A Few Days at Beavercreek Campground

Our last visit to Beavercreek Campground on Priest Lake was back in August of 2022. That trip was spent with our good friends the Andersons, soaking in the views of the lake and wandering the trails around the campground. This week we found ourselves back in that same peaceful spot, only this time we were joined by our friends John and Loretta Sutherland.

Looking northeast into the Selkirks.

The weather showed off for us — blue skies, warm sun, and just enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes guessing. We stayed three nights, settling into that easy rhythm that only camping seems to create. Evenings were spent in camp chairs, swapping stories, solving the world’s problems, and laughing about everything else we couldn’t solve.

Each morning Linda would head out for her daily walk and return with a new story or observation from her adventures — sometimes about wildlife, sometimes about people, and occasionally about something only Linda could spot in the woods. I took a long walk myself, following the lake trail south. I managed to get close to a lake‑access camp area in Teacher Bay. That bay was my goal, but I had been out for quite a while, and eventually I turned around and hustled back to our campsite before anyone sent out a search party.

There were hundreds of butterflies.

We spent most of our time relaxing or playing cards. One thing we did notice was the large number of trees that had blown down during winter. It must have been a harsh one, but the landscape has been recovering nicely, with new growth already filling in the gaps.

For our evening meals we enjoyed three very tasty delights. On the first night we had an easy‑to‑fix standby of soup (clam chowder), salad, and cookies. The second meal was a bit international — Greek gyros. We cooked up some lamb, added feta cheese, tzatziki, and lettuce, and wrapped it all in a warm pita. Simple, delicious, and perfect for camping. Our final meal was traditional barbecue hamburgers, but boy, were they good.

On the drive home we were treated to one of those moments that instantly upgrades a trip: a bull moose sighting. We were heading south along one of my favorite stretches of highway when something dark stepped out of the brush and into a wide green clearing. Sure enough — a bull moose, antlers still covered in velvet and looking like he owned the place.

I slowed the camper and found a wide spot to pull over. After putting the truck in park, I hopped out and walked to the back of the rig just in time to see him step onto the road and stroll across the asphalt like he had an appointment on the other side. We were probably 500 yards away, but there was no mistaking that silhouette. I managed to get a few photos with the phone — proof for anyone who thinks moose are just mythical creatures invented by the Idaho tourism board.

There’s something about spotting wildlife in the middle of a trip that adds a little spark to the day. It’s a reminder that these places are alive, and that sometimes the best moments are the ones you don’t plan.

As we rolled the rest of the way home, I found myself thinking about how lucky we are to have places like Priest Lake close by — places where a few days of simple living, good friends, and a surprise moose can reset the soul. Trips don’t have to be long or complicated to be memorable. Sometimes all it takes is a quiet campground, a few shared meals, and the beauty of Idaho doing what it does best.

Big cone, small cone.

Peeling hard boiled eggs.

Bull moose crossing!

The end of the camping adventure.

DB/AI

Memorial Day Moose

Deer across the river.

Monday was Memorial Day and historically the Memorial Day weekend is the official start of the camping season. Our observations have proven that you do not want to go near the woods on that holiday. There would probably be less people around you if you were to stay home and camp in your backyard.

The Bennett answer to this is to stay put and then on Monday afternoon, when everyone and their dogs are heading back into town, you drive up to the spot where you would like to camp. Then you can enjoy the wilderness taking some deep post-invasion breaths.

Our evening fires are the best!

As we drove up the Coeur d’Alene River, RV after RV lined the highway. The national forests were spewing humans in a mighty run-off, and we were heading upstream. We pulled off at Teddy Creek and Linda walked into one of our favorite spots to check and see if it was empty. It was. With a wave of her hand, she called me in and we set up our home for a two-day visit.

Looking out our camper door.

The evening was very quiet and we sat around the fire gazing across the river.  A deer came down for a drink; Linda and I watched in silence. Kobi chased sticks as we ate a late dinner. It was cold when we went to bed, the sound of the river brought sleep as soon as we snuggled in.

Linda woke up and quietly went outside, letting Kobi out of the truck and starting a morning fire. I made coffee and tea, and then sat down to enjoy the morning. As I took my first hot sip, I looked out the camper window and spotted a pair of ears sticking up across the river. A moose was looking our way, relaxing without a care in the world. I picked up my camera and stuck my head out of the camper and alerted Linda of the critter’s presence.

Just another big moose across the river.

It lay, watching us watch it, for quite a while. I moved out onto the steps of the camper and took pictures. The moose must have noticed me moving because it stood up. Low and behold, when SHE stood up, there was a tiny calf moose right by her side. She stood there and the baby nursed. Baby moose looked to be only about two days or so old, maybe less.

