7/2 - 7/15 Lava Lands to Mountain Meadows

Sawtooth Photo Gallery

7/6 - The evening is delightful here in Sawtooth Valley, along side the rushing Salmon River. Yesterday Boise was sweltering with no relief until long after the sun went down. After 4 days in the city, we were ready to head for the hills. At about 6300 feet, we have escaped the heat wave.

The drive here was in marked contrast to the first leg from the Deschutes. Saturday we headed north on US97 through the lava lands south of Bend, then across the high desert plateau on US20. This is a sage brush desert for much of the way, broken only by occasional lava escarpments & buttes. Thanks to the late spring, there was still a lot of color along the roadside: various yellow & purple wildflowers along with tawny grasses rippling in the wind. Farther on the route enters the Malheur River canyon, quite rugged, but starkly scenic. I've driven this way many times & always follow the course of the Malheur as we go along; its grassy banks & turbid green water contrast with the basalt canyon walls & rock formations. There is a wayside next to the river with a large willow tree in the center. From it hang hundreds of pairs of shoes. I'm sure there is some kind of story here: a shoe tree in the middle of nowhere demands some kind of explanation.

We took SR 55 out of Boise, soon following the Payette River north toward Cascade & McCall, then taking the Banks-Lowman road east up through the whitewater canyon of the Payette's south fork. We had to stop & give eBoy a rest on a steep grade that goes over & around a deep & narrow section of the canyon not far from Lowman. But that was our only minor difficulty as eBoy took the long & mostly straight grade up to Banner Pass in stride. Then it was an easy cruise down into the Stanley basin, past floral meadows & stunning views of the Sawtooths. I'll be making a photo tour of the basin tomorrow.

The folks at the Stanley visitor center were very helpful & provided us with maps showing both free & fee campgrounds. We're parked at an undeveloped campground along the Salmon just below Redfish Lake. Did you know that Redfish Lake is named for the sockeye salmon that return here to spawn every year from their nearly 1000 mile run up the Columbia, Snake & Salmon rivers. Because of the challenges they encounter as young, called smolts, returning to the sea via 8 large dams on the Columbia their numbers have severely declined & they are now endangered.

7/7 - Today we got out & explored some of Sawtooth Valley stretching maybe 25 miles to the south toward Galena Summit. There are spectacular views of the main Sawtooth range all along the west side of the valley, with many small creeks meandering through the meadows & range lands. From Galena Overlook the panoramic view of the range & valley is breathtaking. I took a lot of pictures, too many for this page, but we'll have a gallery up soon.

The Salmon originates on the flanks of Bromaghin Peak just below Galena Overlook & where it first crosses the highway, it is small enough to jump across. The mighty River of No Return begins here as just one creek among many. But it grows all along the valley as one tributary after another contributes its waters. By the time it reaches our camp, it is maybe 40' wide & its knee deep waters can be waded across with ease. I've fished maybe 500 yards upstream & down from here now, without success. Although I did have a lot of interest tonight after I switched to my favorite fly, I think they were all quite small fish & though many of them splashed at the fly, none took it.

The forest here is largely lodgepole pine, with some Douglas fir & occasional ponderosa pines. The lodgepoles are badly infested with pine bark beetle & there are many dead & dying trees. Apparently this is a natural cycle here & we just happen to be at a cyclical peak. In between the trees are grasses or in the more exposed areas sage brush. There is an abundance of wildflowers of many varieties, some old friends like globe mallow & lupine, others that I will have to try to identify.

7/8 - Today's excursion was north to Stanley Lake & beyond. I wanted to capture some images that we saw on the way in Wednesday, check out the lake & also look for potential camp sites for next week. Cell service here is spotty, but nearer to & north of Stanley it seems to be reliable.

Again I got more great images than I can fit on this page; but I'll include a few here. Stanley Lake nestled beneath McGown Peak was stunning & there were many other wonderful views all along that stretch of highway. Free dispersed camping sites abound. We'll probably move Sunday to the Stanley Lake area. We also reconnoitered the Redfish Lake area, but I like the morning light better for photos, so we'll go back tomorrow. Redfish is just as spectacular as Stanley.

The weather may be cooling a bit after several warm days. Warm here is low to mid-80's, which is really OK. Nights get down into the 40s, but we stay snug in Gypsy. Timmy has a new friend. Diane, a young woman who lives in a tent, is camped across the road from us. Timmy goes out to greet her whenever she returns from her excursions. Diane does field work for the USGS, which entails camping out. And when she is between jobs, she returns to the Stanley area & camps here, at least when the weather allows. The cool weather coming in may make Diane wish she had Timmy to snuggle with at night.

