​​In The Shadow of Longs Peak

Fish Lake

Fish Lake Area North of Baker City

21 August 2012 thru August 2012

21 AUG 2012:           

Left Longmont at 1:30 PM
Gas stop at Flying J near Rawlins WY
Gas and ice cream stop at Little America, 8:23 PM
Stayed at the Prairie Inn in Evanston, WY.  Clean but definitely low cost.  I do remember a mom as the receptionist with a passel of blonde haired children, all very cute.

22 AUG 2012:           

Mountain Home, ID  at 1:20 PM
Ontario OR at 3:51 PM

23 AUG 2012:

Baker City, OR at 8:28 AM

28 AUG 2012:           

Baker City, OR at 12:45 PM
Burley, ID at 7:34 PM
Tremonton, UT (stayed at the Hampton Inn)

29 AUG 2012:

Little America, WY at 10:55 AM

23 August 2012
Things came together as the morning progressed and left home in Lyons then headed to Longmont for a stop at the bank then to Delicioso for a Taco Azteca. 

Headed out of Longmont around 1:30 PM, going north on Hover to Woodland, then west then north again for the scenic backway thru Loveland and Ft Collins on Taft Hill Road.  Made a stop at the Poudre Path Trail to eat lunch.  I was just starving!

Now onward, up Highway 287, one of my favorite routes on the Front Range where the landscape of Colorado melts into the landscape of Wyoming and Vedavoo well before we see the ‘Welcome to Wyoming’ sign. 

Once in Laramie, I turned unto I-80 and headed west with a stop at the Flying-J just past Rawlins for gas.  I decided not to stop here again, as I got hit up for charity.  I did contribute willingly but there has got to be a better way for us as a society to address those down on their luck.

Then thru Wamsutter (my new get gas place) then Rock Springs, Green River and Little America.

At Evanston, I stop for the night and the Prairie Inn.  There is a young woman at the desk with five cute tow-headed children in the reception area and immediately I think ‘Mormon’ which I think is unfair on my part for sure.  Not a bad place to stay but I was happier once I found the opened the leveler shade above the door and got some air in thru the screen.

24 August 2012

I rose early and continued on into Utah via Echo Canyon with a quick stop at the McDonald’s in Tremonton Utah for breakfast.  My route goes north on I-84 toward Idaho, climbing up and up thru rolling grass covered hillsides.  At the Idaho State Line, I stop and get my boat checked (an aquatic nuisance check).  I pass but actually I am not boating in Idaho so on I go.

Visually, I love this drive:  the open hillsides, no water and I wonder where the Oregon Trail went in these parts.  (Actually, it probably is not thru here.  The Mormon Trail I expect went thru Echo Canyon which is an absolutely stunning drive, then south toward Salt Lake.  The Oregon Trail crossed the Continental Divide at South Pass, WY which is a good deal further north from here…I would still like in my old age to retrace both that trail and Lewis and Clark’s jaunt to the west coast)

Next stop is somewhere near Twin Falls, then again closer to Boise.  I call Kari and then call my folks.  All is looking good and I continue on, with a stop in Oregon at their Port-of-Entry / Information Center.  Here I find out that yes, there is a aquatic nuisance permit required and I am pointed to a sporting goods store in Ontario which I get the needed permit.  Next stop is Albertson’s since I decided that real food for supper and breakfast and some water.  I am really thirsty as the temperature has hovered in the low 90’s over the past two days.  The last stop is for gas where I inquire about the road from Huntington to Richland.  The young man says ‘no problem’.

So I head up and exit the highway at Huntington, past Farewell Bend State Park and into Huntington itself where there is a sign for the Snake River Road.  This bothers me since it seems to be flowing south, not north where it dumps into the Colombia at Lewiston and Clarkson.  Looking at a map as I transcribing this 2+ years later, I see that the Snake River Road actually goes along the Burnt River Road before getting to the Snake.

At first the road I am driving on is paved but only for five miles or so.  Then it turns into a good gravel road, kind of windy but nothing alarming, not much different than Gary’s road and definitely better than the coffee pot road. 

I go slow…or what I imagine is slow, since I am definitely in a ‘lets get there’ frame of mind.

After a time, I hear a sound and assume it is rocks in my wheels as the car seems fairly level and I go on.  This turns out to be a bad assumption and I wonder if the road is really that bumpy so I slow down and capture a glimpse of tire bits  in my side mirror.  Not a good site to see. 

Well, at least I am on a level spot and I pull over. 

