Idaho - Part 1
We crossed into Idaho in the afternoon, the humidity and temperature had been increasing all morning and by time we reached the boarder it was stuffy and hot!
Crossing the flat terrain we learnt that the area gets less than 10" of rainfall per year and rely heavily on irrigation for their crop of sugarbeet and peppermint of which they are major producers.
We drove towards a wildlife reserve on the Snake River which was to be our camp for the night we saw a Western Painted Turtle in the road, we stopped to move it to safety.
Our chosen camp turned out to be world of mosquitoes and wasps! It also happened to be the exact site of the old Fort Boise. As night fell it was wonderful to listen to chorus of wildlife around us, birds, crickets and all manner of small critters playing their part.
We started the day in style with breakfast tornados (delicious hot food from a gas station) and then headed towards Givens Hot Springs which turned out to be a hot swimming pool full of children so we gave it a miss (after playing dodge the sprinklers outside).
Lunchtime meant a stop at a Walmart Super Center which turns out to be a great place to plan for a zombie apocalypse! Weapons, food, vehicles, tools, they sell everything!
After a few hours (it was that big!) enjoying the air conditioning of Walmart we continued to Boise Old Penitentiary which closed in 1973 soon after riots destroyed many of the buildings. We viewed old cells and facilities (including Death Row and the 'drop' room!) along with an unrelated weapons exhibit which contained weapons from before the civil war up to modern day.
Our next stop was the Bruneau Dunes State Park which contains the largest free standing sand dunes in the USA. Despite the lack of water we continued out battle with mosquitoes and got picked on by an extremely aggressive and territorial blackbird! We were very grateful for the showers. We enjoyed our supper sat watching a big storm roll in across the dunes which eventually reached us in the night. The distant thunder and howls from Coyotes made an atmospheric but not particularly restful nights sleep.
The next morning we took a walk out to the Observatory spotting Coyote footprints on our way. Unfortunately the Observatory was closed during our stay but we did stop at the park's visitor center which had an excellent taxidermy display of local wildlife.
Further on we stopped at a small town called Glenns Ferry where we sought out lunch where we headed to a highly recommended diner where we had the most delicious burgers and were served by exceptionally cheery staff who further recommended a local off-map spot where the original Oregon Trail was visible at a spot it crossed the Snake River.
After this we headed to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center which had wonderful displays and hands-on exhibits about native life and the travellers who took the journey along the Trail. Whilst here the storm from the night before caught up and we again enjoyed a lightening show before pressing on towards Craters of the Moon National Monument.
Craters of the Moon is a striking area of recent volcanic activity, somewhat similar to areas of Iceland (but much hotter!). We had only intended to stay for one night but that evening whilst attending a ranger led wildlife talk we discovered that a local astronomy club were holding a Star Party the following night which sounded too good to miss!
The following day we explored the various trails around the monument, around 5 miles in total which took in Spatter Cones, Tree Moulds, Lava Bombs, Lava Tubes, Cinder Cones, Chipmunks and Pika.
All of the walking in the hot sun prompted a siesta before we headed to the Star Party at midnight. Here we enjoyed talks about the sky and stories about the constellations by the club members before getting hands on with big telescopes through which we viewed the rings of Saturn and Jupiter complete with stripes and 4 moons. Being a dark sky reserve the night sky was also incredible to the naked eye with the Milky Way clearly visible.
Next we were headed for the mountains via the Craters to Peaks scenic byway. Along the way we passed Idaho's tallest peak, Mt Borah and a visible fault line caused by a 7.3 earthquake in 1982 which caused the whole valley floor to drop by 9ft and released billions of gallons of water into the valley.
Along this drive we saw Pronghorns which look like Antelope but are more closely related to Deer, they are one of the fastest land animals and are able to run extended distances at 40mph!
The byway took us through Grand View Canyon and further on we found a free campsite called Deadman's Hole next to the river, having just passed a Ghost Town we were in for a spooky night!
