I'm Your Huckleberry

Once and a while you just get cranky and there is really no reason, you just don’t feel like yourself.  This happened leading into this weekend and it made me a bit depressed, and somewhat irritable. What better remedy for the “bite your head off blues” then to get away from town with good friends, and that is what we did.

Happy Hour, a little wine and margaritas.

Huckleberry Campground is a BLM pay campground located on the St. Joe River just above Calder, Idaho.  The Upchurche’s towed their Arctic Fox trailer up the river and we followed them and secured two sights next to each other.  The weather was beautiful and the campground was very nice.  Our home base was the perfect remedy for the Mr. Grouchy flu.

Fish on!!!

We spent our time exploring the area and fishing as much as possible.  We would load up the truck with our fishing gear, a couple chairs, and our lunches and then we would drive some place.  We never really had a direction or a destination in mind, we would just drive and when we got hungry we would eat.  Usually we would also fish a bit after lunch.  One of our first drives took us up Big Creek to a campground located about six miles up the stream.  Darren was spin casting while I tossed some flies.  Big Creek as not as big as it sounded and I was less than successful when it came to catching fish on this stretch.  Darren caught one real nice cutthroat which he landed and released.  About all I could did was get some minnows to strike at the bugs I had on, but all the big guys didn’t even look at what I was presenting.

Meet Lucy, she was our guide but who
always seemed to be recalculating!

 We went back to camp and had hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. Darren kept a good fire going into the night and we all sat around talking. About 9:00 PM Kobi started looking at the truck.  We have noticed that Kobi goes to his crate at 9:00 PM when we are at home, and he is real good at heading to bed around that time when we are camping.  I think he takes after me in that respect.  Whenever I am rafting, camping or at home, when 9:00 PM rolls around I start looking over my shoulder at the tent, camper or bedroom. Our son Kobi is the same way.

Lucy led us to Big Creek where we fished
and ate lunch.

We got up early and Linda, Kobi and I went down to Calder where I let the two runners out for their morning run.  On the way down we saw a doe and fawn in a grass field.  Their heads were the only things we could see as they ran down towards the river.  I let my two passengers out and then continued on up river for six miles.  I watched for game but didn’t see any and when I reached the three mile point, I stopped and let them catch up. Once they were with me, I took Kobi and we drove out to the six mile mark.  Linda came along and joined us and we returned to camp via the main road.

Bug on the run.

I fixed breakfast and then we loaded up the truck and headed up river past Avery to Tin Can Flats.  Darren and I fished along the river at the various stops we made.  I caught some nice cutthroat on stimulator patterns.  We ate lunch and explored the town of Avery, which took all of five minutes.  We found a couple Geo Caches along the way; Darren stumbled on to one when he walked up a trail head to see where it headed.  There were several graves at this site.  I will check and see if the cache Darren found gives us some further information.  The cache was hidden just off the trail and Darren found it when he was checking out the graves and the cache was under a stump but most of the camouflage had fallen away.  The drive back was uneventful.

This BM is for Al Dee. We were able to find several
Geo Caches while we were out.

At 5:00 PM we met over at the Upchurche’s for evening drinks and to watch the camp fill for the weekend.  Darren was using his new, old, Dutch oven to prepare a meatloaf that Marcy had prepared.  They made the main course and placed it in the Dutch with potatoes, carrots and red peppers.  We sat and talked, listening to XM radio.  They had it on a classic rock station and we all were trying to identify the various artists as the songs played.  When the meatloaf was pronounced done, we dug in and ate till we couldn’t eat any more.  As the sun set, we let the food settle and watched Kobi start looking toward the camper. Yes, it was ten after 9:00 PM his dog clock was right on.  I put him away for the night and returned to find that Marcy had made some sorbet.  What a great evening ender!  Strawberry sorbet eaten while Led Zeppelin played softly in the background, it doesn’t get any better.

We slept well and at 6:30 AM Linda woke up and we loaded up and headed up river for her run.  It was a short one so we crossed the river at The Greeks and went up the old train grade.  There were some Geo Caches located along our path so I found one and got frustrated with the second.  The one I couldn’t find was located somewhere in a gravel pit.  I hate caches where they lead you into a rock slide or a pit and then hide the mini cache under one of seventeen bazillion rocks.  It doesn’t take me long to give up on those. Linda caught up to me and we drove back to camp where we met Darren and Marcy.

