Buffalo Round-up Day Trip

 On Tuesday the weather was perfect for a day trip. We had made plans to drive over to the National Bison Range Wildlife Refuge to see the annual buffalo round-up. It is always the first Monday and Tuesday of October. Our homeschool co-op meets on Mondays, so Tuesday was our only option. Now that we have an 8-passenger SUV, we were able to invite some friends to go along.

Our rig is affectionately known as "Duh Bible-Study Fwuck" so dubbed by the passenger in the middle. Our friends come to our Bible Study on Wednesday nights, and so the Little Guy has decided that our name must be Bible-Study, since whenever they say they are going to Bible Study they end up at our house! He's all into "fwucks" and "fwains" so he recognizes our Excursion. He definitely added extra-fun moments to our day. It's been awhile since we've had a 2-year-old around.

The Clark Fork River was particularly beautiful reflecting the bright sunshine and blue sky. It was a gorgeous drive.

We saw several antelope on a hillside in the Bison Range before we got to where they were rounding up the buffalo. They are hard to see in the picture, since they blend in with the grass... and I don't have much of a zoom lens on my camera.

The buffalo round-up itself was not quite as dramatic as it has been in years past, since they've started using Jeeps instead of horses to drive the bison in. It was still fun to watch.

There were a few horses around, though. We saw two or three riders, but they weren't out in the range with the wildlife. Just riding around the barn and parking area. I'm not sure why. For crowd control? Atmosphere? Whatever.

On our way home we saw a herd of Bighorn Sheep. They appear to be fenced in, but I don't think they are really. I think they've just come down off the mountain. But I could be wrong. I don't really know.

Other wildlife we saw (but didn't photograph) included a mule deer, a golden eagle, a bald eagle, and a wild turkey. No bears or moose. Too bad.

We came home through the mountains over Thompson Pass. It had been a fun day.

I think our next adventure will be an apple-picking expedition. Stay tuned.

Falling Water

Happy Independence Day!

It's 7:00a.m.-ish and the temperature is currently 44 degrees. My parents arrived for a visit yesterday. They live in Arkansas where it has been oh-so-much hotter and drier. This morning when we got up my dad told me that our air conditioner works good. Ha. The only air conditioner we have is a small window unit that's not even currently hooked up. I love living where we can have the windows open all summer long. I do feel for those of you who live in other parts of the country where the weather is at the opposite extreme. We have had so much more than our share of rain this year. I would gladly send some your way if I could.

On Sunday we took a day trip to visit some more water falls in the area. (We had visited Copper Falls the week before while we were camping.) Some of the rivers are at flood stage, so the falls are pretty dramatic this year. 

Our main destination was Kootenai Falls which we have visited several times before. The river was so high that the falls were almost hidden. That's an awful lot of water.

The other one we visited was a new one for us. Lyle had referred to hisWaterfall Lover's Guide for directions to Snow Creek Falls.

We found Snow Creek but couldn't figure out where the trail was, according to the book. Finally, we had given up and were headed back to the main highway when I had the idea we should check to see if there were any geocaches in the area. Turns out there was a micro-cache on the trail to the falls, so by following the directions on Geocaching.com we finally did find the trail-head. The directions in the book were simply out-dated.

It was quite a hike to get to the viewing points for the Lower and Upper Falls. Not only that, but it was a damp day and kept trying to rain. The tree coverage was pretty heavy so we didn't get soaked, but it was definitely an adventure. We never did find the cache. I'm not sure why anyone would bother with a micro-cache that deep in the forest. There are a gazillion places it could have been, and the satellite signal wasn't much help with so many trees.

My camera battery had died so Laura was the one taking pictures. She snapped one of Lyle and me standing in front of the falls.

After she took it, she realized that her dad's face was too shadowed by his cap, so she asked him to adjust it so she could take more. And she did, but I still liked this one best. 

I usually don't like pictures of myself. (Do any of us?) I thought the picture I had been using for my Facebook profile was just a little too posed. This one was much more natural. I decided to crop my face out to use for my profile. I used Photoshop to lighten it up a little. I was surprised at how many comments I got after I posted it. One friend even said she liked my hair. Which made me laugh because I had done absolutely nothing to it that day. I had washed it that morning, ran a comb through it, and let it air dry. By the time the picture was taken it had been scrunched and wind-blown, and I had just shoved my sunglasses up on my head. I guess I'm just a natural kinda girl.

