29 July 2017 Tubbs Hill

When I am in Spokane, I am very close to Idaho but rarely visit. By the time my work day ends, driving to another state is too much effort. With a weekend over in Washington, I decided to spend my Saturday at Tubbs Hill in Coeur d'Alene. The area is adjacent to Lake Coeur d'Alene and very popular for visitors. Fortunately most people don't walk very far and few ever leave the water's edge so my journey quickly became a solitary one. The lake is very scenic and a large attraction to the growing population in Coeur d'Alene.

While I was visiting the smoke was still limited to smaller fires. The big burns and warnings to not go outdoors were still to come.

I have been unable to identify this bird.

It was time to leave the water and start to climb.

I quickly encountered a very unhappy pair of breeding ospreys. Eagles are much more reserved when on nest than ospreys. This pair was relentless in expressing their unhappiness at my presence on the trail. I stopped long enough to capture a few images before moving quickly on (and checking over my back).

There was one last look at the water before my rise continued and the water dropped away.

I found the cache at the peak of Tubbs Hill. It had been a long week with another one ahead. I headed back to Spokane with a few stops at parks along the Spokane River on the way.

20 June 2014 A Final Day at Priest Lake

We were flying home tomorrow and needed to spend the night on west side of Spokane so we could make a very early flight home. That schedule gave us a little time for more exploring in the Priest Lake region before we turned back toward Washington. It was time to toast our visit to Idaho. There's no better way to do that than Huckleberry soda.

We stopped for a cache along the water at Priest Lake before taking a detour to see a section of the Berlin Wall. We had seen a larger section of the wall in front of the LA Museum of Art, but any chance to see a piece of this structure that was an imposing part of the 19th Century political landscape is worth a visit. This section still had it's markings from when the wall came down including a rear shot of someone in jeans and and a not so perfect image of what appears to be Donald Duck. It seems odd this section sits in someone's front yard. Overall our journey here was a little strange. The homes around this wall were infested with deer. They were everywhere. They were so comfortable, they had bedded down in front yards.

We stopped for a cache at a bison ranch. We've seen bison in Pennsylvania and in western Washington, but this is a larger herd. They are magnificent animals to view. The mother and calf was a new site for us. They are very skittish and soon moved away from us despite our care.

Our Priest Lake area finds ended at this point. Ali had picked out a couple caches in what appeared to be a good location, but we were met with heavy logging equipment as we got near the first cache. We tried in vain to make an approach from a different direction. We went for one more cache in the higher altitudes, but reached a point where the road pitched across the width of the vehicle and the path over the side was straight down. The roads were wet in an area where I would have been concerned with one of our trusted geomobiles. I finally gave up and backed the geo-rental down a good portion of the mountain.

That's some serious logging equipment ahead blocking the road.

We made a last visit to a cache with a nice view of Brodie Mountain. It gave us an opportunity to once again view a number of wildflowers including twinned mariposa tulips. After that we made our way back to Spokane, dinner, and the hotel with a few short cache stops on the way. It was tough to leave the area and end our vacation just as the beautiful northwest weather I was accustomed to was returning, but there were so many great sights this week. Maybe there can be a return for more exploring and a visit to Granite Falls. Certainly the geocaching is worthy of a second visit.

19 June 2014 Camel's Prairie

When returned to our hotel the evening prior, Ali went back to work reviewing the maps to look for another path into Camel's Prairie. It appeared there was a snow mobile trail which led to the correct path. Armed with that information, we stopped for a visit at the forest office for confirmation. After the visit, we knew the plan was good.

The road wasn't always ready for travel.

The weather was finally cooperating. The views got better as we rose in elevation. We also started to see more wildflowers.

Unlike yesterday's battle through an ever-collapsing path, today's ascent was easy and let us enjoy things like the remaining snow piles.

Camel's Prairie was awesome! Seeing early spring wildflowers in late June and looking across at snow-capped peaks was a highlight of the trip. We didn't see any elk, but saw plenty of signs they were active in the area.

We finally made it! Yes, Ali is holding the cache. ;-)

It was time to leave the prairie and make our way down.

Our next stop was supposed to be Roosevelt Grove Cedars and a visit to Granite Falls. The cache in the area was still active, but the forest service sign said no foot traffic so we sadly moved on. Hopefully, we can return and visit this area on a day this beautiful in the future.

With no stop at the Granite Falls area, Ali improvised and sent us to Huff Lake, a quaking bog. With a new flower, a boardwalk, ducks, and a beaver, it was a hit.

Bog laurel

Across the fen

We eventually came upon one of the stranger sights we've seen in a national forest. A shoe tree was located not far from the parking area. It was the largest shoe tree we've seen with an odd collection of footware. The trilliums nearby were an unexpected sight.

I'm not so sure the ones below were ever a daily wear.

Moun10Bike's stencil on the side of the ammo can near the shoe tree.

We were crossing Granite Creek when we spotted a large grouse happily plucking the fresh, spring growth off the trees.

Our last hike of the day took us to an overlook of Priest Lake. The journey there also gave us three more orchid sightings.

Solomon's Seal

Coralroot Orchid

Tway Blade