Hiking the Sawtooth Mountains
We made a commitment to go hiking on this trip and Yuki found a really awesome hike that was just the right length for an afternoon without taking too much of our precious road-tripping time.
I didn’t realize that there would be mountains in northern Idaho or that it is a winter recreation area for snowmobiling and skiing. We had a morning drive from Craters of the Moon to the sawtooth mountains driving. Half way there we suddenly entered the mountainous region.
We stopped at the popular Redfish campground for lunch. It’s a good thing we camped at Craters the night before because we didn’t see any obvious campgrounds along the way and Redfish, 4 hours away, was busy and expensive; though it did have hot showers.
We had another picnic lunch of supplies we’d picked up in Twin Falls. This trip worked out really well alternating between hotels and camping each night because it gave us the chance to clean our kitchen ware regularly as well as get free ice. We also ate out on the hotel nights and used the left overs for camping food the following days. Oddly, we had driven into a day use parking lot but didn’t see that it was a paid use so we had a reminder from a park ranger on our dash when we finished. I suppose that’s something that happens more in the States but not so much in Canada.
After lunch we drove a short distance further down the road to a fire road that lead to the trail we wanted to hike. There were a few cars in the parking lot and we passed a few people coming down on the trail too. The trail itself wasn’t very strenuous nor long and we were able to use our iPhone off-line maps to track our progress. The first few miles were pretty flat in the pine forest and after that it climbed steadily with switchbacks past a small lake and then to the sawtooth lake.
It is easy to see the glacial process that occurred around Sawtooth Lake, where there use to be glaciers and snow cornices and probably a frozen lake. We ate lunch at the top and then Yuki fed some ground squirrels the peanuts she didn’t want to eat in the trail mix.
We would have returned to Redfish lake if there was time but we had to keep going to Boise to maintain our schedule. The sun set on the way back and the road was quite windy. We missed some great viewpoints and arrived quite late to Boise, surrendering to Appleseeds for dinner because it seemed to be the only restaurant still open after 10.
The next day we drove from Boise, Idaho back through Eastern Oregon and into Washington where we got good Thai food in Kennewick and then stayed in Yakima. We were going to drive some of Washington’s scenic drives back to Vancouver but at lunch at a Red Lobster the waitress told us about the wild fires and how we were better off heading for Seattle.
Instead we drove an interstate towards Seattle but then skirted around Seattle to avoid the traffic. Having taken the interstate we were slightly ahead of schedule so we took a ferry just North of Seattle in Mukilteo to Whitby Island and drove the island North, stopping at a few beaches to look around. There are also a lot of nice houses along the water and vacation cabins. The island has a small town feel but is really nice. The North end has a bridge back to the mainland. We didn’t get to see the bridge, which apparently has a nice park, because it was dark but we had a really good dinner, again of cheap Thai food. This part of the trip went by quickly and we didn’t get many photos because the sun had set.
We tried to get gas at a few gas stations but they wouldn’t take our credit card and didn’t have attendants because it was so late. Fortunately, we were able to get back to Canada, thus rounding out the end of our 3,460km week-long road trip to Idaho and our three weeks of vacation. For the record, the Modo car co-op costs $1,100 for 6 days and 17.5 hours.
These three weeks were the longest days in a very long time. Each day we felt productive and satisfied. Each day we’d done a lot either hiking in Cape Scott, clearing out the house in Campbell River, or driving through new landscapes in the US. I think this is the mark of time well spent living to the fullest and enjoying oneself. The Modo car is deathly expensive for road tripping but we don’t have any other options at this time and so we just gotta bite the bullet. The experience though, is stellar and we’re always happy when we go on these trips.
