Continuing down the Road to Idaho

We purposefully moved to Carlton RV Park on a Saturday night because we wanted to go to church there on Sunday morning. The owners, Bob and Betty, bought the Carlton general store and restaurant and discovered that an RV park came with it. They turned the restaurant into a church, and use the commercial kitchen to prepare a breakfast meal for the congregants every Sunday. We enjoyed breakfast with the locals, singing with the children, followed by a praise band and sermon. That was a great way to finish our long stay in the state of Washington!

We left the campground at 12:30, heading south and east along the Methow River. The rivers and lakes in the area were lovely!

But we were most interested in the irrigated orchards that filled the valley between the mountains. We found we were too late for cherries and too early for apples. But we were given a beautiful nectarine from one of our campground neighbors. So we knew that there were some in-season fruits. But we struggled to find a place to buy any.

We found tiny houses close to the orchards, used for housing the migrant workers that come to pick the fruit.

We found rows of beautiful fruit trees, many with fruit dripping from the branches.

We found stacks of wooden boxes used for transporting fresh fruit. Each one of those boxes was 3-4 feet tall, so that stack made a temporary wall in an orchard waiting to be picked. While we found a lot of fruit-related things, we couldn't find any fruit to buy. We stopped at a little roadside boutique bakery that had fresh peaches for sale for $4 per pound. But we realized that these commercialized orchards did not support a local fruit stand where we would love to shop. We drove right through all those orchards without getting to buy a single piece of fresh fruit.

Suddenly the hilly irrigated fruit orchards turned into flat plains filled with sage brush. What a difference a few miles can make in eastern Washington!

Then we hit wheat country, where all we could see for miles were the flat golden wheat fields. They don't fence their fields here, and they farm right up to the highway shoulders.

We drove straight east on I-90 through Spokane, Washington, where it was a very unusual 100 degrees on this August afternoon. We were also seeing smoke ahead of us, reminding us of how lucky we have been to be smoke-free so far on this summer journey through the west. We finished our glorious two weeks in the state of Washington, and crossed into our ninth state of this trip--Idaho.

We stayed at another Boondockers Welcome, and our host met us at the Sunshine Mine Memorial.

This park memorializes the 90 silver miners who died in a fire in 1972. The fire spread throughout the 100 miles of tunnels where they were mining silver one mile below the surface here.

Our one-night stop at this Boondockers Welcome was in a tiny Idaho town. After parking, Mark had some daylight hours to figure out why our solar wasn't working properly. He was up on the trailer inspecting his solar handiwork when he found the culprit.

He had purchased this wiring harness to hook the two solar panels together, and then bring the amperage into the trailer.

It doesn't take much to interrupt that process. This faulty end was the problem. He started looking for replacement parts, which would be tricky to find any time. But it would be especially tricky on the road. Wish us luck as we continue down the road in Idaho.

Interesting Washington Moving Day with Lots of Stops

North Cascades National Park has some of the best hiking we've ever seen! But we had to drive some distance to get to these beautiful hikes. From our national park campground, we had already driven one hour west and then one hour east to get to two of our all-time favorite hikes this week. We also wanted to do the Blue Lake hike, but it would be another one-hour drive to get to another popular trail head. Then Denisa got an idea--which can be dangerous. On the day that we were leaving the park, what if we left our camp site early enough to get a parking place big enough for the pickup and trailer so we could take the Blue Lake hike?

Mark often agrees with Denisa's crazy ideas, so we started our moving day very early. We got up at 5:00 a.m., and left our camp site at 6:00 a.m., stopping by the dump station on the way out. We were on the road heading east out of the national park before 6:30. This wasn't a road for the faint hearted, with steep climbs and signs that warn, "Severe Winds Next 27 Miles." We drove past the Rainy Lake trail head where we hiked several days ago. At 7:38 a.m. all the parking spots were full there with 12 vehicles already parked along the highway. You have to get up early to hike at North Cascades National Park!

We drove another 6 miles to the Blue Lake trail head, and found a nice long spot along the highway that was safe for our pickup and trailer. It was 49 degrees and lovely weather for a beautiful hike on this moving day!

We started with a gentle uphill hike through the forest, with teasing peeks of the peaks that surrounded us.

While we were still hiking in the early morning shade, the sun was lighting up the tops of the Cascade Mountains around us.

We had wandered into more of God's wonders on this moving day hike!

We would have normally still been in bed when we got our first views of Blue Lake.

