A Few Days at Huckleberry Campground

A couple months ago, Linda reached out to our friends Bill and Terri Burch, along with Ben and Sherma Higgs, and we all jumped onto the reservation website for Huckleberry Campground up the St. Joe River. Luck was on our side — we managed to snag campsites close to each other, and we wasted no time reserving them before anyone else could beat us to it.

The drive down was perfectly normal until we hit the stretch from the top of 4th of July Pass down to the Rose Lake turnoff. Road construction had funneled four lanes of traffic into two, and to make things interesting, they used those big cement dividers to separate the lanes. Nothing like a narrow concrete chute to keep you alert. I white‑knuckled the truck through the curves and traffic. Not the most relaxing drive, but we made it.

Huckleberry Campground wasn’t full, and we had a great site just across the driveway from the Burches. Ben and Sherma were a little farther away in their spot. I was able to go fishing twice during our stay. The first day the water was high but clear, and I fished a Green Drake fly with a #10 black stonefly dropper. I got lucky and hooked two really nice cutthroats and one kamikaze cut that was about six inches long. We arrived and ended the trip with a fish count of three real nice cutthroats and two little shakers.

Linda spent her time walking, reading, and catching up with our friends. After a couple days of rain, the weather finally turned around, and we all entertained ourselves with card games and tossing the cornhole bags. Simple fun, good company, and a quiet campground — hard to beat.

As the weekend wound down, I found myself appreciating the simple rhythm of it all — good friends, a quiet river, a few fish, and the kind of easy days that remind you why the St. Joe keeps pulling us back. Nothing fancy, nothing rushed, just time well spent in a place that always feels a little like home.

DB/AI

Checking Out Fishing

Over the past few months, I have spent quite a bit of time recovering from my back surgery. Each small adventure we've tried was a test of how I have been healing. We found that I could pack and get ready for our trips with no problems. I didn't have problems getting into or out of the camper, or better yet, crawling into bed when it was time to rest. After this latest trip, I feel confident saying I'm back to normal, and we can continue our adventures with no worries.

Linda was online this spring and checked out the website for Huckleberry Campground up on the St. Joe River and noticed an opening at our favorite campsite. It was available Monday through Thursday, so she clicked the reserve button and secured the spot. Gotta love retirement and camping during the week.

We loaded up and spent the next few days relaxing in the shade on the banks of the St. Joe and loving it. My test dealing with my recovery from back surgery was to go fly fishing and see if it caused any problems. I can say without a doubt that I was able to fish just like I have in the past. I got a bit tired, but all in all, the fishing was unhampered by my injury. Now I just have to figure out how to catch those critters!

Linda enjoyed her time away from the stress of caregiving. She took walks, read her books, and enjoyed the quiet. On one of her morning walks, she came upon a rabbit that was determined to make her laugh. The rabbit would hide in the brush and then rush out and jump around in free-form dance, much like puppy circles, except, of course, it was a bunny. Linda said it did this about four times before it disappeared into the dense brush and out of sight. She looked for the little bunny every time she walked, but never saw it again. 

Around our campsite, we spotted many different birds, but the one that intrigued us the most was the Grey Catbird with its distinctive songs and cries. It really does sound like a cat at times, and we were able to spot it hiding in the brush next to our camper.

For our dinners, we used our Dutch ovens. The first night, I followed a recipe out of one of my many DO cookbooks for a Mexican enchilada dish.  I put it all together, and as I added ingredients, I thought t it might be a bit too plain and not have an exciting flavor. When I served the meal, we were pleasantly surprised that it had a great flavor and turned out really good! It was delicious!

The second night's meal was an old favorite that we have cooked many times, Chicken Cordon Bleu. The meal is always very flavorful, and everyone loves it. It does, however, take a bit of fussing and mixing to get it all together.  I will be trying some ideas I have to make the process less labor-intensive for the future.

Our three nights on the river went by very quickly. We were sad to have to drive home on Thursday, wishing we had just one more day. 

Lazy Days on the Joe

Last weekend, we drove to one of our favorite campgrounds, Huckleberry. It sits on the bank of the St Joe River. We met up with Bill and Teri Burch.  Also joining us were our next-door neighbors, Jodi and Steve. We had a fun few days playing cards, tossing bean bags, and taking walks. We ate, drank (some of us), told stories, and laughed a lot. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed every moment of our stay.

Wild protesters gather around a fire pit.

On No Kings Day, we silently protested by making signs and taping them to our rigs.  Midway through the afternoon, a camp host came by and said, "Your signs make people uncomfortable,"  and that we should take them down.  We stated our right to free speech and said we would not remove the signs. The host drove away without further comment.  We were ready for more comments, but nothing came, so we quietly enjoyed our little political altercation.

No Kings!

Steve and his bike.

Back In The Camper

A sure sign that you will have a good time when you hit the road to go camping is how much food you have packed into the refrigerator and cupboards. We were busting the seams at the start of this adventure, and all was well. Our four-night adventure connected us with the Andersons once again. This time we were heading up the St. Joe River to one of our favorite Forest Service Campgrounds, Huckleberry.

The drive up to this area took us East on US-90 over 4th of July Pass and then south through the chain lakes area winding along to just outside of St. Maries. We then turned and started following the St. Joe River up to our campsite. 

We set up our camper and enjoyed the sun while waiting for Rayelle, Mike, Julia, and her boyfriend, Joel, to arrive. 

We chatted and had snacks once Mike and Rayelle arrived (Julia and Joel were coming on Friday). I noticed robins scouring the grounds around camp picking up worms and bugs. They would run under our truck and disappear so I followed them and discovered a nest. In the nest were four hungry baby robins. We watched the parents gather insects the entire time we were camped. Those adult birds were busy all day making trip after trip to feed the growing babies. They never stopped collecting. It was amazing to watch.