Darren and I loaded up the Jeep for a road trip and left the ladies behind.  We drove up to Marble Creek and followed the exact path the Linda and I had driven several years back when we stayed in one of the Marble Creek camps.  The road took us up to an area where the Lines Creek Memorial Trail was located.  We parked the Jeep and hiked the three mile trail.  It was a very nice easy hike and I wanted to do it so that I could show my nephew, Kenyon, and his dad, Al Dee, the photos of the locomotive. Darren and I were amazed at how much work was done, most of it by hand or horse, to make this logging project go.  Marble Creek has a rich history with logging and mining as the focus points.  There is a great interpretive museum and visitor at the start of the Marble Creek road.

Darren approaches one of the old trestles.

This if the Locomotive that the
guide (above) talked about.

From the trail we drove up to the top of Hobo Pass and dropped back down the Marble Creek drainage.  To complete the reenactment of Linda’s and my past exploration we drove into the Hobo Cedar Grove and took a quick walk around.  The trees there are amazing, but there were so many trees that had had the tops blown out of them.  This damage looked very recent and I know that it had not happened the last time we visited.

Our drive back was fast and dusty.  We arrived back in camp and were greeted by the ladies and Kobi. We told the stories of the day and then retired to the showers to wash the dust and dirt off.

Linda and I made the last dinner of the trip.  We went with pasta and red sauce with turkey sausage, mushrooms, red peppers, and onions.  We served it with salad and garlic bread and for dessert we had popsicles.  We watched a deer grazing up the hill across the St. Joe River. The sounds of James Taylor, Billy Joel, and Sir Elton John playing softly in the background. It was so relaxing, except for Kobi and his dog gone stick! Just another scene from the laid back adventures of Canyonwren.

4th of July, Bennett style!

Why is it the last group to arrive at a group campground is always the loudest? It is a strange phenomenon but it has proved out, time and time again. We had this happen this weekend and so I checked things out, this is what I gathered from the scuttlebutt around the camp. The last group to arrive and take the last three sites had reserved the group site at the top of the hill. Once they pulled in and saw that they would have to hike to the lake, they moved down and signed into the last of the sites down below. This would not be a bad thing except that their group is comprised of a bunch of loud talkers and they have a dozen kids each. They stuffed the campsites full of tents and toys. When this group is together, you can hear everything they are talking about. Now I am not making this up, but I have not heard a peep out of any of the other twelve sites in the camp.

I know you are all saying, “That’s Dean, the old curmudgeon.”, but these folks talk so loud that we can hear them four campsites away. They are also the types that have to explain to each other what their kids are doing. “Oh look at Shiloh, she is running!”; “Jessie is eating a hotdog.”; “Maggie wants to hug grandma.” And so on and so on, every one of them speaking at a vocal level that would put Ozzie Osborn to shame. The only good thing is that they move in packs, thus they have spent every day down at the dock. While they are massed down at the dock, the rest of camp walks peacefully around enjoying the quiet.

On the 4th of July we drove into Harrison. Once we were there we discovered that we were so busy packing dog items that we forgot Linda’s purse, my wallet, and our lunch items. We had Kobi’s duck and everything he might desire, but we had no money or credit cards. So we decided to just do a quick walk and maybe pick up a geocache or two. I looked over the geocache information sheet and the cache we were closest to said to bring your own writing device. Without Linda’s wallet we could find nothing to write with, in the Jeep. We once again quickly changed plans and we took a walk up the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes (TotC). As we walked Linda worked with Kobi and I looked for something to write with. We knew there was a geocache about a half mile out on the trail and I thought there would be an extra pencil in the cache box that I could “move” to a new cache. We got to the cache and I found it and looked into the container, but there was only one pen there and I could not leave the cache with nothing to log in with, so we put it back and headed back into town.

