Selway Crags, Day One and Two

Alright, so on Thursday I got a call from the gals (who were in Whitehall, MT) and headed towards Lowell, ID. We planned this so I could drive the four hours down to Lowell from Coeur d'Alene and meet them at approximately the same time. Unfortunately, they ended up being around 2 hours later than expected. I was just glad to see a little maroon Grand Prix with SD plates go whizzing by. I didn't know if they had an accident, went to the wrong place, or what. It was a relief to meet up with them finally. Do to the late start (it was about 1730) we decided to just camp on the Selway and get to the trailhead Friday morning.

Selway River at first camp.

Camp was good that night. We found our own little dispersed site with our own beach to boot! Shortly after, however, some folks pulled up and camped about 50 yards away...but they were pretty quiet. Except for an obnoxiously bright lantern, it was all good. We ate a short supper, watched the stars and the river in the dark (we can't have fires right now) and then turned in.

Well, I laid awake for hours and finally was drifting off when I noticed a light dancing over my tent like someone with a flashlight was messing with us. I got up pissed and sat up...figuring out that it was lightening. Hmmm, we hadn't put the flys on the tent because it was so warm, but now I wondered. I layed there for awhile thinking about waking the girls up to take care of their tent just in case we got rain when I heard a "scratch scratch scratch" on one of the food bags we left on the picnic table. That settled it! I got up and found a funny little critter on the table...it had big ears, big eyes, about the size of a rat, and a long tail. Obviously nocturnal, but I didn't know what it was at the time. I did some research last night and think it was a pack rat! This is the closest photo I could find that matched what I saw:

Pack rat (thanks Google images)

Anywho, I got rid of that thing, woke up the girls and we took care of packs and flys...good timing too, because about 15 minutes later it rained for a bit. Good call!

The rain cleared the smoke out of the air, so in the morning it was nice and sharp out. We stopped at Selway Falls and took some photos, then left Rachel's car at Race Creek Campground (the end of the road.) There, we bumped into Paul, a guy I haven't seen for about four years! It was an interesting and ironic encounter, he mentioned having been in the Crags about 10 years ago and the trail was brushed out. "Oh good," I thought, "the trails to Three Links is good to go." That thought came to haunt me later.

Selway Falls in August

We piled in the truck and took the rough rough road up to the trailhead. Chatting with some contractors up there, we found out that a group of Boyscouts were in Cove Lakes with a bunch of goats, and an independent party went (our way) up the ridge with a bunch of goats. Hardly any people back in there! Fantastic.

The trail was good for the first mile up the ridge. Good meaning good and steep! Not a good way to start a long backpacking trip, going vertical for a mile...but we made it to a good place to eat lunch and recoup a little...after some photos at the wilderness boundary of course (it's almost required.)

Wilderness Boundary (Rachel on left, Krista on right)

That point ahead is where we ate lunch.

View of Canteen creek from the lunch spot. We walked the ridge to the right and down to Big Fog lake, the next couple of days was spent on the other side of the far ridge, essentially circling Canteen creek.

That ended our elevation gain for the day, so we contoured around Big Fog Mountain, hiked the ridge, then moved to the east side of the ridge and began a steep descent to Big Fog lake.

Big Fog Lake (ie. POND) and our closest fire

Getting down to the lake, we found out that it was marshy around the edges and not very deep. Honestly, we could see moose tracks bisecting the mud on the bottom in many places. So, we decided to camp on the small saddle to the north of the lake. It was an odd little area; flat and just grass...no trees or heather or anything. Finding out in the morning, it was a frost pocket....yep, under 32 degrees in the middle of August! We made camp and then played with our cameras.

Camping in a frost pocket!

Sepia Rachel and Tom at camp

We ate dinner and then watched the sun set. Laying on a rock late into the night, we enjoyed the meteor shower (I know, what TIMING to be at least 70 miles from the nearest major light source) and the wildland fires burning in the wilderness. We traded oohs and aahs between torching trees and meteors that left a long trail. Perfect intro to the Crags. Nice, easy-going, relaxing day. We decided that night (and confirmed early in the morning) that we would hike over to South Three Links Lakes in the morning via Legend lake. The map told us it was only about three miles away...and since we wanted to see some country, that was the only reasonable option! Little did we know...