Linda and I played shuttle driver on Friday and Saturday for the thrill seekers who floated several miles of the river on innertubes.

On the trail from Anderson's campsite to the river, Mike spotted a Yellow Jacket nest hanging above the trail. The nest was in the perfect spot attached to a branch just above your head as you descended to the beach level. It was not noticeable because to get to the beach you had to walk down a small step or two. Your attention was on the ground because of the incline and thus we didn't see the danger the first several times we walked the trail.

As usual, we had a really fun time. We talked and laughed a lot. We played cards and made s'mores over a campfire. We read, cooled off in the river, ate yummy food, and enjoyed some happy hours (it's always 5 o'clock somewhere). Thanks, Andersons, for another fun adventure.

A Good Getaway

 Back in May of this year, Linda jumped online and found that there were very few open camp spots available up the St. Joe in the Huckleberry campground. She looked at our calendar and noted that we would be returning from river trips, but there was a mid-week where we could squeeze a camp out into the timeline.

Between May and the present, many things have changed, forest fires are everywhere and the super hot weather makes going camping a true “Roll of the Dice.” Our river trips did not work out and we were unable to get on the water. Camping looked to be our only possibility to get away from our duties around home.

On Monday, with everything loaded, we left home for the mid-week getaway. Linda needed to be able to return to Cd’A quickly, if something happened with her parents, so she drove the Kia while I followed in the camper. 

Darren and Marcy Upchurch were also camping up at Huckleberry this week so we rendezvous with them when we arrived. 

Tuesday morning I got up and took a bike ride up Spring Creek road which splits off the St. Joe River Road just upriver from the campground. The road is very well maintained and has a good riding surface. The major problem is that it gains elevation very quickly. Elevation gain is no longer a problem for me on my Trek. I put it in “sport” mode and spin my way up to the ridge tops. It is tiring, but it does not wind me like riding without the assist would do. 

View from the ridge above the campground.

Spring Creek Road connects to many other logging roads and at the top of one prominent ridge, it connects with Huckleberry Mountain Road. I took this side road and followed it as it descended back down to our campsite.  The total mileage on this ride was about ten miles, and that was about my limit for that up and downhill adventure.

The next day we drove to the Lines Creek Historical Trail and hiked the loop. We have hiked this trail before, but we were able to get off track and ended up hiking much longer than needed. It was a fun hike on a very nice day.

Back in camp, I took another bike ride. I rode upriver to the green bridge and crossed over. Then I road back downriver to just across from our camp spot. The ride was about six miles.

Looking downriver from Spring Creek road.

Beaver cuts.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Mother nature has not been very good to the Pacific Northwest. When we camped at Riley Creek the temperatures were in the high 90's. Two weeks later the temps up the St. Joe River averaged in the low 100's. Then add smoke from forest fires into the mix and you see why old Mom nature has made these last weeks tough to endure.

Smoke moved in and out during our stay.

On Tuesday the 27th we drove up the St. Joe River for five days of camping with Rayelle, Mike, and Julia Anderson. Reports of forest fire activities were on every media outlet. We had planned this campout since February and our hopes were that the wind would be consistent and blow the smoke east into Montana. 

When we arrived at our campsite the wind was favorable and smoke was not an issue. We got set up and the Andersons had arrived.  Julia brought her friend Lucy and they set up a tent in the shade near the Anderson travel trailer.

Our week together was fun. We took drives and went swimming. The smoke came and went, but the heat was relentless. When we were in camp we chased the shade, moving as the sun moved. Mike and I took a short drive upriver to check out the site where we wanted to enter the river on our float day. Everything looked good.

On Thursday Mike's teaching friend Phil Zimmerman arrived in their RV with his wife Julie and their two boys Noah and Roman. They planned to float the river with us, stay the night and then leave on Friday morning.

Our float on the river started just above Marble Creek and ran down to Huckleberry. Mike had transported our fishing cat, a river kayak, and numerous floating devices up to the river dropping Linda, Julia, Lucy, and myself off to prep the equipment. On the second trip, the truck was filled with the rest of our floaters. 

Our flotilla formed up and we were off downriver. Even though the temperatures were in the 100's the river kept us cool. Our float took us about three hours. Swimming, floating, jumping off rocks, and talking made the trip go fast. It was a fun day and a great way to avoid the heat.

Back at camp, we let Mike and Rayelle chat with their friends. Linda and I ate and went swimming to cool off before bed. That is such a great way to get ready for bed.

When everyone woke up and cleared the sleep from our heads, we loaded into the truck and drove up to Avery. Most of the gang had ice cream at the Idaho Flyfishing Company and then we drove upriver to the swinging bridge just beyond Turner Flats campground. At the pack bridge, we went swimming, keeping cool. The kids, along with  Mike and Phil all climbed the rocks and did some jumping. Once again the river saved us from the heat.

Back at Huckleberry the Zimmermans loaded up and had to return home. It was nice to meet them. We ate dinner and played cards until bedtime. 

"Ya think we have enough boats with us?"

Our final adventure took us back up to Avery where we had a very nice lunch at TFP Takeout. Everyone really enjoyed their lunch of fire-baked pizza. We ate as we watched the Olympics.

Once we returned to camp we made the decision that we would cut the trip short and leave that day. The early exit was brought about because the smoke had moved back down to camp. It made no sense to stay in 100-degree heat and thick smoke. We quickly packed up and drove home. 

Another Huckleberry adventure in the books. We really enjoyed camping with the Andersons. Their laid-back approach to being out and exploring fits with us perfectly. Looking forward to camping in the future, if the heat and smoke ever goes away!

We drove up to the swinging bridge to swim.