The cow moved into the river and stopped to go to the bathroom. I have a photo of the two moose relieving themselves in the river; baby mimicking mama exactly. It’s quite a sight. Once they were feeling better, they wandered across the rushing river and disappeared upstream.

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I took quite a few pictures as this all happened, so I hope you don’t mind all the ones I posted. We were pretty excited.

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We ate breakfast and I got my gear on and headed downstream fishing. Linda read a bit and then walked the dog. As I approached the highway bridge downriver, a moose came out of the thicket on the right bank and crossed into the river. This happened about 15 yards away. Needless to say I stood as still as possible and let it saunter across below me. When the bridge abutment blocked the moose’s view I moved so that I was in a safe area and let it disappear into the brush.

Linda and Kobi were walking to the bridge to see if they could spot me fishing and guess who came up and across the road in front of them? The moose! She said they stopped and backed away and let the moose disappear into the trees.

When Linda arrived at the bridge, I came up and we walked on together. We don’t know if it was the same moose as we saw that morning. The calf was not present and there were many moose in this part of Idaho.

Our walk took us upriver to the bridge above camp. Linda wanted to check out the campsites up there, and I wanted to see if there were any morel mushrooms available in this area. The morels have been growing like crazy due to a forest fire that had gone through this area last year. I have had friends that have been picking morels I wanted to give it a shot.

I climbed up the bank and immediately found some of those tasty little buggers. So I picked them. There were about a gallon that I put in my hat and brought back to the camper. I actually walked back to that spot and picked about two gallons total. What a find!

We ate dinner and sat around the campfire enjoying the evening. Both of us wondered if the cow moose and calf would come back to the bed across the river, but they didn’t. We slept well that evening and in the morning packed up to drive home.

We took a bit of a detour when we left Teddy Creek. We drove upriver and checked out our favorite moose spot above 16 ½ mile camp. As we approached Linda spotted another moose and took some pictures. We turned around and headed home. Halfway down the river another moose ran up the bank and out in front of the truck. I was able to slow down with no problem and it ran along the highway and turned up a logging road, moving quickly away from danger (us).  Our visit was productive as moose go. We added up the tally and found that we spotted 4.1 moose on this short trip. The .1 was the baby, but  it definitely was the cutest of the bunch!

Just part of my mushroom find. (Lookout, hat hair!)

The fourth moose of the trip.

St Joe Birthday

Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear Linda,
happy birthday to you!

Linda's birthday breakfast.

July 24th is the most important day of the year and this year we spent that day up on the St. Joe River camping with friends at Huckelbery Campground. We caravaned up to the campground with Bill and Teri Burch and grabbed two camp spots.  The place was packed!  Our sites were next to each other and very nice.  We had a great evening of sitting around the campfire and just resting.

The next day Ryan, Holly, Zane and Anica Edwards drove up and camped with us.  Ryan's dad Russ joined us and spent a night around the fire.  Ryan and I went fly fishing and we really had a good time. Back at the campground the kids went swimming and had a lot of fun.

Fudge brownies after birthday dinner.

On Linda's birthday we were joined by Rayelle, Mike and Julia Anderson and we celebrated Linda's big day all together.  We had a great trip, I got to fish and Kobi was kept real busy by the kids.

On the way home we were lucky and Linda spotted a big old cow moose eating in one of the marshes next to the road.  If I am not mistaken this is the eleventh moose I have been able to see this year.

Campfire fun.

Blowing bubbles.

Breakfast of champions!

Look at this photo.

Then look at this one. Coincidence? Hummm...

De Ja Moose

I don't for the life of me know why i woke up when i did. It may have been a weird feeling somewhere in my subconscious, or it may have been the tingle of my cold toes. When my eyes popped open, there, right beside the camper was a young moose browsing on the foliage surrounding our rig. 

Looking out the camper window, 6 am.

I tumbled out of bed and grabbed the camera. My movement must have caught it's eye, because it turned and sauntered into the brush. Durring this excitement, Kobi the wonder dog, slept soundly. He was probably aware of the huge critter, but since it was not trying to climb into the camper, he just kept his eyes closed and rested. 

With the moose gone, I climbed back under the warm covers and looked out the window.  Once when we were camped in this exact camp sight we woke to a cow moose checking out our camp. Check out the blog entry called "16 1/2 Mile Camp Cd'A River". 

A cow on the alert.

We drove up the Coeur d'Alene River on Friday night. I picked Linda up at Fernan and we the trek along this beautiful river. As we drove, trees reflected in the clear water and it's surface was rippled by fish dimples as they sipped the evening hatch.

This little guy was in a hurry.

