July 29, 2015 Wednesday Driving Highway 200 to Montana

Today we had an adventure planned!  We drove up to Sandpoint, then to Hope, ID and on to Clark Fork, ID.  This trip takes you around Lake Pend Oreille.  We continued on to Montana, with the goal being to see the Ross Creek Cedars.  One of the other camp hosts had told me about this drive and sight to see.  We also drove alongside the beautiful Clark Fork River much of the way.  I don't know why, but I am drawn to these clear mountain waters.  It still amazes me to see clear water, not brown water! 

Here is a great picture of Buster looking at the Clark Fork River.  He looks just like he is ready explore the whole world!

We made it to the Ross Creek Cedars and wandered up the nature trail there. We took turns, so one of us could stay with the dogs. After you get into the trees a little, it is just magical.  The forest is quiet and  cool.  Steve wasn't going to walk in, but I encouraged him to go in and he was very glad he did.

Well we didn't pack a lunch, so we thought we would find a place to eat.  Not much luck on that.  

We investigated Bad Medicine Campground and Bull Lake as we made our way back.

We had also noticed a sign about a Historic RS on our way to the Cedars and thought we should check that out.  We did not know what the RS stood for, but Steve guessed Ranger Station and he was right!

We turned down a forest road headed to the Historic Ranger Station and Steve said "Look!! a deer."  I looked but the animals just kept coming and they weren't deer.  We looked again and thought they were mountain goats.  We got some pictures and watched one of the babies getting to eat.  They were not in any hurry to move.  We looked closer, and finally decided they were Bighorn Sheep, because we saw the Ram with the big horns.  I later confirmed that with google.  It was just amazing to see these elusive creatures and it was 4:00 in the afternoon.  We were excited to say the least.  We finally drove by them and they scampered off into the trees.

We saw the Ranger Station and it was really nice also.  It is available for rent and was occupied.  So the bike rack and lawn chairs and child's bike didn't quite fit the historic aspect, but we were glad to see it anyway.  It its called the Bull River Ranger Station and was built in 1908. 

We stopped and had a burger and a Huckleberry shake on our way back to the RV.

We also finished the piece of the Shoreline trail that we did not get done the other night.  We have a goal of trying to walk as many trails as possible while we are here.  We have a map that we are marking as we complete each one.

What a wonderful adventure we had today.