Slow Road from Az to N Id, indirectly…

[AbleGuy]

The newer ones you rent here are a bit lighter and easier to use.



You can get a 2 or 4 seater and on the more strenuous route you can rent one with electric motor assist.



(How to rent these info here https://jbrailriders.com)

Maybe next year we’ll be able to plan ahead and rent one of these. But for today, no time for that, it’s onwards and upwards as the Alaska bound ship awaits.

 

[AbleGuy]

That looks like a blast! What a fun way to explore some of the scenery here (yes please, I’ll take the electric one!), especially the water canyon route because I don’t think there’s any way other than by foot that you could see some of that area.

This place certainly deserves a return trip next year with some better planning so we can do some of these interesting activities.


(by the way, while I might promote information on some of the commercial tour services and outfitters in these posts, I’m not one of those influencers who’s getting compensated or otherwise rewarded for doing so. I’m just trying to provide a more completely informative service travel guide for you folks, so you can better plan on coming out to the west and best enjoy the incredible variety of wonderful adventures awaiting your family here)

 

[jkam]

89 thru Utah is what America was like years ago. Nice to see it surviving and thriving.
Next time you go thru Panguitch, try Henrie's drive in.
Been around a long time and the old ladies that run it make some good food at decent prices.

 

[shortbus4x4]

You can actually set up your camp on one of the many reservable floating platforms right out in the lake! How cool is that? Actually, very cool on a real hot sunny day when you can just jump off the float into the water to cool off every time you feel a bit overheated.


(Not sure how you handle the going to the bathroom issue though, but I’m guessing that using the lake is a toilet bowl might come to mind to some of the campers!)View attachment 783494View attachment 783495

There is no "P" in lake, there is "P" in pool however.
Nice trip report. I've done some of the roads you're driving and am a little jealous of your trip.

 

[AbleGuy]

Staying in a cabin on a very small island in the south sound for the next week, with very poor wifi and phone signals, so might be incommunicado for a bit

 

[AbleGuy]

Stars aligned for decent signal today, so here’s a picture from the beach. We just saw a pod of @ ten orcas cruise by put in the channel…too far away and traveling too fast to photograph.

 

[AbleGuy]

*local Blackfish pod in channel between the two islands here in the South Sound

 

[AbleGuy]

 

[AbleGuy]

Cabin is high up on the tall cliffs above the water

 

[AbleGuy]

Looking west, Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains is somewhere way over there

 

[VA-CMac]

What a great write-up!!!

 

[AbleGuy]

It’s often only when we slow down the pace of our explorations and take the time to look at the little details we’re passing by, that we truly can better discover and understand the world around us.

This was an incredibly tiny crab we saw when walking by a shallow tide pool left behind by the retreating ocean, we noticed a blur of movement in the water. Bending closer to look, we saw dozens of these minute crustaceans dragging around small spiral shells like the mollusk in the second picture.

I found this one scampering sideways out of the salty water. It so small I might have thought it was a fat, engorged tick that had dropped from my legs had I not seen the ones in the tidal pool!






(I’ll give this one the unscientific name of being the “barber pole” sea snail)

 

[AbleGuy]

But also, some of the bigger stuff you come across is kinda cool too! Here on the island, after every nasty storm folks come down to walk the beach and to search the rocky shores to see what new treasures or debris Poseidon’s (or Neptune’s? or Glaucus’s) fury has brought to the them.



Sadly our island sojourn has come to an end today and so we’re moving on, heading down to explore a bit of the Cascades next…but north Idaho still beckons.

 

[AbleGuy]

Nothing to get too excited about here perhaps, especially for those of you out in the woods this weekend blowing up m80’s and Black Cat firecrackers, but at least here we are far away from our desert abode and it’s 100° temps.

While called the ‘high desert’ because of the miles and miles of rolling sage prairie* just east of town, we’re actually in the ponderosa pine forest on the some of the lowest points of the eastern slopes of the Cascades.



That’s a hurried pit stop shot of some of those inspiring, still snowy peaks (I believe these are the three sisters), taken yesterday towards the end of a very long drive.

Here’s a better shot of the same scene from someone online with a better camera and more time to shot than I had


Bend and the areas surrounding it are a much hyped outdoor mecca and exploding with growth, accompanied by all of the usual western U.S. problems and challenges associated with that.

Parking spot battles and limited permit availability plague the users of many of the popular trailheads here, places that formerly allowed simple, last minute ‘jump in the car and go there’ adventure planning.

The ‘just do it’ notion of outdoor recreation for spontaneous outings now is a ‘plan 6-12 months ahead to do it (and still keep your fingers crossed)’ situation too often. Unsurprisingly, the growth of the work from home crowd and retired boomer populations means there are no off peak days to get out and explore anymore.

But still…this is an area of amazing ecological diversity and natural beauty and deserves a place on anyone’s bucket list for experiencing the west!

*

Most of the sage prairie is your public land, managed by BLM, and helps create some of the best 4 season camping and trail running anywhere in the U.S. When wet winter weather starts to shut folks out of the higher western elevations, they have the option to switch over to the usually sunnier vast sage prairie to still get outside and explore.

 

[AbleGuy]

The Deschutes River just outside of town