Clearwater Blackberry Trip

First of all, how in the world is it already the last week in August?  I thought summer just started...and here we are tying it up.  On the other hand, taking trips to the Clearwater and picking blackberries is one of my favorite things to do this time of year. 

The only trouble with that is the four hours of driving it takes!  But I have recently discovered the Cavendish route, and that cuts out the part of the drive I really don't enjoy (going through Moscow and Lewiston.)  Not to mention there is a LOT less traffic and nice scenery along the way.  By the time you pop out in Orofino you've only got about an hour of driving ahead of you (as long as you can get the Two Shadows Camp.)

We took off Saturday morning and got into thick smoke as soon as we broke into the Clearwater valley.  I did a little research the other day and found they've got some rather large fires up the Selway...and a 10,000 acre one near Big Fog saddle!  Good thing we didn't plan a Crags trip this year.  With a quick stop at the grocery store in Kamiah we fortunately got our Two Shadows camp and set up in a hurry.  After that, it was a trip down to a secluded picking spot...but the only reason it's secluded is because the climb down the bank is STEEP and covered in slippery Ponderosa needles.  (Sarah had the right idea and just slid down on her butt.)  But within about an hour and a half / two hours we had a couple gallons of big blackberries between the two of us.  Of course I had to run up the hill a couple times to investigate slamming car doors.  Ever since I had stuff taken out of the bed of my truck I've been extremely paranoid; I'm thinking about getting one of those cargo nets to make it at least a pain in the butt for anyone who's thinking about lifting something.  This spot used to be great before they did the road work down there...there was just enough room for ONE vehicle to pull out.  Now you can get a couple stacked in there.  Annnnnddd people only seem to stop where there are other rigs, something weird about that.

These people made me a little nervous, so I discretely took a photo of their license plate.  Like I said, I'm paranoid.

However, the two groups of people who stopped were out to get some blackberries and were obviously "amateurs."  I really need to try selling berries one of these days.  Just hang out in my truck and when people pull up just casually ask if they'd want to buy a quart for ten bucks or so.  "Spare the stains on your clothes and thorns in your fingers!  I'll do the dirty work for you!  Buy your berries here!"  Boy, and if I can pick a gallon in less than half an hour, that could be really productive.

A lot of grass in this spot

Picking away

There were a lot of over-ripe berries which made a mess of our hands!

 

It really is a good spot

Well after almost filling ALL our containers, we decided it was time to do something else....hang out in camp basically.  Sarah hit the mark after I finished unloading and splitting some wood, cutting kindling, and getting my bedding set up.  She said something like, "Do you feel better now that you have all your ducks in a row?"  Yes dear, yes I do.  It's something strange about me, I must have all my "chores" done before I can relax and that applies to camping as well.

Sarah got some reading in while I decided to investigate a fishing / swimming hole downriver from camp.  I picked up a bit of trash on my way and made a good find, a 35 MPH highway sign still on its post!  Now the only place up there that has anything close to a sign like that is up the Selway...the water must have been UP this year.

Letting floaters know to not speed

I wonder how many people will wonder about this...

Anywho, I made my way back to camp to get a fishing rod and try the hole out.  But on the way back I re-discovered something I did the last time I was in this camp.

I put some birch bark into a place it could dry out for later fire-starting

Well, I went down and flailed around for a while...which returned nothing.  I had tiny fish splashing my fly, but nothing of any interest.  So....photo time!

Looking back toward camp




Downriver to the fishing hole




A little closer



I love the lighting down there.  Ooh,and you can see my speed limit sign!

By this time I was done with the constant moving around, so I headed back to camp to get some coals going for dinner.  I think it was the easiest fire I've started using a flint...after a couple strikes, I had a blaze going.  It sure is dry...which would explain the huge fires.  (One of which has a sky crane working...that big bastard flew over us a couple times.  Impressive!)

Just an example of the ship

 The rest of the night was pretty uneventful but blissfully relaxing.  I lost about an hour of sleep when I woke up at 0330 hearing car doors shutting.  Again, paranoid.  But as I'm laying there, I started hearing a woman singing!  It was coming from upriver near a sandy beach.  First I figured it was someone stopped and blasting some music, but it just kept on.  Then I thought maybe it was just the river noise sounding like a perfect melody.  But then, I fell back asleep thinking it was probably just a long lost lady singing along the banks of her favorite river.  Remember when I heard the powwow down in Desolation canyon?

When sleeping across from the McPherson ranch I awoke after about 2 hours of sleep and heard a powwow in full swing! I laid there for awhile and listened to it, then finally sat up and STILL heard it! Thinking I was going crazy, I just accepted that the tribe was probably across the river celebrating.
I woke up in the morning and asked Zach and Paul if they heard anything during the night. They both said, “no.” My hair stood up on end, but for some reason I wasn’t scared. (Like I probably should have been.)
I’m convinced I heard the Fremont Indians in full revelry, at least 200 years since they last roamed that land.

I think it's neat.  But when telling Sarah, she said, "Would it bother you if it was IN camp?"  THAT made my hairs stand up.  Yes dear, yes it would. 

