We started the hike and could go either towards Sherman Pass or towards Jungle Hill. We first headed towards Sherman Pass, then realized that was probably just going up to the highway. After walking for around half a mile, we turned around and went back. The other trail was 3.9 miles. Mostly uphill. Along the way, we kept running into bikers heading down the trail. We finally asked one of the guys and it turns out there was some festival going on. They all took a shuttle up to the top of Sherman Pass, then took one of the trails to the one we were on. So, they had a nice bike ride downhill the enture way.
We ended up hiking about 9 miles total. We're still sore. Afterwards we stopped in Republic to find dinner. There was a pizza and sandwich place and a Mexican place. Joe really wanted pizza and I wanted Mexican, so we had a small meal at the Mexican place, then Joe went back to get a pizza. We did some work and headed out to the next chunk of national forest to find a place to stay for the night. We ended up finding a road that dead ends and just stayed there. One neat thing was the stream that was nearby. Around it was filled with strawberry plants. Too bad most weren't ripe yet.
The next day we headed to Tonasket. We parked on the side of the street using someone's wifi, and got caught up with work. There was a small natural foods coop just a block away, so we did get some cold, fruit bars since it was incredibly hot. Our next plan was to head down a 41 mile national forest road (National Forest Development Rd 37) that goes through a pass that is around 6000 feet, so we knew we weren't going to have internet that night or the next day. We found a place to pull off and have dinner, but we didn't feel comfortable letting the cats out, so after eating, we kept going. It was already 8pm which made for a gorgeous view of the sunset behind the Cascades during our drive. We made it to the top and over. It was getting dark, so we found a spot to sleep for the night. The next morning, we left again and ended up finding a small road that went below the main road. It lead to, basically, a campsite right near a creek. The cats have been loving getting to spend the entire day outside.
We went for a walk this afternoon along the creek. There are two streams that meet where we are. One of them has a waterfall that Joe noticed. We decided to hike towards that. After getting across the stream, we heard Curly crying. We were worried he had tried to cross on his own, so Joe went back to get him. He was still on the shore, fortunately, but Joe grabbed him anyway and put him on his shoulders. Curly followed us throughout our walk. It was pretty fun. Even when we were walking in the stream, he followed us along the shore.
We are now sitting in Winthrop using some internet. It's a pretty cute town, though touristy. Once we get some work caught up, we'll probably walk around a bit.
-Miranda
The place we stayed near the top of the pass.
Our view from that spot.
The creek right next to the spot we stayed at last night.
Finally got a decent photo of Zoe!
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The next morning we woke up and decided to head back into Kettle Falls. There's a very cute market basically like our Coop and they have a small Taco Restaurant in there that we wanted to try out. We bought a few things and used their wifi while waiting for lunch.
The food was very good. They make homemade ice cream, so we had some of that for dessert. We then decided to check out the national forest across the lake. It's technically a recreation area so we weren't quite sure what we would find. There was an area that was definitely used for a shooting range (log with lots of broken glass behind it). We kept going and found a road that lead to a number of camping areas. Basically spots with fire rings. We picked one and ended up going for a bike ride up the mountain to see what else there was. We found a small stream, but not much else. It wasn't busy either.
The cats have been loving it being able to spend time outside. They apparently even got their fill of it today as all 4 were back inside long before their dinner time. They were incredibly annoying this morning though. They decided running around the RV like maniacs was the way to be. However, last night, Joe and I were playing a game and apparently something freaked out Curly. He was by the back window then all of a sudden just started jumping and freaking out. When I went up to him, I barely touched him and he jumped a foot in the air. He stayed pretty freaked for a good 10 minutes, and it kept coming back once in a while, but he seems fine now.
Today our wonderful spot is apparently more popular. A few vehicles drove by on the main road and we heard shooting down below for a good chunk of the day. Then at around 5 someone drove down the road we're on. They left, but around 8ish two trucks showed up towing ATVs. They're both apparently staying for at least the weekend. We may be heading out tomorrow then. We'll see.
-Miranda
The view from the top of our bike ride.
Our site.
A neat flower I saw today.
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We spent Monday running some errands in Coeur D'Alene. We mostly hung out in the grocery store parking lot, then a Target parking lot, working for a while. The plan was to just stay at a Walmart so we could get some work done.
For dinner we decided on sushi. There was a restaurant pretty much on the way. We stopped there and it was a pretty bad experience. There was one server and one cook. ONE COOK! She did all the sushi rolls and all the cooking. There were 3 groups there. We were the first and we almost got our food last after waiting for at least an hour. I ordered a sushi platter which was done at least 15 minutes before Joe's was. It was so weird. The cook didn't seem to know what she was doing. I ordered my stuff first, but both tables got their sushi before I did. Not that it really mattered in the end because it would have just taken longer for Joe to get his food. Pretty nuts.
