Lack of photos!
No, I haven't been idle the past two weekends!
The weekend after the fourth of July, Butch and I headed up to Bonners Ferry (well, northeast of there) into the woods. Into the country that will hold my ultimate prize this year, the ever present, yet ever elusive moose. Known to walk wherever it damn well pleases, at any time, for any given reason. I do not understand moose, but I like seeing them...and they taste pretty darn good too. Perhaps one will find me this fall, in the two weeks I have, and we'll develop an understanding. Otherwise, it'll be a well-deserved two weeks off of work. Yep, I've devoted an entire two weeks off in pursuit of this creature. I have to give it that respect. (Also, my tag is only good for one area and only for those two weeks. Coincidence?)
Well, we made it up there with all of our supplies. Butch now has a famous quote: "We have beer, hot dogs, and mustard. We're set!" Enjoying the way he thinks, we drove around for hours. Five to be exact. Figuring out roads, the lay of the land, camping spots, etc. We found a lot of lousy camps, some good "moosey" looking areas (the best is where he shot a bull before), good camps, etc. Noted were the camps with water, easy access, views, proximity to firewood, ample room, etc. Also noted were dead-ends, roads not on our 1974 map, border patrol agents, and again...an abundance of firewood.
We both love lodgepole as firewood despite the downplay it gets. It's easy to come by, it splits like a dream, and it burns well. Like my Dad says, "...burns better than a snowball." Consequently, we cut up some downfall lodgepole near the road and had firewood for "camp." (Jeez, could I USE more quotes?) I say camp because we just planned on sleeping under the stars. But it was great...we found a neat little dead end road next to Davis creek which had a nice dispersed site on the end of it. Private, close to major roads, good parking room for trailers and whatnot...and plenty of water. Looks like we're going to be gunning for that spot come October. We do have other options though, so that's good.
We ate our hotdogs, drank beer, and just relaxed around our roaring fire (we came home with spare firewood) before turning in under the night sky. It was just perfect.
No photos though...Butch has some, somewhere, I think.
Last weekend was an escape to Priest Lake. Sarah and I stayed at Zimmer's "cabin" (a four-bedroom house) and putted around on my little boat all weekend. It IS nice to have a motor sometimes, because we went to a small island and beached this flat-bottom outfit easily...swam, retrieved WITH the dog, and generally just played. Fishing seemed like too much work even if it was trolling; and the best part of it was probably when we motored out into the lake, cut the engine, and just bobbed along. Reading and laying in the sun. So very simple!
Dinner consisted of a brick-oven buffalo-wing pizza at Millies; breakfast was a great affair of sausage, hashbrowns and eggs. The only tough part was the empty boat trailer. I have a hell of a time backing that thing up. The best reason I have is because I can't see the darn thing! I have to jack it over until I can see it in the side-view mirror, then go from there. But backing up a single axle trailer in a side mirror is tricky. SO, I feel like an idiot and get all self-conscience, but eventually I get the thing in the water. Luckily, the boat is so light, I can usually just yard it up despite where the trailer is. I AM a perfectionist though, so I'll keep working on it.
It was entirely a relaxing weekend. Providing me with the first bed I've slept on over a weekend for the past month!
Lucca chillin
Happy Tom
Priest Lake
Priest Lake looking north
Easy to park a flat-bottom boat!
The next time we go up though, we're going to hit the upper lake. It's supposed to be spectacular.
Not sure what these coming weekends hold in store. I could use one at the house here, cleaning if nothing else. But hey, the cat doesn't care if I don't think it's "picked up" so we'll see.
The weekend after the fourth of July, Butch and I headed up to Bonners Ferry (well, northeast of there) into the woods. Into the country that will hold my ultimate prize this year, the ever present, yet ever elusive moose. Known to walk wherever it damn well pleases, at any time, for any given reason. I do not understand moose, but I like seeing them...and they taste pretty darn good too. Perhaps one will find me this fall, in the two weeks I have, and we'll develop an understanding. Otherwise, it'll be a well-deserved two weeks off of work. Yep, I've devoted an entire two weeks off in pursuit of this creature. I have to give it that respect. (Also, my tag is only good for one area and only for those two weeks. Coincidence?)
Well, we made it up there with all of our supplies. Butch now has a famous quote: "We have beer, hot dogs, and mustard. We're set!" Enjoying the way he thinks, we drove around for hours. Five to be exact. Figuring out roads, the lay of the land, camping spots, etc. We found a lot of lousy camps, some good "moosey" looking areas (the best is where he shot a bull before), good camps, etc. Noted were the camps with water, easy access, views, proximity to firewood, ample room, etc. Also noted were dead-ends, roads not on our 1974 map, border patrol agents, and again...an abundance of firewood.
We both love lodgepole as firewood despite the downplay it gets. It's easy to come by, it splits like a dream, and it burns well. Like my Dad says, "...burns better than a snowball." Consequently, we cut up some downfall lodgepole near the road and had firewood for "camp." (Jeez, could I USE more quotes?) I say camp because we just planned on sleeping under the stars. But it was great...we found a neat little dead end road next to Davis creek which had a nice dispersed site on the end of it. Private, close to major roads, good parking room for trailers and whatnot...and plenty of water. Looks like we're going to be gunning for that spot come October. We do have other options though, so that's good.
We ate our hotdogs, drank beer, and just relaxed around our roaring fire (we came home with spare firewood) before turning in under the night sky. It was just perfect.
No photos though...Butch has some, somewhere, I think.
Last weekend was an escape to Priest Lake. Sarah and I stayed at Zimmer's "cabin" (a four-bedroom house) and putted around on my little boat all weekend. It IS nice to have a motor sometimes, because we went to a small island and beached this flat-bottom outfit easily...swam, retrieved WITH the dog, and generally just played. Fishing seemed like too much work even if it was trolling; and the best part of it was probably when we motored out into the lake, cut the engine, and just bobbed along. Reading and laying in the sun. So very simple!
Dinner consisted of a brick-oven buffalo-wing pizza at Millies; breakfast was a great affair of sausage, hashbrowns and eggs. The only tough part was the empty boat trailer. I have a hell of a time backing that thing up. The best reason I have is because I can't see the darn thing! I have to jack it over until I can see it in the side-view mirror, then go from there. But backing up a single axle trailer in a side mirror is tricky. SO, I feel like an idiot and get all self-conscience, but eventually I get the thing in the water. Luckily, the boat is so light, I can usually just yard it up despite where the trailer is. I AM a perfectionist though, so I'll keep working on it.
It was entirely a relaxing weekend. Providing me with the first bed I've slept on over a weekend for the past month!
Lucca chillin
Happy Tom
Priest Lake
Priest Lake looking north
Easy to park a flat-bottom boat!
The next time we go up though, we're going to hit the upper lake. It's supposed to be spectacular.
Not sure what these coming weekends hold in store. I could use one at the house here, cleaning if nothing else. But hey, the cat doesn't care if I don't think it's "picked up" so we'll see.
posted by geotracker12 at 5:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home