Now we're off to celebrate our independence with lots of festivities. Talk to you later.

Labor Day Camping Trip

We camped at beautiful Priest Lake for the Labor Day weekend. We didn't actually end up staying at the campsite much this time. Lyle had planned out a full itinerary of Geocaches in the area, so we did a lot of exploring. It's such a gorgeous area, so that was a perfect plan-- and the weather cooperated nicely.

Here's the gang getting ready to set out on our first expedition...

...to this nearby scenic viewpoint. It was a moderate hike from the campground. Looks like we were all trying to capture the view through our various lenses. Maybe I should have got the photos from their phones, too. (Rebecca didn't have a camera, so she was on the lookout for cougars. Though there was a warning sign posted about them, we didn't see any. Thank goodness.)

The next geocache we attempted was a drive-up one. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. As we turned off the main road I asked how far it was "as the crow flies." The answer: "Just over 3 miles." I predicted it would take us 3 hours to find it, because even though we had two GPSs (three, if you count the phone) plus a detailed back-road atlas, we weren't real sure just what road to follow to find the coordinates. Naturally we made several wrong turns and had to do a lot of back-tracking. I was off on my prediction by one hour-- it only took us two hours to find it. It was on the top of a mountain with breath-taking views in all directions.

After we drove back down off that mountain we pursued another one that involved another quarter-mile hike to a different view of the lake. Apparently fall comes early to Priest Lake. We noticed changing foliage throughout the area.

On Monday morning we did a couple more quick and easy caches near the campground. This one was right on the lake shore. The water is so clear and pristine.

The girls caught a little frog and had to pose him on Laura's cap before they let him go.

Besides hiking, driving, and enjoying the weather and scenery, we also had a wonderful time as a family just hanging out together and conversing around the campfire in the evenings.

Sweet memories to treasure!

Making exercise fun

 In an effort to get more exercise I've set a goal of walking or hiking on a regular basis this summer. (So expect to see lots of blog posts featuring hikes and geocaching in the next few weeks. Taking pictures and looking for caches make it seem more like an adventure, and not so much like exercise, you know!)

Saturday evening we decided to drive over to Coeur d'Alene and walk along the lake.

 Lake Coeur d'Alene has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. I don't know who has been to every lake in the world to make that judgment, but in any case, the scenery is outstanding. Not only that, we've been having just gorgeous weather... sunny, in the 70s. Just perfect for a late afternoon walk.

We walked about 3 miles that evening, and found 3 micro-caches right along the walking path.

Wonder where we'll hike next?

Holiday Getaway

We enjoyed a camping trip over the long weekend. Our friends, the B family, joined us for part of the time. They had never been camping before... nor had they been geocaching. We were happy to introduce them to the fun!

One of the geocaches took us up a very long, bumpy road to the top of a mountain.

It was a rough road, but Lyle was up to the task. The B's were just a little freaked out. They said they loved it, though.

Farrah said, "One thing that concerns me is that Karla isn't saying much about the road. That tells me she has been on worse." She's right. I have.

"At least this road is not hanging off the side of a cliff!" I told her. Deep ruts are bad enough, but open air just out my window does not make for a relaxing drive.

At the top of the mountain we could look down over the little town of Bayview on Lake Pend Oreille. (Later we went back to Bayview to watch fireworks. But not up on the mountain!)

That day we found:

• Totally Stumped
• Mossy Rock
• A "hole" lot of America
• Red Roof View

Another day we went on a nature hike. I loved this rustic shelter at the trail head. I tried to convince Lyle that we need one like it in our backyard-- but he didn't seem to go for that idea.

The Squirrel Cache Trail is just a little over a mile long. The woods were shadowy and cool. It was a perfect day for hiking.

And there was a series of 4 geocaches (1, 2, 3, 4) along the trail, plus one in the parking area, which made it even more fun! Fortunately, one was not hidden in this rock formation. I'm not sure I would have had the courage to stick my hand in it.

It was a gorgeous weekend for camping, hiking, and appreciating the freedom we enjoy in America!

North Idaho Backcountry

 Sunday was a gorgeous day for a backcountry drive and a little Geocaching. The temp was in the high-60s/low-70s all day and it was sunny with pretty puffy clouds. Lyle planned a route taking us down along the St. Joe River and then up over Moon Pass back to I-90 and then home again.

We found 5 Geocaches and were turned back from 3 others we intended to look for. That was all part of the adventure! Can you spot the cache in this picture?

