In the Summertime....

 Image used with permission from LightShaft 2013 -please do not copy or use this image. Moose in Northern Idaho, Shoshone county.

 

 

 

The North West of the USA, is covered in Campers and tents. In Northern Idaho, this is especially true. I have never lived in an area so concentrated with this form of holiday-ing. I lived in British Columbia, where camping and tenting are commonplace but I don't ever recall people just parking their campers and setting up home for the summer, at the side of the river, just out of town, or just off the street, like they do here, and in such numbers!
It is because of all the forests, water, fishing and hunting I'm sure. Fisherman....this is a fisherman's heaven here in N Idaho. There are so many beautiful rivers, shallow and deep. Steelhead (fall) Chinook Salmon, Trout, even Sockeye are here. There are also massive lakes to fish. The Lake Pend Oreille and Lake Coeur d'Alene. (more images to come)

   

Lake Coeur d'Alene spans 25 miles (40 km) long, ranges from 1 to 3 miles (4.8 km) wide and has over 109 miles (175 km) of shoreline.

  

Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced: pond-o-ray) is a lake in the northern Idaho Panhandle, with a surface area of 148 square miles. It is 43 miles long, and 1,150 feet deep in some regions, making it the fifth deepest in the United States.  Besides great boating, jet-ski, sight seeing (tons of wildlife) and fishing, it is an interesting place because it is home to Farragut State Park, formerly the Farragut Naval Training Station (WW2). A small part of the lake is still active and conducts US Navy acoustic underwater submarine research.

A website with up to date, local fishing info can be found here: http://www.nwoutfitters.com/rivers.html

 We are just a short drive from British Columbia, Washington and Oregon so for those of you who want to experience a new place to fish, come on over :)

The wild flowers.
The wildflowers are incredible here. They grow everywhere and take over roadsides, meadows, farmlands and even at the front of our property, that gets mowed regularly, we've seen something wild, trying to take root.  For more info about wild flowers and wild life of N Idaho, visit, www.pinfeathers.us.
Trillium are a welcome site in Spring. They were hard to find for a while but they seem to be thriving in N Idaho. Here is an image of a pretty one I took. The purple variety, but more lilac in color than the other purples we've seen.

Possibly Violets? I am not sure.

If you're a hiker, this is also a place you might consider visiting. There are old growth forests and hills and mountains as far as the eye can see. In the image below, you see some very large trees in the foreground. These are old growth Cedars. Seeing how big some of the trees are is absolutely jaw dropping. You can't really tell from an image like the one below because there's no real reference other than the blurry person on the path infront of me, and he/she was standing near what I call, regular size trees :P

The beauty.
When I first arrived in Idaho, it had been a very hot summer and it appeared to be very dry and dusty. Even traveling up mountain roads, you leave a trail of dust (as many of them are not paved) The sides of the road were colored with this dust and dirt, even the trees appeared dulled and the grasses were brown. This year, it is green. You get into the mountains and along the rivers, and even driving through the farmlands, there's no denying the beauty.

This year, everything is lush and green. We've had a very wet June. To walk out into the meadow, you are waist deep in green grass and meadow flowers. Everywhere are beautiful fields with daisies and purple vetch.
Alongside roads we see red/pink Paintbrush and Lupine. I can look from the car window while driving along the river, and see the fish traveling upstream. The beauty? amazing, really.
Coming from Alaska, I thought no place could compare and though Idaho does not have Glaciers, the ocean and lushness of a rainforest, it has it's own, different beauties.

If you love to see the days gone by, to explore old towns, old mines and caves, there is plenty of that to see as well, in Idaho.

Happy Summer!
BAB

A visitor to the wind spinner, on top of our shed. It's a popular stopping point for birds.

* Camper image, Idaho Parks and Recreation.