At the Teddy Creek camp area we pulled in but all the sites were taken by hunting camps.  It looked like the US Army had set up base camp in this area, these boys were here to stay! It took us about two minutes to turn around and head back up river.  We spotted empty camps at the rock beach and also up Flat Creek but we continued on to the 16 1/2 Mile camp that we like so well.  Linda jogged down in and came back with two thumbs up so I slowly pulled down, turned around and backed into place.  The camp was a mess, but Linda and I come prepared and the clean-up only took about ten minutes. Why is it OK to put beer cans, glass bottles and aluminum foil into the camp fire? Also, why do people not consider cigarette butts litter? I ponder these two questions every time we go out camping. The cigarette but thing is everywhere. I see people drop their butts on the street every time I come to a stop light.  I don't get it!

If you look close you can see the calf's face hidden.

With camp set we cooked a great meal of hot dogs over the grill and then took Kobi fro his evening walk.  We cleaned up, played cribbage and went to bed.

After the excitement of the moose morning we ate scones and drank our morning brews. Linda had taken Kobi for a run down river and so once we were finished with our morning meal we headed up river for a walk.

About a half mile up river we came to one of our favorite game viewing areas and sure enough there were two moose browsing in the back water of the river.  We spotted a cow moose and her young one.  As soon as we were noticed the cow had her little one take cover.  I got a shot of the little moose scampering into the brush but was never able to get a good shot of it or the two  moose together.  I did get some nice shots of the mother moose, she was concerned, but was not in a supper hurry to leave.  She gathered up the young one and they moved away from the road after about fifteen minutes.


We walked back to down the road waving at passing cars and chatting with a fisherman.  I looked across the river and something caught my eye.  Laying on the warm rocks, up on a far cliff side was a light gray spot that didn't look right.  We stopped and watched.  As soon as I confirmed that the gray spot was a coyote basking in the sun, it got nervous and slowly moved out.  I was able to get a couple shots of it and using some software, I cropped the best on down.  You can see the critter in the first shot but it is much clearer in the second.  I confirmed it to be a coyote, Linda wanted it to be a wolf.  She has "seeing a wolf in the wild" on her bucket list and really wanted to mark that one off.

Back at camp I got the fly rod out and went fishing. Linda and Kobi played in the river and we enjoyed our day.  I took a few pictures of Kobi and just as I did a group of Mergansers swam past. Kobi couldn't resist the chase and I thought it was a classic series of photos showing our dogs never ending attempt to catch animals and birds.  He has never been successful, but he never gives up either. 
Back at the camper we built a fire and ate dinner.  We slept well and got up at a decent hour.  Rain had moved in and the sound of the drops hitting the roof rousted us out of bed.  It was a short shower, but we packed up early and drove home just the same.  Linda had work to do at school and I needed to take the camper off the truck.  I have a few upcoming adventures that will call for a truck without a camper and so I used the rest of the Sunday afternoon to drop it off at the Anderson's.

"What's that?

"I'll get em!"

"What ever."

 

Just Another Day In Paradise

This morning we got up, had our coffee, packed a lunch and walked out to the Jeep for a drive to the top of Red Horse Mountain. We had heard that there was a real good view from there and we hoped to see some game as an added bonus.  Just as we were about to leave our neighbor knocked on the door and said "There is a moose just down the street!"  We grabbed the camera and ran out to the front yard.  There he was, walking right in front of our house.  He hung around for a while and browsed on the neighborhood greens.  Then he must have got thirsty and he wandered toward the river.

Linda and I loaded Kobi in the Jeep and we drove out to Beauty Bay and up the forest service road #453, the same on we followed less than a month ago.  Then when we hit the saddle we turned left on to road #430   which led south east and once we found the road to the top of Red Horse Mountain we cranked the Jeep in low and climbed to the top at 4398 ft. We took some pictures and then came back down where we turned right and proceeded to follow forest service road #614.  We dropped off the ridge on road #539 that came out on the Kaillarney Lake road.

We drove over to the Coeur d'Alene River and let Kobi jump into the water.  That dog will jump off anything for a stick or a ball.  Once he was wet we drove to the Rose Lake trail head for the Trail of the Coeur d"Alene's Bike Trail where had lunch.

With lunch over we drove back to Coeur d'Alene and Linda did some shopping down town.  Kobi and I sat 
on the street and watched the comings and goings of the down town crowd. We drove home and put things away, we both laughed about driving all that way through the mountains and saw the moose in our front yard. Yes, we do live in paradise.

Continuing on through the weekend I got up early on Saturday morning and went out fishing for Blueback on Lake Coeur d'Alene.  I hitched the boat up to the Jeep and drove out to Booth Park where I launched.  I fished for about five hours, caught some Blueback and one small bass.  I worked on getting familiar with the down riggers.  By the end of my session I got so that I could get everything set and down to the depth I wanted with out a single snag.