Saturday July 23, South Fork Forest Camp on the road to Elk City, ID

We have had a great day exploring the remote areas of central Idaho. We so enjoyed the campsite that we booked it for another night. It’s such a small campground with only 8 campsites, but just delightful.

We headed for Elk City 30 miles further on up the road following the river, and we had heard from one of the campers that they were celebrating “Elk City Days’ this weekend which sounded like a bit of fun and entertainment and perhaps a chance to meet some of the local characters. The road was great, gently winding and climbing, and so picturesque following the river. There were little campsites dotted along the road, motor biking on the forestry tracks is a real popular pastime.

We emerged from the forest and arrived in Elk City but no Elk City Days…they are in the middle of August! It was quite an “interesting” little place, only one store and a post office still operating with lots of empty buildings. There had been a gold rush in this area in the late 1800’s and as with many of these small towns they have just died. There was quite a bit of open prairie land around the town with a number of cabins and small blocks with quite new houses, seems to be a popular weekend destination.

It was a glorious day, not a cloud in the sky and temps in the mid 20’s, which was so pleasant. They had been predicting temps in the high 30’s in Lewiston for the weekend, so pleased that we are in the mountains.

We had heard about another small community 30 miles further on called Dixie and it seemed like a good idea to see what was there. We climbed further up in the mountains now following the Red River, but it was a great road until the final 4 miles of gravel.

It wasn’t long and a female moose ran across the road in front of us, she had been in the river and was heading up into the woods so didn’t get a very good picture, but still great to see. Saw the remnants old mining camps and lots of tailings beside the river.

Had a chat with a young guy working for Fish and Game, they had a fish catching wheel to catch the small fingerling salmon and steelheads as they head downstream and out to the ocean. Each day he would weigh, tag and record these little fish that were less than 2 inches long. Quite a job.

We climbed to 6000 feet before we dropped down a little into Dixie and were so surprised to find a lot of well looked after and newish cabins and homes, it had a great feeling to it. 12 people live there permanently over the winter, but it is a great recreation area.

We were turning around in front of a very nice looking Hunting Lodge when the couple sitting on the deck came out to have a chat. Rick and Debbie were so friendly and invited us in to have a look around their wonderful log building which has 9 bedrooms and a restaurant. This time of the year is their quiet time, but the autumn brings the hunting season, where they guide clients into 250,000 acres of wilderness on horseback and mules. Winter is also busy with backcountry skiers and snowmobilers. They have been here for 11 years and it is a busy but fun lifestyle for them. Provisions have to be brought in from 3 1/2hours away, an amazing amount of organisation. Have a look at their website, www.silverspurlodge.com

Then it was a 2 hour drive back down the road to the camp, just in time to catch the last of the sun and get the campfire going. A really good day.