Hot Huckleberry

A few weeks ago, Linda went on-line and checked the Huckleberry Campground Reservation site and snagged a site for the middle of the week.  The Andersons agreed to join us in a little mid-week get-a-way and even though the weather report called for incredibly hot days during our stay we all said we needed the time away.

Linda and I drove down via the Rose Lake cut-off and arrived at the site at about 1:30. The Andersons, Mike, Rayelle, Julia and Annie, their dog, joined us about an hour later. Our site had good afternoon shade. We set up and immediately started playing Corn Hole on a set Mike had made. The afternoon grew hotter and folks began walking down to the river for nice cooling dips.

The sun was setting when we went for our evening walk around the campground. We met some folks coming home from fishing. They told us that there was a young moose grazing by the river, so we grabbed our cameras and walked quickly to the edge of the river. Sure enough, there was a young moose just upriver on the far bank.  I took some photos, but the distance I was away from the critter and the evening low light made it hard to get good shots.

We walked back to camp and made dinner, ate, and played a game of  Hucklebuck. The evening cooled off a bit and Mike started a fire. We enjoyed playing the game well into the dark. By 9:30 PM we were ready for bed and everything had quieted down around the campground.

The first logging truck rumbled by at about 2:00 AM and then about every 20 minutes another one followed. We found this would continue throughout the night and well into mid-afternoon. Both Linda and I remembered this happening several times when we have stayed up at Huckleberry. You just have to ignore the "compression breaks" of the big rigs trying to slow for the corner by the campground. As the days went on, we all grew accustomed to the noise.

The next morning, after we all ate and got ready for the day, everyone loaded into Mike's new truck and we took a drive up, Marble Creek. Linda and I have followed the same path twice prior to this trip. We knew vaguely where we should head, but our exact location and some of the turns we took were not done with confidence. 

Winding along, we came to a split in the road where there was a sign that directed passersby to a gravesite. We all agreed that we needed to explore the site and so Mike followed the arrow, made a left turn, and proceeded on. The road led us on and we figured out that if we followed the blue ribbons we would eventually come to the site. Sure enough, we came to a final arrow pointing off the road and into the woods. After about fifty yards we came to some fence posts that ringed an old tree stump. On the stump was carved "Ed Boulette, Died, Aug. 21 -04".  We studied the area to see if there were historical reasons for the site to be preserved and the trail kept up, but we found nothing. Later when we returned home, both Rayelle and I did internet searches for any information about old Ed, but we found nothing. I posted a question to the "Old School North Idaho" Facebook group and got quite a bit of information. Turns out old Ed was a claims jumper who was shot and killed by the homesteaders. The story of the gravesite was published in a book by Bert Russell called Swiftwater People.

Back in the truck we traveled on and came to a historical marker and trail providing information on the Lines Creek Memorial trail. We stopped and read the signs. Linda and I had been here before when we walked the two-mile-long trail. (Follow this link to our previous blog post and photos.)

By this time it was getting later in the afternoon and our goal was to hike in amongst the big cedar trees at the Hobo Cedar Grove, so we moved on. After a couple wrong turns and backtracking, we found the road leading to the cedar grove.

We hiked the short trail into the Hobo Grove. It is amazing how cool the air was deep in this forest. As we wandered about, we all talked about how the temperatures were very nice and comfortable. Later when we returned to the campground we found that our thermometers had registered above 100 degrees. We were glad we had taken this drive and been so comfortable.

Back in camp, most everyone headed to the water to cool off.  Dinners were prepared and consumed and then we played more cards and Corn Hole.

Our last full day was spent in the shade and down by the water. Temperatures were hot, but you could stay fairly comfortable if you sat in the shade. Mike and I drove up into the woods and did some target shooting. It was fun, but for the second year in a row Mike won the big shoot off. I guess I should not expect much since I only shoot targets once a year.

The rest of our stay was spent in the shade. We had dinner and Mike displayed his Dutch Oven cooking skills. This mid-week trip turned out to be exactly what everyone needed!

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.

But the map says...

“We have the map, right?”

“Yes”

“So let’s drive up this road (points to map) and make this loop. It can’t take all that long!”

Leaving the Donkey Creek campground, where we were staying the weekend, we drove up Marble Creek till we came to a split in the road. Straight ahead FS321 followed the river, so we took FS758 heading up Eagle Creek. The idea was that if you follow this road, it would eventually lead up to Hobo Pass and loop back via FS321. By the map it looked clear enough.
Our drive wound up Eagle Creek and dropped down to Lines Creek where we stopped at the start of the “Famous Lines Creek Trail”. Along the way we gathered firewood, spotted deer and enjoyed the vistas provided up and down the ridges.

On the map it looks like you drive past the trail head and cross a creek then take a left and follow the road up over Hobo Pass. What we did was just that, but take out the over Hobo Pass part, and add drive ten miles up a road that eventually started disappearing, then back track to the trail head at Lines Creek. We scratched our heads and studied the map. It looked like if we head down towards Clarkia, we would cut back left and then head over the pass.

Off we drove. After a couple miles we met a log truck grinding up the road. We pulled way off out of its way and started second guessing ourselves. Five minutes passed and we decided that we had gone too far so we turned around and followed the truck back up to where it cut away. It was obvious that they were logging below this point and that the truck traffic might be bad. We talked about it a while and studied the map and finally turned around again and headed down toward Clarkia. This time we were extremely cautious as we wound down the road.

We came around a corner and ran into an intersection where three roads merged. Sitting there was a pickup with a logger talking on his CB. Linda asked him if we were on the right track and he assured us that we were going in the right direction. He sounded like other people have asked him the same question before; he smiled and said “Oh, you’re doing the loop, yeah you on the right track!”

A couple miles on down the road we found the cut off over Hobo Pass. We looked at the junction, compared it to the map and decided that the map is an abbreviated view of the roads and trails, so when traveling you must double the distance, hold your course and look for a logger.

At the top of the pass we veered right and drove two miles to the Hobo Cedar Grove Botanical Area where we took a mile long hike through the towering Cedar trees. It’s a pretty amazing place. Though the day was hot and sunny, the temperature in the cedar grove was almost to the point that you would want long sleeves. The trail was well maintained with numbered points of interest along the way. We walked fast and took a bunch of pictures. By now we were three hours into or small wood gathering adventure and for the first time in a long while we were without water or snacks.

When we travel anywhere we usually pack food and water enough to feed an army, but this drive was so spur of the moment that we didn’t pack anything.

We hurried back to the jeep and drove the seventeen miles down Marble Creek to our camp at Donkey Creek. We ate lunch, unloaded the firewood and then I went fishing, rounding out a great day.