As we got ready to leave the big city, I looked under the lip of carpet by the car jack and found a pen wedged into this area. We were in geocache business again and we were then able to drive to a cache called “Narrowed Bridges of Kootenai County (GC16632)”. It was an easy find and we signed in while Kobi sniffed the area and peed. As we drove back along the road that parallels the TotC, we loaded another cache coordinates into the GPS. It turned out to be just off the road and along the TotC and we were able to pick it up as we went home. This cache was called “CDA Trail Cache (GC1DN56)” and it was a very easy find.

When we returned to camp we started the Bennett Camp Duathlon. This consisted of a game of Cribbage followed by a rousing game of Bolo Toss. Dean won the Crib game and Linda kicked butt in the Bolo Toss. So we had to have a playoff of one game of Solitaire, winner takes all. I know what you all are thinking, “Those Bennett’s really live on the edge, I wish we could have the life of extreme living that they do.” Dean won the playoff 6 to 4 and was crowned the champion for the day.

The evening was filled with loud booms and fireworks over the lake. Bell Bay was very quiet, the hosts had the Sheriff pay a visit during the day, I think that kept the sky rockets in check. We went to bed about 10:30 PM and about 11:00 PM; I got up and watched a parade of boats returning from the Harrison fireworks display. Everything quieted down after that and we had a cool night’s rest in our camper.

The next morning Linda got up real early and drove into Harrison. She rode the TotC up river about three and a half miles and then had to turn around due to the trail being closed because of flood damage. She turned back and rode the trail south to about two miles out of Plummer. When she arrived home Kobi and I were just having our morning moments where we lay in the sun, stretch and scratch. He likes the attention and I like to wake up slowly so it works out well for both of us.

I started my morning routine and Linda sat to play with Kobi. As I sat in the camper I could hear the two of them playing. Kobi makes Linda laugh by doing his little cute puppy things. It makes me feel good to hear Linda laugh like that. Her school year can be very intense and I don’t get to hear her laugh like that as often as I would like. She has a wonderful laugh and I am thankful Kobi is releasing it.

After breakfast we hiked and did some Kobi training. We returned to the camper and I beat Linda in Cribbage (that’s twice this weekend.)

Beth, Bill, Paige and Cheyenne came out in Bill’s boat. We met them on the dock and the girls got to see Kobi swim. We talked for a bit and had lunch. Someone said the word “ice cream” and that was all it took to get us loaded into the boat and cruising to Harrison to visit the Creamery.
Bill’s boat is a very nice vessel with a full cabin. It contains a kitchen, bathroom and two sleeping areas. I was impressed with the room and the amenities. Harrison was ahopping! The line at the Creamery reached the door and there was a large group of eaters standing outside on the front walk. Linda went in and lined up to order and I sat with Kobi and watched the spectacle of the small town unfold.

As we were getting our Creamery fix for the weekend, Fitz and Julie were driving out to visit us at Bell Bay. We were hoping that our timing would work out well enough that they didn’t have to wait very long for us to motor back.

While Beth and the kids, Linda and I were getting our sweet treats, Bill watched the boat and fished off the dock. It probably took us about an hour in Harrison and another twenty minutes to cruise back to Bell Bay. Steve and Julie were sitting up in camp when we arrived.
We talked and snacked telling stories and finding out we all had various friends and acquaintances in common. It was fun to see who knew who and how our lives had run in circles that intersected through different individuals. Fitz and Julie had to get back and we were sad to see them go.

Bill and I went fishing for a bit after things quieted down. I was in my little boat and Bill in his kayak with the two girls. I caught about three bass, nothing to write home about. I arrived back at camp and we made dinner, ate and talked around a campfire till about 10:00 PM. Bed called everyone and the camp was quiet by 10:30 PM.

Sunday is pancake day for Dean. I love to cook the little flat buggers until they are a golden brown. Linda perfers eggs and cheese over the cakes, but I've got to have my little butter and maple flavored friends.

One of my weekend goals was to read a book that Heather E. gave me. It is called The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. It is the story of a man and his family as told by their dog Enzo. Heather warned me about how it would make me cry and all that, she said I would enjoy it because of the authors weaving of auto race theory and driving technique into the story. I have to admit it is a real good book. Did I cry? How could you not? Many of the dog’s thoughts reminded me of Baka. I used to always wonder what he was thinking, what made him react as he did, and where he is now. I cried a bit, not as much as Linda did as she read John Gorgan’s Marley and Me, but I had my sniffles.