The water was as perfectly blue as its name implies. On a day when the wind was still, the water reflected the mountains and trees around it.

If you look very carefully, you can see Denisa on the big rock in the bottom right corner of the picture below.

The longer we admired the lake, the more crowded it got. So we decided to take the Tarn Loop trail that headed up and over Blue Lake. That also gave us a great look at the jagged Pinnacle Mountains that rose above the lake.

Whatever angle we were from the lake, we could always see that jagged row of mountain tops. Mountain climbers come here to test their skills. We saw many hikers with big backpacks and long coils of rope that were heading up to those mountains with names like Liberty Bell.

This was one of our favorite pictures of the summer with Mark sitting beside the clear water of Blue Lake in the foreground, and the pinnacles peeking out from the background.

We were still on the Tarn Loop, chatting about this new word for our hiking vocabulary. Mark commented that he had only heard the word "tarn" in old western movies when the bad guys were "gonna tarn feather" someone. Denisa wasn't sure that was the correct usage of our new vocabulary word. We found that a tarn was a lake formed when a deep ridge was carved as a glacier moved across an area. Blue Lake was a tarn lake, as was this smaller lake we found high on the mountain on the Tarn Loop.

The loop provided views of more of the North Cascades on this beautiful blue-sky moving day.

While we found no blueberries on the lower part of the hike, we found lots of berries at the top. While Mark scrambled around looking for the mountain goats that often hang out here, Denisa was content foraging blueberries. 

Mark never found those mountain goats, but Denisa found lots of blueberries. It's a good hike when your teeth are blue and your fingers are purple.

On our way back to the pickup, we paused at the spur trail that would take us up to the foot of Liberty Bell peak where the climbers were. 

But it was a very steep hike, and we wouldn't have time to stay very long. After all, we weren't on an all-day hike. This was just a moving-day hike. So we took a picture of Denisa with the Pinnacles in the background, and continued down the mountain. We met a solid line of hikers coming up the trail at 11:00 as we were going down. Some were in swimming suits for a dip in the lake, some were carrying fishing poles, and one guy was carrying an inflatable kayak.

After our moving-day hike detour, we were back on the road at 12:15. The extreme heat wave continued. Even at this high elevation, it was an unusually warm 79 degrees. After being spoiled to a cool summer, we both agreed that it felt hotter than that.  

It was sad to see the North Cascade mountains in our rear view mirror. The town of Winthrop was just 31 miles from that trail head, and we wanted to make another stop on this moving day.

We found a parking place for the pickup and trailer about a half-mile from downtown Winthrop. Then we walked to the center of this old west inspired touristy town. We ate lunch at Three Fingers Jack's Saloon. We would say that it wasn't the best hamburger, but it was served with an unusual side dish--coleslaw--instead of French fries.

Winthrop was picturesque with its wooden sidewalks and a Main Street filled with shops with old west facades. It was a popular town with a 25-minute wait for a table at the saloon.

Our next stop on this moving day was the little town of Twisp, Washington. We wanted to buy the iconic cinnamon roll at the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery. So Denisa jumped out of the pickup to run into the bakery as Mark drove by a few minutes before their closing time. The baker explained that they sold out of their famous cinnamon twists at about 10:15 that morning. When Denisa looked very disappointed, they sent her out the door with a free cookie as they closed the door for the day. It was a good stop after all!

To get to our final stop, it was thirty more miles that went slowly, since the speed limit was only 45 miles per hour. That speed limit was in effect because of the large deer population in this area. Just to impresss travelers that this speed limit was for their own good, they posted signs on the road indicating the number of deer accidents for the year. A local told us he saw a dead deer on the side of the road on his way to work each morning. After a full day with lots of stops, we pulled into Carlton RV Park before dark. After 5 nights with no hook-ups, we were looking forward to full hook-ups at this tiny RV park in this tiny town. We started washing clothes and charging our lithium battery and took long showers. The main draw to this little town was its proximity to the Methow River. We made the walk across the road to the swimming area on the river. It had been a long and interesting moving day with lots of good stops.

Kayaking Lake Diablo

We were on our last full day inside North Cascades National Park, and our plan was to go kayaking on the most beautiful turquoise green lake in the park--Lake Diablo. 

