Mylar Balloons, Wolves, and Moose Stumps

We loaded up the old camper and headed up the Coeur d'Alene River to the Shoshone Creek turn off, and then chugged up to our favorite spot by Rampike Creek. The weather was a bit hit and miss but we have been trying to get away for about four weeks now.

Over the weekend we noticed that there was very little traffic on the roads. Most camps were open, so I guess the rain has done the job there. We took our bikes and did a bunch of riding each day. Kobi is a real good bike dog. We were able to control him most of the time.

When Kobi is in his fun chase mode he can get a bot out of control some times. It's not bothersome to most people, but can get Linda and I a little tense when he takes off and runs, and then does not come back when we call him. It doesn't happen that often, but when it does it is usually brought on by other animals; dogs, cats, or things that move.

Like I said the rain came off and on over the weekend but it didn't stop our daily camp duties. We built fires each day and actually were able to keep them going in between showers. As we sat, warming by the fire I noticed a bright spot in the trees across the road and up toward the top of the ridge. At first I thought it was a bird and the white area was it's head. So we got out the binoculars and tried to get a better look. It wasn't a bird, we knew that for sure, but it really looked like a mylar balloon stuck in the tree. We looked and talked about it for the longest time. It could be a hole in the tree branches that reach through to the sky over the ridge, but it was really far down on the ridge and that really didn't fit the perspective. Mylar balloons were our best answer, but we could not prove that for a fact so that is where we left it.

Linda worked out each day and took Kobi with here when ever possible. On Sunday she ran down river without the dog. On the return leg of her run she was running past one of the big camps down river when she saw what she though was a wolf running across the road in front of her. Now she will admit that it could have been a coyote, but it looked much bigger then the coyotes she has seen in the past. It gave her quite a scare and made her nervous the rest of the way back to camp. There are wolves up in this area, people have been seeing them for the past several years. We are sticking to this story, it may be a little weak due to it being early morning and only Linda seeing the critter, it makes a better story in my book.

On the way home from our weekend, we were driving along the main tributary of the Coeur d'Alene River. The speed limit is 50 mph but because of the road conditions and the big camper I always drive slower. As we came around a corner, I spotted a moose in the backwater of the river. His head was down and it looked like he was feeding. As we got closer, the moose changed into a tree stump. Wow magic! Well I guess it may have been my eyes and the fact that I was driving. At least Linda's wolf was confirmed to be either a wolf or coyote.

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee

Yes, the left eye was completely swollen shut. No, he did not go ten rounds with Oscar de la Hoya. Kobi stuck his head into a bush to get his toss ring and the next second he had his head in my crotch, and his eye was shut. It was sad, but funny at the same time. He didn't know what hit him.

Linda and I drove up the Coeur d'Alene river this weekend, but ended up on Shoshone Creek at one of our usual spots. We left Friday after work, but by the time we got up the main river most of the good spots were taken. Several camps only had a tent or a truck in them, which generally means that someone had driven up and staked the camp site out for the weekend and then went back and left the items. I don't like that style of camp hording, I think that on Friday it should be every camper for them selves.

We tried all our usual spots and they were full so we drove down river and headed up Shoshone Creek. We figured that if we failed there we could drive back and camp in our front yard. We did find a spot and had a great weekend.

On Saturday I fished up stream and caught a bunch of little fish. The creek is running very low so about all I could do was fish the pools and hope for one or two big guys to be hiding and I could draw them out.

We had two great meals while we were there. We did the usual camping stuff; walk, eat, fish and throw the ring for Kobi.

Shoshone Creek Ramblings

Of all the items that I never go anywhere without, my camera stayed exactly where I put it last week and so there are no trip photos. What this means is that I am obligated to fill this blog entry with my ramblings.

They are called “Puppy Circles”, they are not found mysteriously stamped into a wheat field somewhere on the Palouse. We can’t seem to predict when they will happen or especially why or what sets them off. It happened today when Linda and I were sitting in Shoshone Creek on our river chairs. You can see it building; Kobi gets a look in his eye and kind of squats down. His tail goes about a million miles an hour and then it all breaks loose. Kobi starts running as hard as he can, low to the ground deliberately reaching for the next stride his small legs pulling and pushing with all his strength. He corners low and wild, loosing much of his control due to the speed and centrifugal force of the maneuver. Sometimes he just stops short and puts his head down his little butt up in the air, tail wagging.

Today’s puppy circles were extreme. I think it was the location. With Kobi up to his belly in water every move produced a turgid spray of liquid. Linda was his main race pylon and he cut in as close as he could as he rounded her. When he wasn’t circling Linda, he spent his time trying to lie under her chair. This process posed a problem because he had to push his head under water. He was perplexed, usually he was able to snuggle under the chair and lay. With the water, his favorite spot was not available. That didn’t stop him from trying and as he pushed his head under the chair you could hear him blowing bubbles keeping the water out of his nose. Unable to get under the chair, the puppy Circles continued.