So now we are home, Linda and Kobi are asleep in the living room and I just finished chapter two of Marley and Me. I’ll let you know if I cry, I am a sucker for a good dog book.

Fixin Honey

About two years ago, I really got into Geocaching. I had a friend who liked to get out and search for caches and we had a lot of fun looking and finding many of the caches around our area. To Geocache you need a GPS and you need to be able to get on a computer. On the internet you will find many places dealing with this sport, the one I got involved with was the official site of Geocaching. After you get to this site you find information on the caches hidden in the are you want to search and then you take the coordinates and put them in to your GPS. You follow your GPS to the cache site and search till you locate the cache. Then you sign in at he cache and go home and claim your find on the internet.

All this is done under a username at the internet site. My name is RvrRnr, Linda is Bug and Baka is Baka. I have found over 100 caches and have actually hid three my self, thus the Sunday trip!

When I got into caching I thought it would be cool to hide a couple caches in areas that I thought had exceptional views or were in great areas. So that is how "Honey, I think I saw the Paddler!" came about. This cache has was hidden on 4/24/2003 and has had 19 visits. Sometime in 2004 a anti-cacher found the original box and took it. This spring a cacher alerted me to the fact that it was gone and I needed to fix it or shut it down.

So Linda, Baka and I took the Jeep and drove to the Bunko Road, over the pass to Lake View and then on to the cache. We replaced the box and added some stuff replaced it and made it good again. This all took about six hours. After getting to the cache we continued on along the lake and found a cemetery called the Clara cemetery where we looked at the head stones and tried to figure out a little about this spot. Our travels took us past a campground called Whiskey Point where there are six camp spots four of which are right on the lake. It would be a great spot but getting there would take forever. About 20 miles later we emerged out of the forest at Clarkfork and drove back through Sandpoint to home. Yep a long one but we had a great time and fixed Honey.

Memorial Day Weekend in Canada

The big weekend, Memorial Day in the US! Not us, that’s for sure! Why fight the crowds when you can go up to Canada and find a great spot for the weekend. We packed up the camper and set out for Premier Lake Provincial Park, located just Northeast of Skookumchuck, BC. (49.916° N 115.679° W) As soon as Linda got out of school on Thursday, we hooked the Jeep up behind the truck and drove North. It takes a bit over three hours to get up to the park and it worth the drive.

We met Darren and Marcy at the Premier Lake campground, arriving about 9:00 pm our time. They had left early and were set up saving us a spot to camp next to them. We said “hi” and set up the camper. With in the hour we were to bed and getting our first good nights sleep in quite a while.

Friday morning we got up and puttered around the park, Linda ran and I had coffee and read. We spent most of the day checking out the lake and winding down. The fish were just finishing up the spaun and the egg gathering crew worked several morinings gathering eggs and sperm from the fish caught in the trap. We walked down to their work area a couple time a day to watch the fish, see the eagle that purched above the creek mouth and enjoy the view of the lake. In the evening I cooked a dutch oven dinner of pork chops with almonds and apple sauce and a rolled flank steak with cheese and spinach. It turned out very good and I learned a bit more about cooking with the ovens stacked. We talked and sat around the fire until the evening rain drove us to bed. Saturday was 4 wheeling and geocaching day! We loaded up the Jeep and drove the Premier Ridge rode into Wasa.

There were four geocaches along the way so we stopped every few miles and hunted for them. The ladies found most of them. I think Darren and I were so transfixed on the GPS technology that we failed to look around and spot the hiding places. Plus we wanted to give our lovely wives the opportunity to participate and have fun. On the third cache, Darren found it, we ran ahead of the women and made sure we spotted the hiding spot before they got there. Yeah it was a cheep shot but we had to do something.

All along the road we spotted deer and other small critters. It’s a beautiful drive and well worth the mud and bumps. Like I said we ended up in Wasa and then drove the highway back to the park. It was a good three of four hour trip but great fun and a lot of laughs.

Chris New, a good friend from Cranbrook, and his two kids stopped up for a visit. We talked about all the happenings over the past year or so. The kids road their bikes and played at the camp playground while we sat by the fire and laughed.

