Adventure 6: The St Joe River

First Boondocking Adventure!

The St Joe River, a world class catch and release trout fishing destination, winds its way from St. Maries, Idaho up through the mountains toward Montana. There are a number of organized campgrounds and even more boondocking possibilities along the river. We met friends somewhere around mile marker sixty-eight. It was the first time we actually boondocked, and we stayed five days around mid-July. We had a prime water front site with room for three trailers, easy access to the river, and actually right along the road. Our site was a pull through that was easy enought to level. The only drawback was that the flora and fauna along that stretch is so lushly appointed with tall firs, aromatic cedars, stands of Tamarac, and patches of white Pine that very little sun got through the canopy to power the solar panel. The sacrifice was worth it. Our fire pit sat on a flat patch below the trailers. Just a stone's throw from the water, we enjoy the rippling water both by the fire and as a melody for night sleeping. The bicycle riding is excellent as well. Rides of any distance are possible on a nicely paved road that runs from St. Maries to the top of Idaho, where it becomes gravel. Traffic is light and we rode daily at least thirty miles. We could have stayed longer if we'd have managed our black water better. Battery power was still at thirty percent when we left, and because we brought bottled water to drink, we had plenty of fresh water on board.

We had a quite thrilling event occur the afternoon before we left. We had ridden about twenty miles to Red Ives, a forest service station along the south fork of the river. As we enjoyed our lunch, which we shared with the scavenger birds, we noticed the sky darkening. We decided to make a quick return to camp. Just after we put our bikes away, it began. Huge wind and golf ball sized hail rained down on us like the plagues of Egypt. The noise was deafening; the hail hurt us as we quickly tried to square the loose ends of camp away. Finally, as I stood under the awning of the trailer wondering whether it would withstand the wind, even though it was mostly rolled up, I noticed the water. The hail was causing simultaneous splashes like frozen scud missiles to burst from the river. I must have been mesmerized by the splashes because I didn't hear or notice the one-hundred foot cedar tree just below me to the left that was flattened by the force of the wind. the storm ended as quickly as it came, but it lasted a good fifteen minutes. The winds were in excess of fifty, and the temperature dropped about twenty degrees. As we surveyed the wrath of nature, we noticed the cedar, which was three feet in diameter at its base. It was now toppled and lay across the river like the beginning of a beaver's dam. Limbs and debri were everywhere, and many other trees along the road were down. As experienced northwesterners, we'd all seen quick and vilent storms before, especially in the mountains. We didn't think much of it. In fact, we thought we had just experienced a micro-climate event. Nonetheless, it was awesome. The trailers suffered no damage, but we did have to clean annoying limb debri from every crevice the traliler offered. Since we were out of cell phone range, we didn't realize the extent of the storm, but it was over two-hundred miles wide, downed hundreds of trees, left thousands without power, damaged or ruined many structures, and killed at least four people. All in all, one tree down in the camp ground made us feel lucky.

I'm glad the next event happened in remote north Idaho and not some busy RV park anywhere else. When we were emptying our brim full black water tank, the pressure of the fluids unhinged the hose causing nasty spillage. I learned that I shouldn't lift the stop gate so quickly and I also learned to tighten the hose clamp more securely. Anyway, after extensive cleanup, we were on our way; no one was the wiser about our ineptness. In the final analysis, it was an exquisite boondocking trip into some of the most beautiful country in our area, assuring one more claim that life is good, especially today.