 Being the intrepid explorers we are, we didn't let a little thing like a Road Closed sign turn us back. The road looked perfectly fine to us, so we decided to keep going (realizing, of course, that we would likely have to turn around).

 And several miles on down the road we found out what Road Closed meant. Maybe "Road Gone" would have been more accurate? Lyle considered the situation and thought he might be able to get past the ravine by driving up on the bank just a little bit. Needless to say, I convinced him otherwise, so we logged that cache as a Did Not Find.

 Later in the day we were turned back on another road by downed trees and snow. We really hadn't expected snow to be an issue this late in the season, but Lyle and Becky walked ahead and said there was snow over the road just around the curve.

The caches we did find were:

• A Little Bit of Texas
• St. Joe City
• Dustin's Cache
• Lone Rock Overview
• Quad Tree

We also stopped by our own cache, Silver Valley View, which we originally placed in 2002. It's still active, so we checked to make sure it was still in good condition and restocked it with some fresh trade items.

 

 We enjoyed the beautiful scenery all day long. 

Road Trip Geocaching

 We enjoyed finding a few Geocaches on our recent trips to homeschool conventions. On our way to the Idaho convention in Nampa on June 2, we found:

• Roadkill Cafe - Cow
• Junction U.S. Route 395 and Highway 17
• Flag View South Bound
• Oregon Trail Adventure

On our way home, on June 5, we found:

• A Cache Unparalleled
• Last Chance

This past weekend, on our way to Puyallup for the Washington homeschool convention, we got off the interstate and took an old highway over Snoqualmie Pass. On this route we found:

• Ticket to Ride
• Snoqualmie Pass Travelers #6
• Snoqualmie Pass Travelers #5
• Snoqualmie Pass Travelers #4
• Snoqualmie Pass Travelers #3
• Snoqualmie Pass Travelers #2

Then, on our way home, we found the following at east bound rest areas along I-90:

• Stewart View Stash
• Winchester Wasteway Rest Area East
• Wi-Fi Drop By
• Leg Stretch at Sprague Lake

Geocaching is an interesting and fun way to stretch your legs for a bit when traveling... not to mention getting off the beaten path if you're so inclined.

Hiking in the Springtime

I never get tired of the lush greenness of the woods in our area. We spent some time hiking and geocaching while we were camping. The sun finally did come out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. The sunlight filtering through the trees on the new spring growth was just breathtaking.

There are quite a few caches hidden around Priest Lake. We discovered one in this burned-out tree on a hillside along the hiking trail.

The woods were full of little streams, created by spring run-off, meandering toward the creek...

...which in turn, feeds the lake.

Caches we found this weekend:

• Bigs Flat Tire Blues
• Bottle Bay
• Donad_D's Memorial
• Shoe Tree Stash
• Tango Creek

Geocaching is a great way to get off the "beaten path" and discover some of the best-kept secret places in our area. It was a fun weekend.

Geocaching Adventure

Our family adventure this past weekend was a geocaching day trip to northeastern Washington. We logged two microcaches, two regular caches, and one did-not-find.

The microcaches were pretty much of the cache-and-dash variety along the side of the road. We don't usually bother with those, as our objective in going geocaching is to find fun out-of-the-way places and spend time together as a family, not just log caches for the sake of the numbers. However, we were testing out the geocaching app for Lyle's new phone, and those were good ones to try it on.

Then we headed for one that was supposed to be up on a mountain. The problem was, all the roads leading up the mountain seemed to be closed. We drove all the way around the mountain looking for a way in before we finally had to give up on that one.

Our next destination was a small lake with a cross-country ski trail around it.

The cache was located near the warming cabin about half-way around the lake. The cabin was open to the public and had a wood stove, benches, and a table inside. It was well-stocked with firewood and kindling. There was a picnic table and fire-ring outside, and an out-house nearby. It looked like a great place to spend a snowy winter day if one enjoyed cross-country skiing or snow-shoeing. Kinda makes me want to take it up!

 We saw signs of beaver activity around the lake as we were hunting for the cache.

Our last cache of the day was one Lyle wanted to try, as the description said, "high clearance vehicles only." He can't resist a challenge like that! And I have to say, with a skilled driver, the trip up the hairy road was worth it when we got to the top and had a chance to enjoy the view.

The golden grasses reminded us that summer is almost over and soon we won't have long, warm days to "play" outside.

Maybe we should take up winter sports after all!