With twenty minutes of circles behind us, we all went for a walk along Shoshone Creek road. Out camp spot was in the sun and the area along the gravel byway definitely never has gotten direct sun so it was a cool and pleasant place to walk. When we returned to our camp it was about 5:00PM. The sun was still out hitting this location in full force. We had noted the spot across the road and it was in shade starting around 2:30PM. We quickly made a decision to move our camp over across the road to the other spot. The pros were less flies and more shade. The con was that it was closer to the road therefore it would be dusty whenever a vehicle went by. We hadn’t had a lot of traffic yet so we hoped that we could manage the dust in exchange for shade in the hot Saturday afternoon.

After we made our new camp we ate dinner. Linda got quiet and asked me if I remembered this day one year ago. I’m not much on dates so of course nothing came to mind. She said that one year ago exactly, August 15, 2007, was the day we had to put Baka down. We were quiet for a while and I said he was still the “best” dog. We’ll visit him this Sunday when we go up to John and Loretta’s for dinner.

Saturday morning was cool and quiet. Linda got up and ran, I stayed in bed and slept, our usual camp morning. From about 10:00AM till about 2:00PM, I went fishing. I started from camp and fished up about a mile and a half and then turned back. It was the first time I had fished for a very long time and I was a bit rusty. As I walked up stream the touch it takes, started coming back and I was able to get the fly where I wanted it.

Fishing was real good if you liked relocating little fish. About every cast I would get a strike and every other cast I would catch a fish, move it ten yards downstream and then release it. I kept thinking about how good this was for the fish population. I would move the fish around thus keeping the bloodlines mixed up. I did catch several good fish though, and one was particularly satisfying.

The run swept in from the left and pushed up against a layered rock face. Just at the tail of the turn was a green moss covered rock that split the current. The current closest to me spilled down about an eight inch drop and the rest of the clear water swept behind the green bolder and flowed into the pool below. This entire area was in the shade so it was cool and quiet. I approached downstream and found a log on the bank where I could have my lunch of string cheese and a hardboiled egg. As I ate I watched the run. Bugs were coming off the water, caddis, light brown; the perfect elk hair caddis color and size.

As I drank some water I noticed a dimple quickly appear and a bubble form just behind the slime rock in a shaded slick of the current. The bubbles slowly moved on downstream entering the tail out pool on the far side. My attention was fixed to the spot of the dimple when I saw a caddis struggling in the current just above where the bubble had appeared previously. It fluttered a moment and then I saw a nose dolphin up and all that remained was a bubble in a ring. This sight is something that makes fly fishermen shake, their breath quicken and mussels key up. I quickly put away all my lunch items and picked up my rod. I had been fishing a Stimulator up to this point and it had been doing well for me, but I wanted to make sure I was serving up what that fish was feeding upon, so I snipped it off and put it away. I looked through my caddis collection and found what I felt was the right bug for the right moment. The tippet was still good so I tied the caddis on; making sure the knot was impeccable.

The fish rose again as I readied my line. From the type of rise I knew that this fish was a bit bigger than the ones I had been bunging out of the water and transplanting. Placing a bit of Gink on the fly I stripped the line off the reel. I took a faults cast and then dropped the fly on the water. It glided downstream and at the last moment peeled toward me on the wrong side of the rock. Quickly I picked the fly off the water so that I would not catch any of the smaller kamikaze fish from the pool below and readied my second attempt with a back cast. Drawing a bit more line out on the back cast I sped up my line. This time the fly fluttered down closer to the rock face and touched the water. It drifted and caught the current behind the mossy rock. The fly hung there for a second, and then there was a slurp and a splash as I set the hook.

The fish was a bit bigger than the ones I had been catching, but nothing that would set records. It fought well, but there was no worry that it would break the line and escape. Why then did this particular fish stick in my mind as the best catch out of probably fifty fish throughout the day? Fly fishermen would know the answer right away. It was because I saw it rise, I figured out what it was feeding upon, I stalked it and fooled it into taking my fly. That’s what it’s all about.
Once home we played with the dog in the stream where it formed a pool. We are teaching him about current in the water and this area was just the ticket for that exercise. Kobi is a true swimmer and he has no fear of the water or anything connected with it.

Once we swam for a while we went for a walk and played Chuck-It. This dog toy is amazing; I would wear out my arm tossing the tennis ball without it. Kobi loves to chase and bring back the ball. We finished walking and chasing at about dark. We ate dinner and put Kobi into his crate and read for a while.

Sunday we loaded up and drove to the Shoshone Ranger Station and dumped the camper waist. As we drove into town we stopped at Wolf Lodge Bay where we tossed the duck for Kobi. We drove home and unloaded the camper , we were done by 1:00PM.