I had two events occurring almost simultaneously at the end of August; a family reunion in Kennewick, Washington and a meetup with some friends in Bluff, Utah to run the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route (BDR). This left me with four days in between the end of the family reunion on the 27th and the meetup in Bluff on the 31st, so rather than drive all the way back to Portland for several days, I decided to pickup the Idaho BDR east of Kennewick, near the town of Grangeville, Idaho and spend a few days heading south through the mountains of Idaho.
I began the journey heading south of our Grangeville on the Grangeville-Salmon Road / forest road 221, winding my way through the hills past the Snowhaven and Fish Creek Meadows ski areas. I continued south towards the ghost town of Florence, splitting off onto forest road 643 which took me to the old Florence Cemetery. I do not think that there is anything left of Florence itself, although perhaps I missed it if there is.
The Florence Cemetery is definitely a worthwhile stop and I spent almost an hour there. I did not see any original markers, but the cemetery is restored with wooden markers and is well taken care of.
Continuing south on the 643 road, it was not long after I left the cemetery that I came across three moose grazing in a wetlands area just off the road. They were as surprised to see me as I was them, so they beat a hasty retreat into the forest – but not before I was able to snap a quick photo.
As a western Oregon guy, this is the first moose that I have seen in the wild so it was pretty exciting! It is also a reminder that I need to keep my camera at the ready because I was only able to capture the slow one. This would come back to haunt me later, when a black bear ran across the road near Yellow Pine, and I was unable to get a photo.
I ran into two downed trees on this trip, a small one on the 221 road south of Florence that I was able to get over, and then an 18-inch monster (if you cannot chop it with an axe, it is a “monster”!) across Elk Creek Road, east of Warren. Since I was heading to Utah on this trip, I left my chainsaw behind, which was a big mistake. I did not expect to run into fallen trees in late August, but evidently in Idaho that is still a thing – even this late in the season. Fortunately for me (and an adventure bike rider coming the other way), there was a guy behind me that was carrying his chainsaw (Idaho native – he knew the deal!) and we were able to clear the tree in about thirty minutes. Elk Creek Road is no joke, and if I would have had to turn around it would have cost me several hours – lesson learned.
Downed trees aside, it was a great trip to Yellow Pine – but that is where I ran into numerous road closures due to fires in the Boise National Forest. I tried skirting around the closure at Yellow Pine by heading to Warm Lake, but the highway to Cascade was closed, along with the Landmark-Stanley Road south of Yellow Pine. I was trapped, so I headed back north to Yellow Pine (where a black bear ran across the road in front of me, so not a complete loss!) and made my way out to McCall via the Lick Creek Road. Even though my Idaho BDR adventure had been cut short, I could get down to Bluff, Utah a day early and do some exploring on my own, before the crew showed up to run the Utah BDR.
I am looking forward to getting back over to Idaho to explore more of the area. It is amazing country with a lot of elevation and a lot of wildlife that I do not get to see, here in western Oregon. Utah would be equally impressive, but that is a story for another day.