Idaho really caught us by surprise, there's lots more in Idaho - Part 2.
Crossing the flat terrain we learnt that the area gets less than 10" of rainfall per year and rely heavily on irrigation for their crop of sugarbeet and peppermint of which they are major producers.
We drove towards a wildlife reserve on the Snake River which was to be our camp for the night we saw a Western Painted Turtle in the road, we stopped to move it to safety.
Our chosen camp turned out to be world of mosquitoes and wasps! It also happened to be the exact site of the old Fort Boise. As night fell it was wonderful to listen to chorus of wildlife around us, birds, crickets and all manner of small critters playing their part.
We started the day in style with breakfast tornados (delicious hot food from a gas station) and then headed towards Givens Hot Springs which turned out to be a hot swimming pool full of children so we gave it a miss (after playing dodge the sprinklers outside).
Lunchtime meant a stop at a Walmart Super Center which turns out to be a great place to plan for a zombie apocalypse! Weapons, food, vehicles, tools, they sell everything!
After a few hours (it was that big!) enjoying the air conditioning of Walmart we continued to Boise Old Penitentiary which closed in 1973 soon after riots destroyed many of the buildings. We viewed old cells and facilities (including Death Row and the 'drop' room!) along with an unrelated weapons exhibit which contained weapons from before the civil war up to modern day.
Our next stop was the Bruneau Dunes State Park which contains the largest free standing sand dunes in the USA. Despite the lack of water we continued out battle with mosquitoes and got picked on by an extremely aggressive and territorial blackbird! We were very grateful for the showers. We enjoyed our supper sat watching a big storm roll in across the dunes which eventually reached us in the night. The distant thunder and howls from Coyotes made an atmospheric but not particularly restful nights sleep.
The next morning we took a walk out to the Observatory spotting Coyote footprints on our way. Unfortunately the Observatory was closed during our stay but we did stop at the park's visitor center which had an excellent taxidermy display of local wildlife.
Further on we stopped at a small town called Glenns Ferry where we sought out lunch where we headed to a highly recommended diner where we had the most delicious burgers and were served by exceptionally cheery staff who further recommended a local off-map spot where the original Oregon Trail was visible at a spot it crossed the Snake River.
After this we headed to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center which had wonderful displays and hands-on exhibits about native life and the travellers who took the journey along the Trail. Whilst here the storm from the night before caught up and we again enjoyed a lightening show before pressing on towards Craters of the Moon National Monument.
Craters of the Moon is a striking area of recent volcanic activity, somewhat similar to areas of Iceland (but much hotter!). We had only intended to stay for one night but that evening whilst attending a ranger led wildlife talk we discovered that a local astronomy club were holding a Star Party the following night which sounded too good to miss!
The following day we explored the various trails around the monument, around 5 miles in total which took in Spatter Cones, Tree Moulds, Lava Bombs, Lava Tubes, Cinder Cones, Chipmunks and Pika.
All of the walking in the hot sun prompted a siesta before we headed to the Star Party at midnight. Here we enjoyed talks about the sky and stories about the constellations by the club members before getting hands on with big telescopes through which we viewed the rings of Saturn and Jupiter complete with stripes and 4 moons. Being a dark sky reserve the night sky was also incredible to the naked eye with the Milky Way clearly visible.
Next we were headed for the mountains via the Craters to Peaks scenic byway. Along the way we passed Idaho's tallest peak, Mt Borah and a visible fault line caused by a 7.3 earthquake in 1982 which caused the whole valley floor to drop by 9ft and released billions of gallons of water into the valley.
Along this drive we saw Pronghorns which look like Antelope but are more closely related to Deer, they are one of the fastest land animals and are able to run extended distances at 40mph!
The byway took us through Grand View Canyon and further on we found a free campsite called Deadman's Hole next to the river, having just passed a Ghost Town we were in for a spooky night!
Idaho really caught us by surprise, there's lots more in Idaho - Part 2.
Comments
Post a Comment