Adventure 8: Curlew Lake State Park

A Good Sign Midst the Devastation.

After returning from Priest Lake, the trailer took up residence on the street in front of our house. We washed the lake dust off of it, polished it up, and refreshed the inside. Then we made a trip north to Curlew Lake. It is about 130 miles northeast of Spokane. I wanted to see how the truck would pull the trailer over a long, tough grade. Sherman Pass is a six percent (better in some places) grade that is twenty-six miles long. There were constuction delays and some slow going. I'm happy to report that both truck and trailer performed flawlessly.

Curlew Lake State Park is a quite stunning, if small RV and camping park located on the south shore. It is a favorite of fisherman and families because of the easy boat access. We chose to "boondock" in a grassy area that is the most pleasant space in the park. However, in this area there are no hookups. The hookup circle is in the middle of the park, and from now on will be quite open. The 200 mile wide storm in July hit Ferry County the hardest of any area. Curlew Lake State Park alone lost over eighty trees. Most of the residents in the county were out of power for long periods of time until the utililty poles could be replaced and the lines could be strung. It made us fully aware, once again, of the power of nature.

The biking at Curlew was fabulous. It was about forty miles around the lake with Republic, Washington at one end and Curlew, Washington not far from the other end. We found good bakeries in both places, and we circled the lake in both directions.

It was a long way to pull the trailer, but the riding was good enough to go back. We could spend several longer days riding, which would be quite lovely among the pines and grasslands of Ferry County, a place where life is good, especially today.