Well, when I finally got up to settle the dog down (she was staring at me wanting breakfast) I decided to take her on a walk up to the sandy beach to do some metal detecting.  It was pretty poor...I only found two pennies and trash.  On the way back there was a patch of sand that lit the detector up, and doing a little research yesterday I decided it must have been magnetite since the sand had black flecks in it.  (No no, not gold...trust me I looked...and my detector was telling me iron.)

We packed up camp and went to a popular picking spot (easy access) to finish filling up our remaining bins.  It was picked over so it took us a while, but we managed to get as much as we can possibly use.  Poor Lu-dog doesn't understand our excursions into the woods to stare at bushes.  She was getting pretty bored of it by that time.  Oh, and she wanted desperately to play when we came down to her...but we had to shut her down...that's how she tore her ACL last year!  Running around helter-skelter on a sandy beach is a no-no anymore.

Another four-hour drive home and we couldn't ditch the smoke...the wind must have been just right.  It was a nice trip and like always, I didn't want to leave.

Did I mention it was pretty smoky Sunday morning?

Monsters in the Woods

I got a report the other day about monsters roaming the woods up near Wallace.  The description of these monsters prompted an outing similar to that stupid show on the Discovery Channel called "MonsterQuest."  So Sarah, Lucca and I piled in the truck and made our way to Wallace then into the deep dark woods...just on the other side of the hill from the freeway...you know...by the huge BPA powerline.  Wilderness I tells ya.

I've heard about things like this happening, but thought, "Oh, they're just making that up."  However, we located the suspect in question very quickly and soon discovered whole herds of them!  Right off the road believe it or not! 

This is the most incredible year I've seen as far as huckleberries are concerned.  I always thought it was a myth...huckleberries the size of marbles covering bushes and whole patches of them.  One cannot go back to picking "normal" huckleberries after that though, so we are promptly switching gears to blackberries. 

Now, when you look at these photos...especially the one with the dime and penny in it...I encourage you to find a dime or a penny and look at it in your hand.  Seriously, it makes a difference in perception.

First try at a comparison...but grape tomatoes are variable...



Big huckleberry next to "normal" ones

 

Same as above, the berries in the middle are "normal" the berries on the bottom WERE considered big.



This gets redundant...

 

Hey look, a closeup of a dime!



Oh that could just be ONE big one...

  

Not so much...say...a gallon and a half?

 

I understand it's blurry...but WHOA!

Camping, Fishing, Boating Oh My!

Well, I'm falling behind, so this will be relatively brief.

Two weekends ago, Sarah and I took off for the Northfork of the Clearwater for some flyfishing and camping!  We were going to try the upper river above Black Canyon since we only had one night, but there were no camping spots!  Long story short, we ended up driving five hours instead of the planned three just to find a campsite.  Luckily, people don't like walking their stuff even 30 yards...so we found a dispersed site at Cub Creek that we made work.

But, since the late hour...we set up camp and did a little fishing.  Pretty quick it was time for dinner and bed.  The next day we had breakfast and fished until 1300, then made the five hour drive home.  Lotsa driving for one night, but it was nice to at least get out.

Sarah headed to the next hole

The road was a little dusty

We've got a lab that will point fish!

I could live down there...oh wait, I USED to!

Lucca would seriously watch your fly

She liked to see them bite!

The view of our backyard

Concerned pup

View downriver

Fish on

Sarah's catch

Lucca liked checking them out

An incredibly healthy and delicious breakfast



Posed much?  Kinda to show the folks we LOVE that press!



Nice little camp

Pretty tight for the big tent though...

 

We were camped RIGHT under an osprey nest.  The kids were noisy when Mom came home



Boy, that's a LONG walk!!



Our little fungi arrangment beside the firepit

This weekend was "Art on the Green" which translates into:  "Shut down downtown for three days, get a bunch of vendors, attract people from around the area, and pack into a confined space."

THAT translates into:  "Tommy will either be on the water or in the woods for three days."

I spent my time between fishing LATE...coming off the lake around 2130....and fishing EARLY...starting at 0630.  On Friday I began in the woods picking huckleberries, then came back and loaded up the canoe and went fishing....as well as to drop my crawdad trap.  Saturday morning, I did that in reverse...started by fishing uber-early and then dropping off the canoe and going into the woods for huckleberries.  Sunday was a lazy morning followed by a swim with Sarah and Lucca until it got crowded, then back into the woods for berries. 

Boy, I got into a patch of them yesterday that were as big as blueberries!  I filled my bucket and then had to put blinders on to leave the area at a decent time (they were everywhere!)  On the way out I had to step over two trees.  So, like a true idiot...I jumped on the first, jumped on the second, then planned my hop down to terra firma.  As I was moving forward and downhill, my pants grabbed onto a stick which threw off my balance sending me reeling toward the ground at an increased velocity.  But when one has a gallon of HUGE huckleberries, rationale thoughts go out the window; the main concern is saving the berries of course.  So, I planted my right foot and pivoted, holding the bucket in my left hand out in front of me, and collecting the full impact of the fall on my right side ribs and stomach.  And I only spilled about 30 berries that I tried desperately to pick up.  I guess that one's for you, berryboy.



Friday night paddle, looking back the way I had come (just around the corner a ways)



Centennial bridge in the sunset



And...the sunset



And I finally caught some crawdads!  These things are huge in that lake!  Now that I FINALLY figured it out, I just need some more traps.