Selway Crags, Day One and Two
Well, we made it out. Here is the beginning of the story:
On Thursday, I got a call from the gals (who were in Whitehall, MT) and so set out for Lowell, Idaho to meet up with them. After four hours of driving (and a complimentary 2 hour late-wait) I saw a maroon Grand Prix with South Dakota plates go by... I instantly sped after said car with tailgate down, and met up with Rachel and Krista in Lowell. (I was up the road a bit to wait in the shade and away from a hitchhiker.)
It was pretty late by this time, so we decided to make a camp on the Selway
a little more than halfway to Race Creek campground, otherwise known as the end of the road and a mile from the road we needed. It was a perfect little dispersed site with it's own beach and swimming hole. Setting up camp, we decided that flys weren't needed on the tents. We played in the river a bit, ate a short dinner, then sat up in the dark (since we couldn't have fires) and talked and watched the bats and stars. Retiring to the tents I layed awake until about 1200 when I saw something that looked like someone flashing a headlamp over our tents. I got up pissed, ready to tell someone off (we had neighbors) and then heard the thunder. Hmmm, perhaps it's too far off to worry about rain? So I layed there and waited, trying to decide if it was worth waking the girls up and putting flys on the tent. Soon, I heard a "scratch scratch scratch" on a food bag we left on the picnic table. This convinced me to get out of bed. Getting up, I found a strange looking little rodent on the picnic table...it was the size of a rat, medium size ears, eyes the size of dimes, and a long tail. Never seen anything like it before. I scooted him off and decided we needed to do something about the packs and tents. Woke up the girls, then we put flys on the tents, stowed the packs in the tents...and sure enough, it rained a couple minutes later! Good call. I managed to lay awake until 0330, and finally was able to get 3 hours of sleep.
Doing some research, I believe the creature was a large pack rat:
After talking to some contractors about volume of people on the trails, we donned 40 lb palks and gained 991 feet of elevation in a very short period of time; ending up on top of Big Fog Mountain. Having reached the ridge, we ate lunch, took photos, and continued on. From there we did some ridge running and then dropped 400 feet into Big Fog Lake. Actually, we decided it was more of a "Big Fog pond" since it was small, shallow, and marshy. There were many moose tracks in the deep mud UNDER the water, crossing the lake here and there. So you get the idea. Finally finding a decent campsite, we set up and wandered around. Played near the lake, took photos, explored, ate dinner, hung the food bags, etc. Then it got dark and we again posted ourselves on a prominent viewpoint and enjoyed the meteor shower while watching the several fires we could see torch and flare in the distance. A VERY nice show that evening.
On Thursday, I got a call from the gals (who were in Whitehall, MT) and so set out for Lowell, Idaho to meet up with them. After four hours of driving (and a complimentary 2 hour late-wait) I saw a maroon Grand Prix with South Dakota plates go by... I instantly sped after said car with tailgate down, and met up with Rachel and Krista in Lowell. (I was up the road a bit to wait in the shade and away from a hitchhiker.)
It was pretty late by this time, so we decided to make a camp on the Selway
a little more than halfway to Race Creek campground, otherwise known as the end of the road and a mile from the road we needed. It was a perfect little dispersed site with it's own beach and swimming hole. Setting up camp, we decided that flys weren't needed on the tents. We played in the river a bit, ate a short dinner, then sat up in the dark (since we couldn't have fires) and talked and watched the bats and stars. Retiring to the tents I layed awake until about 1200 when I saw something that looked like someone flashing a headlamp over our tents. I got up pissed, ready to tell someone off (we had neighbors) and then heard the thunder. Hmmm, perhaps it's too far off to worry about rain? So I layed there and waited, trying to decide if it was worth waking the girls up and putting flys on the tent. Soon, I heard a "scratch scratch scratch" on a food bag we left on the picnic table. This convinced me to get out of bed. Getting up, I found a strange looking little rodent on the picnic table...it was the size of a rat, medium size ears, eyes the size of dimes, and a long tail. Never seen anything like it before. I scooted him off and decided we needed to do something about the packs and tents. Woke up the girls, then we put flys on the tents, stowed the packs in the tents...and sure enough, it rained a couple minutes later! Good call. I managed to lay awake until 0330, and finally was able to get 3 hours of sleep.Doing some research, I believe the creature was a large pack rat:
Getting up and getting packed was leisurely, no reason to hurry on vacation right? (More of that later.) We stopped at Selway Falls 
and took photos, then made our way to Race Creek campground to leave Rachel's car there, then pile into my truck, and make our way to the trailhead. Oddly enough, I ran into an old friend there! This guy was headed up the river trail and I waved and just stared at him because he looked familiar. He was looking at me the same way. He finally said, "Tom?" I said, "Paul?" I met Paul through my buddy Zach back in Missoula and hadn't seen the guy in about 4 years! What are the chances that we would run into each other at that exact place, that exact day, that exact time? Odd. So, we talked about the Crags and caught up a little. Interesting.
and took photos, then made our way to Race Creek campground to leave Rachel's car there, then pile into my truck, and make our way to the trailhead. Oddly enough, I ran into an old friend there! This guy was headed up the river trail and I waved and just stared at him because he looked familiar. He was looking at me the same way. He finally said, "Tom?" I said, "Paul?" I met Paul through my buddy Zach back in Missoula and hadn't seen the guy in about 4 years! What are the chances that we would run into each other at that exact place, that exact day, that exact time? Odd. So, we talked about the Crags and caught up a little. Interesting.So, we ended up at the trailhead and headed out into the wild smokey yonder. (Lotsa wilderness fires going up there in the country we were headed.) The fires were all a long way off, but some were close enough that it made you want to keep an eye on them if a strong gale pulled in.
After talking to some contractors about volume of people on the trails, we donned 40 lb palks and gained 991 feet of elevation in a very short period of time; ending up on top of Big Fog Mountain. Having reached the ridge, we ate lunch, took photos, and continued on. From there we did some ridge running and then dropped 400 feet into Big Fog Lake. Actually, we decided it was more of a "Big Fog pond" since it was small, shallow, and marshy. There were many moose tracks in the deep mud UNDER the water, crossing the lake here and there. So you get the idea. Finally finding a decent campsite, we set up and wandered around. Played near the lake, took photos, explored, ate dinner, hung the food bags, etc. Then it got dark and we again posted ourselves on a prominent viewpoint and enjoyed the meteor shower while watching the several fires we could see torch and flare in the distance. A VERY nice show that evening.
It was a good couple of days. Very relaxed and easy going. We had enough time to check our gear, repack, and organize things to the point where it was balanced well and was accessible in the proper order. Always a good thing when packing for a couple days...making a short camp to get things straightened out.
posted by geotracker12 at 5:20 PM
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