But we woke up to winds and unusually high temperatures. An extreme heat advisory started in the Pacific Northwest, and it was scheduled to continue for the next four days. This was about the same time that the midwest was finally getting relief from the 100+ degree heat they suffered through last week. So we stayed at the campground to make some plans for our path east towards home. We were trying to find a route to get us back into cool weather AND out of the smoke that was engulfing much of the map. That was a hard path to find in August! We had been so lucky to get to enjoy a cool smokeless path on the pre-determined westerly route that we reserved months ago. We've been blessed!

About noon we decided to drive to Lake Diablo just to see the white caps on the water. We were amazed to find it as smooth as glass!

So we aired up the kayak, and were on the water by 12:30. It was divine to be sitting in the middle of all that clear turquoise water surrounded by the grand mountains of the North Cascades!

We assumed we would have to stay in the protected arm of the lake close to the dock near South Colonial Creek Campground. But the water was still glassy when we got to the end of the arm and approached the boat passage notch.

We glided right through that notch and onto the main part of Lake Diablo. This was definitely the calmest we had seen this lake since we arrived at North Cascades National Park. After a windy morning, our timing couldn't have been better.

When you can take a picture with the surrounding mountains mirrored in the still water on a lake this big, you have certainly been blessed!

We paddled close to the tall rock walls that surrounded the lake. With temperatures in the 90s, and not a cloud in the sky, we were glad for the shade of the tall rock walls.

This part of the lake had inlets that provided unique camping opportunities. The dock at the end of this cove was the entrance to a campground that was only available to tenters that could paddle themselves and all their gear.

It was hard to take a picture that showed how tall the rock walls around us were. If you look closely, you can see a kayaker near the rocks to give a little sense of scale to the grandeur.

Those rock walls were covered with lichens and ferns that looked like velvet in a multitude of shades of green.

Mark was obviously happy to be the rudder man on this epic kayak trip today!

Lake Diablo was a long and narrow waterway that snaked its way between the mountains towards Ross Lake. We were paddling up the arm that would eventually come to an end at the tall dam that we hiked across yesterday. 

Along this arm of the lake were numbered signs that mapped our progress on the lake. At sign #10, Mark got out of the boat to stretch his legs.

That gave him the chance to take unusual pictures of Denisa alone in the kayak.

It was a little difficult to maneuver that long kayak from the front. But Denisa did manage to turn around and pick him up at #10.

While we paddled for miles, we only saw a hand-full of other kayakers on this big lake. We caught a picture of one of them in the sunlight beside another rock wall.

The only motorized boat allowed on Lake Diablo was the Diablo Ferry. It runs a route across the lake twice each day.

For a $10 ticket, it would take passengers across the lake for a scenic ride. Hikers also use the ferry to complete a one-way hike on the Diablo Lake Trail. It also transports tourists staying at the Ross Resort. After the ferry ride, resort guests would have to meet the portage crew to get their luggage and themselves to the very remote resort.

When we turned around at navigational sign #10, we had a little breeze to help push us back towards home. On the way back, we stopped off at a little island in the middle of the lake.

Mark took pictures of Denisa on Diablo Island . . .

while she took pictures of him kayaking solo.

The bald North Cascade Mountains were peeking over the tree-covered smaller mountains closest to the lake.

While it was 90 degrees and sunny, it was easy to cool off by putting a foot or a hand in the water. This lake was fed by snow melt from those tall mountains. We found that our foot would go numb in just seconds of touching the water. There were warning signs at the boat launch docks about the cold water temperature. If your boat capsized, you would turn into an ice cube in a hurry. Floating on top of water that cold was like sitting on an air-conditioner.

Even though we had been paddling for hours, we weren't ready to go home. So we paddled right past our launch point, and went down another arm of the lake.

We found these interesting ducks as the water got shallower. We guessed that these bright-eyed birds were youngsters.

They looked wide-eyed when compared to the calmer brown-eyed ducks that were perhaps more mature?

We paddled until the water was too shallow and the current from the river pouring into the lake got too swift to paddle against.

It was only then that we acknowledged we were at the end of the route and it was time to turn around and head back. For a day that started out hot and windy with few good outdoor alternatives, we certainly found a perfect kayak trip!

Back at the trailer, our batteries were less than 60%--the lowest we have seen so far. We also discovered that the solar panels weren't producing any amps even when the sun hit them. Mark had to reset the system. When that didn't work, he even turned off the battery switch and disconnected the battery. That lost our battery percentage history, but he finally got the solar panels to start charging again. We have enjoyed the flexibility of having solar power on this trip so much, but today our system had a little hiccup.