics of Chica racing around on the lawn.

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We also enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

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Another whopping 83 miles to the next winery

We only had a short distance to travel to the Woodriver Winery in Eagle, ID.  We had to travel through Boise, ID and the traffic was horrible.  We couldn’t believe it even though it was Saturday.  It was very nice here but a bit more commercial then some of the smaller wineries we have enjoyed.

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Heading for Baker City, OR

Today we are heading for Baker City, OR to meet up with the Northwest Lazy Daze GTG.  This is where we will also meet all the folks going to Canada.  I am really looking forward to this rally and see friends I haven’t seen in quite a while.  Fortunately we don’t have to travel very far.

Our travels to the wineries

I really enjoyed all my travels to the many different wineries and farms while heading to Baker City.  We did a lot of wine tasting and met a lot of really nice people.  It also helped to restock my wine supply with some very good wines.  We were really treated well by each winery/farm and I would highly recommend this to others in making their travel plans.

I would also like to thank Linda for making all the plans and calling ahead to verify that we were coming.  It was well planned and we had a great time.  Now for the rally and then into Canada.