Fortunately it got better over a little time! But —Gravel. Soft gravel. We got stuck pulling into our assigned site and Susan did a heroic job of rocking us back and forth the SEVERAL times to get us out of there! The photos do not show the real picture but may give just a little idea.
After successfully freeing us from the gravel ditch, and upon being directed to basically the same spot, Susan said “no, I don’t think I want to go in there again”. So the helpful owner and camp hosts put their heads together and moved us over one and told Susan to drive onto the grass (what little there was) as it provided a bit harder ground.
Here is our van in the second spot. Rather crowded together, and the only reason we have room with no one parked on our right is because of that soft ditch-making gravel.
The only good thing I came up with at the beginning was that there is good, fast, free WiFi! As I started with … fortunately it got better. We had our first meeting - “meet and greet” - that first afternoon. There are 24 of us camped here and all the women we met are really nice and fun to be around. It was then shaping up to be a good event.
The next morning, and each morning thereafter, we have hot beverages available at the picnic shelter. Always nice to wake up to that, meet a few people we merely had heard names of the day before, and not need to turn on our stove for coffee & tea.
The Swiftwater campground is right on the Salmon River which right now is high and moving fast. That means no fishing on the river, but a few women are planning to research some small streams or rivers nearby. Hopefully that will happen and Susan will get a chance to do some fly fishing.
Bridge near our camp, crossing over the Salmon River.
The second day here we would do a bike ride, and I was sure there would be no bike riding available to me/us. We took a rode suggested by our group leader, Deb (our wrangler), who said there was little traffic and it would bring us to the town of White Bird. So off we went.
Leaving directly from camp we got some glimpses of the river as it narrowed along our way. Here is where we can see it fast moving,
More soft mountains as we rode along the quiet country road, and in just a very short time, we arrived in White Bird.
I thought this was an interesting fire escape. On Studebaker Ln. ;’).
Cool old gate and fence too.
Small town churches are always picturesque.
We continued our climb onward,
We came upon the cutest little girl with her horse, and though we both missed the best ‘pose’, it was still charming to see her with her best friend enjoying each other.
Our friends at camp told us we would come to the battlefield if we continued on past town. Curious to see that, we continued on.
The first sign assured that we would not be walking any trails.
In 1877 the Nez Perce were victorious in the Battle at White Bird.
The trail we did not take.
A bit more riding uphill to round out some mileage and Susan ends it with a smile.
At the top of our climb we looked down on a rather large ranch.
Time to head back and shortly after mounting our bikes, we came upon Simone. She is from Switzerland and is cycling the Trans America route across the US from Astoria Oregon to Washington D.C.. Young, fit, and well equipped with good gear handsomely packed on her bike. It was a highlight for us to meet and chat with Simone, and a highlight for her to meet and chat with us ;’-).
Lunch at Red’s River Cafe in White Bird and back to camp ended our fine day. The miles were fairly short but we did a lot, saw a lot, experienced a lot, and feel it was a very full and fun day.
No comments:
Post a Comment