The tire is flat and completely ruined, no doubt about it.  I do have a spare.  It did have air, the last time I checked, which was a long time ago.  After unloading all the camping gear, I open the cover and pull out the spare.  Then the jack and spinner thing and got it set up.  Now to remove the lug nuts but there is no wrench…..

On to the next step:  Do I have cell service?  Yes I do and I connect to AAA.  As I hang up, a pickup is approaching and pulls up behind me.  Two guys, my age or so, who determine my spare doesn’t really have enough air and take it back to their place to fill.  Lucky me I think.  They return it and I sit and wait for the tow truck which I expect will arrive around 7:30 PM

I look within:  More bad choices were made in not checking that the tire had air.  Maybe I would have noticed the missing lug wrench.  And no tire pressure gauge for that matter.  Maybe I should have been going slower.  Maybe I should have had a general car check before leaving.  Another note added:  Always know how may miles your current set of tires has.

Oh well.  Let it go.  Move on.  I see now why people sometimes don’t do anything….doing nothing is better than screwing up…

The tow truck does arrive around 7:30.  Evidently he stopped to get his wife who came along for the ride.  In no time the tire is changed.  What now?  Getting a new tire is the first order of business.  I get back to the highway, get out and access tires.  Things seem ok.  I head west of I-84 to Baker City.  In the morning, I will visit Les Schwab. 

A good example of the saying "I am only alive due to the kindness of strangers"

25 August 2012

At Les Schwab, I find out I need a whole new set of tires as Subaru’s don’t do so well with tires not evenly worn. 

At last I am on my way again, with a new set of tires, a new lug wrench and wounded pride. 

From Baker City, I continue west just a bit more on I-84, then east on Oregon Hwy 68, headed toward Richland then Halfway then the Walloma National Forest.  This road is a good 2 lane thru stunning open country, rolling hills, quite brown in this very dry summer.

Before long, I see signs for the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.  So, the Oregon Trail went thru here?  Interesting.  I’ve had a keen interest in the Oregon Trail in years past and I know they went thru South Pass Wyoming but I need to know more about where they went after that. 

This, according to Wikipedia: 
Once across the Snake River ford near Old Fort Boise the weary travelers traveled across what would become the state of Oregon. The trail then went to the Malheur River and then past Farewell Bend on the Snake River, up the Burnt River canyon and northwest to the Grande Ronde Valley near present day La Grande before coming to the Blue Mountains. In 1843 settlers cut a wagon road over these mountains making them passable for the first time to wagons. The trail went to the Whitman Mission near Fort Nez Perces in Washington until 1847 when the Whitmans were killed by Native Americans. At Fort Nez Perce some built rafts or hired boats and started down the Columbia; others continued west in their wagons until they reached The Dalles. After 1847 the trail bypassed the closed mission and headed almost due west to present day Pendleton, Oregon, crossing the Umatilla River, John Day River, and Deschutes River before arriving at The Dalles. Interstate 84 in Oregon roughly follows the original Oregon Trail from Idaho to The Dalles.

But today, I continue eastward.  It takes me about an hour or so to get to the forest service road I am looking for,  At this point, I am feeling pretty worn down, some due to over-reacting to the tire situation, but also the 2 full days of traveling is catching up with me.  I passed thru Richland and note there is no gas station.  Richland is e terminus of the Snake River Road I started out on in Huntington.  Next is Halfway, where there is a Ranger Station (and a gas station) though the town itself is about a mile off the main road.  About 10 miles past halfway is the forest service road intersection I am looking forward.  Now I turn north (and am pleased that the road is paved though I drive quite slowly) to access the national forest road to my destination. 

Off an on, I have ongoing dreams of driving down roads that are poorer and poorer as I go and in a vehicle not meant for such roads.  And, needless to say, in my dreams there is never a chance to turn around.  After a life time of driving into the unknown, it is not unreasonable that I have these dreams.

And looking back over a lifetime, I see I have unknowingly struck out on adventures of all sorts without being adequately prepared and not even knowing that I wasn’t adequately prepared.  This is an interesting observation since I’ve always though of myself as rather thorough and detailed orientated.  Guess not.

These notes were added on 12/24/2021:  This is the trip that Kari drove her 4-wheel drive truck  down a nasty road to one of the three lakes we were going to meet at, did not find me there, went to the next lake, did not find me there and finally wandered in to Fish Lake after dark, so a rough trip for her.   We did a couple of nice hikes and drove to Chief Joseph one day.  The last day, on the way out, we went down to a lake on the Snake River that is above Hells Canyon.