We then headed straight to the Walmart in Port Falls, ID. We walked a little over a mile to a Dairy Queen. The next day we found an Indian restaurant in Spokane to have a good buffet at. The food was good.
On Sunday, after our walk, we were going to take a shower using the camp shower. Unfortunately, after setting it up, the branch it was on broke and the camp shower fell to the ground and completely split open. While on our way out of Spokane, we found a sporting goods store and bought another camp shower. Woohoo!
Until you get to Kettle Falls, there isn't much for National Forest. Near Addy, the National Forest did come up to the road, so we found some small roads that jutted off the highway. We checked those out and found one that was far enough off that we felt safe letting the cats out. They got to hang out, outside for a few hours. We just stayed there the night and we headed out right away in the morning.
We're now staying at a campground in Kettle Falls. The internet isn't great, but will work for tonight. We're not quite sure what the plan is from here. We may go back into town and just stay at the RV park there so we can have a good shower and good internet, or we may try the national forest across the lake to see if the internet there is decent enough so we can get work done. Who knows.
-Miranda
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On Friday, we went for a long bike ride along the dirt roads. We ended up taking an old cat trail up the mountain thinking it would be a shortcut of the switchback we were on. Well, it took a while, but it did finally come out to a road. The problem was, we didn't know what road or which way would get us back to the road we wanted to be on. So, we had brought the computer, and we had internet. We found where we were and Joe noticed it wasn't far to the top, so he biked up there to see if there would be a neat place to stay. There was. We biked back to the RV and decided to stay there for another couple nights.
On Sunday, we left and tried a road to get up to the spot Joe had found. Unfortunately, after some of the drive, the road was gated, so we had to turn around and head back. There was another way there through Bayview, so we tried that way. Unfortunately, the first chunk of the road (switchbacks up the mountain) was awful. We made it without incident though and kept going. We got to the spot Joe had found. The view was gorgeous! We let the cats out. Lucy and Curly behaved perfectly. Zoe and Pickles basically disappeared into the jungle just blow the road and we didn't see them again for a hours. We wanted to go for a walk, so we went out looking for them. We finally found both, so then we headed out for a walk.
One of the roads didn't go far, but we found a ton of wild strawberries and huckleberries. We picked a bunch and decided on having huckleberry pancakes in the morning. There was no internet there, so we were planning on leaving in the morning.
Unfortunately, we were woken by the cats before 7am (not fun when you go to sleep after 11). We got packed up and worked our way back down the road. We are now in Coeur D'Alene, ID and planning on continuing on to Spokane or so tonight.
-Miranda
The pretty daisies in the field where we stayed over the weekend.
Curly and Lucy sleeping on the floor during the day.
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After we left Sandpoint, we headed down US-95 and decided to check out a national forest near a lake. Google Earth said there was a campground, but we never know how accurate it is. Well, the dirt road we headed up to get there was pretty iffy, but got better so we kept going. Then there was a sign at a fork saying the campground was 1 mile down a hill. We knew it was down by the water, so we figured we would be going downhill, but there was a sign that said no motorhomes or trailers. Normally this means because there are no wide areas to turn around. It would have been nice if they had mentioned that the road wasn't maintained.... There were some pretty good ditches in the road, but nothing that we couldn't get past, it was a one lane dirt road with a wide spot every-so-often. We made it to the bottom. One side looked like parking for the water and there was yet another road going the other direction. We took that and got to a parking lot. Looking around, it was only tent camping (park, then walk to the site). So, we just swam to cool off then headed back up the hill. It definitely went better on the way out.
Leaving that area, we didn't want to completely rule out boondocking for the night, so we found another road to head down. The road was pretty decent until the fork we decided to try. Then it was definitely an old logging road. Unfortunately, one thing they do is dig a trench across the road for drainage. This isn't something that's an issue for a pickup, but with our long back end, it can be bad. Most weren't a problem, but we got to one that was too bad, so we got out and decided to see if it was worth it. Not too much farther, there was a large clearing and a perfect spot to stay. We went back and started working on cutting up some of the dead wood and even splitting some of it to fit into the ditch and drive over. Then once we drove over it, I put it on the back rack and we drove to the next one. We did that about 4 times before getting to the clearing. The spot is great. Definitely no one comes up here (it looks like it was cat loggers and the brush piles are already burned, everything's very overgrown) and we even have decent internet. It's not great, but it will work.
So, the plan is to stay here over the weekend. After all that work, we better be able to stay that long!
-Miranda
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