No sooner had I finished the last paragraph than Diane came knocking, asking to look at the online weather, saying she'd heard thunder. Sure enough, the radar images showed a band of rain headed in our general direction, though it looked like it might pass us to the south. As we looked to the south, there were ominous gray clouds, though it was still generally clear to the north. I was hoping to catch some sunset images & took a quick trip back to Redfish Lake. Just as we arrived, it started to blow hard with splattering rain. We beat a hasty retreat to camp, briefly admiring a spectacular but short lived double rainbow that we couldn't get a shot of. At camp branches were flying, trees falling & my awning flapping. I left Timmy in eBoy while I took down the awning. Then within minutes it was over. I'm sure glad we were just on the edge of that one.

I've created a gallery page for this area; I'll be adding to it for a while.

7/11 - The weather finally caught up with us. Friday night's little squall was just a teaser. Saturday evening was the real thing. I had just got my camp fire going, planning to grill over the coals the 2 trout I'd caught during the day. But the fire was soon dowsed by a fairly steady downpour that lasted intermittently into Sunday morning. A lot of tent campers spent a miserable night & many folks headed for home early next morning. A break at sunset provided a brief opportunity to catch a glowing Sawtooth sky.

Sunday we relocated north to Stanley Basin in a large grass & sage brush meadow alongside Stanley Lake Creek. The idea was to improve cell phone reception for the work week ahead. The meadow has an abundance of wild flowers & a thriving population of pikas, small, short-tailed ground squirrels. They like to act as sentries, standing on rocks & letting out a high pitched peep whenever threatened by the likes of Timmy. When not poking his head in a pika burrow, Timmy loves bounding through the meadow on as much leash as I'll give him. In the evening I built a fire from wet wood (I cheated, used charcoal lighter fluid) & grilled those trout. Good! Then we drove back toward Stanley to look for interesting shots of the clearing storm & the setting sun.

It was quite cool the last 2 nights, enough so that I got out the catalytic heater & kept it going overnight. This morning started with a thick blanket of fog, but it lifted by midmorning& we had a delightful day. I think it's supposed to warm back up into the mid-80s over the next couple of days.

7/13 - This morning we drove to the Redfish area for an early photo shoot. I'd been wanting to catch it in the morning light, but my plans to do so on the weekend were thwarted by the overcast weather we had. Today conditions were very good, with becalmed Little Redfish providing some nice shots of Sawtooth reflections.

Late this afternoon we went for a short fishing expedition on Valley Creek, just a few miles from camp. Valley Creek drains the Stanley Basin -- Stanley Lake Creek is a tributary -- before contributing its waters to the Salmon. No luck with the fishing, but as we headed back I saw 2 large birds in the grassy area between the highway & the creek. My first reaction... Emu's?!? Naahh! Then it dawned on me: Sandhill cranes! I turned back around & parked on the shoulder. At first I couldn't see them, then heads peered up in the grass. I guess they were alerted when we pulled off & stopped. I got out the telephoto lens, then crept closer using some brush for cover. I ducked behind a rail fence, then began observing & snapping off pictures. After a few minutes, they went into their pair call; with heads pointing high they both let out a series of croaking, whooping sounds. (David Sibley in his Guide to Birds describes it as a wooden rattle & rolling bugle.) Then they wandered apart, with what I took to be the male coming closer to me while the other disappeared. Soon the male headed back, obviously trying to locate his mate, occasionally making low croaking calls. I think she may have had a chick & was just lying low.

After about 20 minutes of crane watching I headed for camp. As I turned on Stanley Lake Road, I noticed off to the left of our own meadow at the opposite end from camp another pair of cranes & they definitely had a chick. I feel privileged to share this meadow with these elegant birds.

7/15 - Invaded! Yesterday afternoon a hoard of 30-something hiker, rafter, mountain bikers descended on the meadow. There were at least 15 in no less than 8 cars & trucks & they proceeded to set up camp less than 100 yards from us. They had a grand time, partying until well past midnight. Then today they kind of evaporated, the last 4 packing up & clearing out as we were eating dinner. (Dinner by the way was fire-broiled trout from today's catch.) They pretty much flattened a good section of the meadow near the creek, but I'm sure no long term damage was done.

Today on the way to the upper section of the Salmon for fishing, I spotted a 3rd family of cranes. Saw both families from the other day too. It's been kind of fun to kind of keep watch on our own crane family. I tried to sneak up on them via the woods yesterday afternoon for more photos, but they were on to me & kept moving away.

Tomorrow morning we'll be heading west, back tracking part of the way we came with the Wallowa Mountains in eastern Oregon our destination. I've been trying to work out where best to go next given that I want to arrive back home at the end of next week, it has to be high enough to escape the worst of the summer heat (anything above high 80's is too hot without AC & AC on solar power is a nonstarter), and of course, need cell service. So we're going to start by checking out the area around Halfway. But we'll leave the Stanley Basin having enjoyed it immensely. My family used to drive through the area on road trips in my youth, but we never got to know it like I have over the last 10 days. I feel like I could have continued taking photos for weeks. My last one is a shot of our meadow at sundown, looking to the east where the cranes hang out.

 

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