Sam Owen Park

Sometimes when we get together with the Andersons, it's the little phrases that get us laughing the most. This week it was Linda who uttered the six words that made us laugh til our sides hurt,  "Big buck, big buck, big buck!"

We were on a drive to find a couple of places up in the Clark Fork area. Mike wanted to visit the fish hatchery and Rayelle and Linda wanted to hike Scotchman Peak. We left our campsite in Sam Owen Park, drove into Clark Fork and immediately found a bakery. Of course, we ate lunch and tasted a couple, three, or four of their baked goods. Once we were stuffed we waddled out to the truck and drove out across the Clark Fork River in search of the fish hatchery. At Heron, Montana, we turned around. The hatchery was definitely in Idaho and most likely back near Clark Fork. We got back on the highway and found our way back to the "big" city. We never did find that pesky fish hatchery 

"Big buck, big buck, big buck!"

At this point, our attention turned to Scotchman Peak. Linda went back into the bakery and asked directions. One of the staff gave Linda some vague directions. We headed back out on the road. We took the first left and followed the Lightning Creek road out of town. It came to a split and Linda had a feeling we should go right down the Mosquito Creek road, so we went left. We drove a bit and again Linda mentioned that she felt we should have gone the other way, so we turned around at a wide spot where a deer was standing and backtracked. (The deer was a coincidence.)

Back on track, Linda told us that the lady said to follow Upper Mosquito Creek road, which we did. It led us to road 2294 which, at this point, we questioned the validity of the directions. We kept true to Linda's gut and after a few miles, we rambled across a dried streambed to the parking lot at Trail #65, the Scotchman Peak Trail.

By this time we were a bit too late to venture up the trail to the peak, so we looked around and headed back down the road. We swung around a corner of the road and Linda shouted, "Big buck, big buck, big buck!" Mike hit the breaks and we all started laughing. 

The buck was just off the road and was not a bit concerned about all the attention he was getting.

We drove on down to Clark Fork and back to Sam Owen. Our goals of visiting the fish hatchery and climbing Scotchman Peak Trail never came to fruition, but we had a great time exploring this wonderful area.

Pizza was on our minds when we arrived back at the campsite, so we loaded up and drove into East Hope to Icehouse Pizza. We ordered and while the girls enjoyed the wonderful view of the lake, Mike and I played pool. The pizza was great! 

Spending a total of six days up at the park, each day the weather threatened to get better, but it didn't.  Part of the fun of this trip was spotting the sun, running to the beach, and retreating when the sun hid and the rain fell.

Mike and Rayelle's friends, John, Jerianne, and Dylan came up to visit. Dylan brought his boat and took Mike, Julia and I fishing. We caught some good smallmouth bass but had to watch the weather on the lake.

Prehistoric bug from the sky!

Linda's collection of heart rocks.

s'more s'mores!

Perfection!

Skipping stones.