Darren and Marcy made dinner for us that night. Dutch oven lasagna and salad hit the spot. Boy, Darren is getting good at those meals, I gotta come up with some innovative meals to keep up! Chris ate some of the food and cooked hotdogs for the kids. We sat around the fire and had some beer and wine. Chris left at about 9:30 PM and bed came around 10 PM. We drifted away after reading and talking.

On Sunday Linda and I took a drive North to Whiteswan Lake. Our first adventure was to find a hot springs that Chris New had told us about a few miles from the park. We drove up a mountain road but failed to find the springs. We did however see a lone elk with very white fur standing abouve the Jeep road. It was odd to see it and it didn’t move much, so we drove on. As we drove to Whiteswan we captured two more geocaches. Linda spotted a wolf/coyote sitting and keeping an eye on some road kill. Not sure which critter it was, but no matter what it was, it was fun to see it and watch it for a short time. visited the hot springs that is located along the road into the lake. We didn’t really prepare for a dip in the hot pools, it was raining and our stuff would have gotten drenched. So we opted to look it over and continue our drive.

Whiteswan Lake was very beautiful. We drove to the Home Basin Campground and checked out the sites. There are quite a few primo spots on the lake, it would add about another hour travel time to our trip, so we may try to camp ether some day. We drove back to Premier coming in and out of driving rains. Some times it was so heavy that you could see a wall of water coming at you. Back at camp we fixed DO Mac & Cheese, ate, sat around the fire and got sleepy.

On Tuesday we drove home, leaving the park about 10:30 AM and arriving home in time to clean everything up and put it away. Stuff was damp so we dried things out and got it back in order, ready for our next trip. It sure is nice to have the camper now, I think we are hooked and will be traveling a lot in the future.

Heyburn State Park Weekend

The weather for this weekend was wonderful, the sun was out and the skies blue. We had heard it was going to be the perfect camping weekend. We called up the Upchurches and met them down at Haybern State Park. Each day we hiked and on Sunday we found two Geocashes. This was our last camping outing for the season. Can't wait for next spring.




The Geo Crew

View looking across lake from Cache.

On the boardwalk.

The Road Above Quartz Lake

My morning consists of waking up, making coffee, reading and then shaving. The perfect start to another day. Our plan for this day was to hike the road that takes you up on the ridge overlooking Quartz lake. We hiked and talked, the ladies in the lead, hoping not to encounter a bear. There was fresh bear scat everywhere, but we didn’t run into any critters as we marched. The overlook was beautiful! When we arrived there was a eagle souring below us riding the updrafts above the lake and up in the clifts. I got a picture of it, but it was not close enough to see any detail. We ate lunch and sat in the shade.

Looking southeast over Quartz Lake.

Quartz Lake looking northeast.

Baka’s ears perked up and our attention was drawn to a couple of hikers coming from the south along the ridge. They had a dog and were looking at their GPS unit as they approached. Baka was very good and sat very nicely the entire time the dog and people were there. It turns out that they were looking for a geocache that was planted within 100 feet of where we were. They gave Daren the coordinates (Rocky Bluff, N 49deg 53.328', W 115deg 38.830')and he entered them into his GPS and the hunt was on. It took less then ten minutes for them to zero in on the cache. Once they had circled it a couple times, Linda walked over and pointed to it hidden under a rock. We signed the log and talked about caching. The couple had only found about three other caches, but they were really enjoying the hunt.

Marcy and Linda goofing off.

An eagle in flight over Quartz Lake.

About half way through the hunt another couple drove up to the overlook spot. This couple had camped next to us the previous night and Daren had talked to them in camp. We chatted and everyone went their separate ways, but before the couple who drove up left they said that they had seen a cinnamon bear on the road in and that we should keep an eye out as we walk back.

No bears! We saw lots of scat but no bears, I was kinda bummed. We hiked back, Linda talked all the way, so that could have been one reason there were no bears. I think she planned it that way. Oh well what can you say.

We went back to camp and made dinner. Daren and Marcy made tortellini in a red sauce and I made my first beer bread in a dutch oven. I also made fudge cake for desert by stacking two dutch ovens. Everything came out great, I was so excited. We went to bed after sitting by the fire, it was a very fun day.