Welcome to Idaho

It seems hard to believe that I haven’t written a blog entry since June, considering everything that’s happened since then.  Then again, maybe it’s not so hard to understand, considering everything that’s happened since then - we’ve been extremely busy!  We broke ground on our new home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on 4 June, and since then we’ve been traveling to Idaho for a week or two every month to monitor construction, and while at home we’ve been preparing to move.  We finally sold our Michigan home and made the move on 18 Jan, and are staying in an Airbnb in Coeur d’Alene until our home is completed (projected for 21 March).   

We’ve been spending most of our time with all the administrivia of moving to a new state (driver’s licenses and license plates, insurance, address changes, etc etc), as well as construction details and furniture shopping.  But we’ve also had some time to start to get to know our neighbors and to learn our way around, and for me that means spending time outdoors.

Which brings me to the reason I sat down to write an entry - I just spent my first night outdoors in Idaho!  It was a rewarding experience, and hopefully the first of many more.

I’d already taken a day hike a couple weeks ago (7 Feb), but I was feeling cooped-up and really needed a night outside under the stars.  I recently bought some books on hiking in Idaho, and picked a place to go. Once I read up on it online, however, I decided winter wasn’t the best time to go there and that it should wait for better weather.  

I decided to go back to the same place I’d hiked before, since I am now somewhat familiar with a part of the trail, and it’s nearby.  Known as the Marie Creek Trail, the trailhead is only 12 miles from our new home. I think this will become my default ten-mile hike when I need some exercise, much the way Island Lake Recreation Area was my standard ten-mile hike in Michigan.  (Although with mountains all around me, that may very likely *not* be the case - so many places to explore!).  Idaho Panhandle National Forest 

Last time I went there I was slipping and sliding on the icy trail, but this time I was prepared.  I bought some Yaktrax, which are like snow chains for your boots.  They have 4 models of increasing robustness, from casual walking to expedition-quality (basically crampons). https://www.rei.com/b/yaktrax/c/winter-traction-devices   I got the 3rd level up (ICETrekkers Diamond Grip), as I thought those would meet my needs admirably, and hold up to walking with a heavy load better than the lighter models. 

I didn’t bring my backpacking or camping gear for this 2-month period in an Airbnb, only a small Camelbak daypack and the things I’d use on a day hike.  But I do have a sleeping bag and foam pad that I had put in the truck in case of emergency on the ride out.  An insulated lunch container and some utility straps were sufficient to turn the tiny little day pack into a serviceable overnight bag.

Thank goodness for all the MOLLE attachment points - you can barely see the pack under all the stuff I have strapped to it!

I packed some food (ham and cheese sandwiches, some block cheese and Landjäger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landjäger), as well as some Clif bars and granola bars.  A few teabags and some instant coffee topped off my supplies (not counting two Snickers bars for emergencies, stowed deep in the pack to help resist temptation).  As it turned out, I didn't even eat half of what I took, and could easily have stayed out another day.

I set off for the trailhead, expecting a routine drive.  Instead, I had a minor misadventure on the way (two, actually!).  While driving down a narrow dirt road, I was looking out at the mountains thinking “Wow, I actually *live* here!” when I wandered too far over and my right wheels went into the shallow ditch on the side (which was completely invisible, as it was all covered in an even layer of snow).  Despite 4-wheel drive and locking differentials, I was unable to extricate myself.  Fortunately a guy in a pickup truck came along on the way to go snowmobiling, and with my tow strap on his trailer hitch, I was out in a jiffy.   

I proceeded to the trailhead (well, almost).  About 1/4 mile short of the trailhead, several people were unloading snowmobiles.  I drove right past them towards the trailhead, and very quickly found out why they had stopped there.  The road only *looked* plowed, as it was packed down from snowmobiles.  In fact there were a couple feet of snow and I got stuck *again*!  Another guy quickly pulled me out, and I parked back where they were.  So, true to my tradition, a fun trip started off with a misadventure.  Nothing serious, but a bit embarrassing, and enough to tell me that I have some things to learn about driving in the mountains here, despite my long experience with midwest winters.

I started up the trail, with a specific destination in mind, but very quickly revised that plan.  I was prepared for ice, but what I really needed was snowshoes!  The snow was extremely deep - up to my thighs or hips in some places.  Fortunately for me, other people had already gone up the trail on snowshoes.  Otherwise I might not even have been able to find the trail, much less walk on it.  As it was, it was easy to follow and not too difficult to walk on, although I had to be very careful to stay in their tracks.  Even then I broke through several times.  At those times it wasn’t so much hiking as floundering.  

One of the places I broke through the snow and sunk in up to my groin.  I'd have had a much harder time without my old friend the walking stick.  I just can't bring myself to retire it for trekking poles!

The remains of some predator's meal.  I couldn't find any clear tracks around, nor any other traces of the deer, so I suspect this was dropped here by a scavenger or smaller carnivore that had stolen it elsewhere from a larger predator's kill.

After about an hour I got to the top of the pass, where I had rested on my first hike there.  This looked like a good place to camp, so I stopped right there and set up for the night.

I cleared a space for my bed and a fire, gathered and stacked wood, set up my bed and laid the fire.  By then it was late in the day, and starting to get dark. The temperature at my car had been 28 degrees F when I started at 1245, but was dropping quickly by 1700.  I heated some tea in my canteen cup on an Esbit fuel tab, and ate my ham and cheese sandwich for dinner.

Just like the scout manual - wood stacked by size and fire laid, ready to light.  

I used to use a folding Esbit stove, but the Army's canteen cup stand/stove works much better.  Aluminum foil works as a canteen cup lid and also a safe platform for the Esbit tab to burn on.  One tab heats a pint of water perfectly!

I lit the fire with only one match, as per the Boy Scout standard (no artificial firestarters, either - only natural materials found on site).  Nice to know I can still do it! I then proceeded to have a nice evening sitting by the fire.  

I sat there for a couple of hours enjoying the silence and letting my mind wander.  There’s something about a night sleeping outdoors that relaxes me like nothing else.  I think it’s partially the lack of distractions like TV, phone, and computer, and partially the association with memories of past outdoor adventures.  But I think mainly it’s the silence, fresh air, and pristine natural surroundings that seem to cause day-to-day concerns to melt away, and put me in a state of mind in which I can just relish the simple pleasures of the moment.

Started with only one match.  Even for the OA ordeal they gave us two.
Maybe that 's why I get such a kick out of starting it with only one.
(Boy Scouts of America - Order of the Arrow) 

Proper prior planning provides for toasty toes!

Prime ingredients for relaxation and contentment.

By 1900 I was ready to lay down for the night, so I banked the fire, got ready for bed, and zipped myself in.  The fire lasted surprisingly long through the night, burning down to embers and glowing well into the wee hours.  I wondered if any of the coals might last until morning, but since it was all softwood, it didn’t. 

I passed a comfortable night in my Army sleeping bag, which is known as the Modular Sleep System, or MSS.  It’s a three-component layered system consisting of an inner medium bag, a larger and lighter “patrol bag”, and an outer Gore-Tex bivy cover.  The fully-assembled system is supposed to be rated to -25 degrees F, but I question this. It got down to 10 degrees F by morning, and it felt like that was about the limit of the bag's ability to keep me warm. I was dressed only in long underwear, though, so perhaps the rating assumes the sleeper is wearing more clothes.  In any case it was adequate for the job.  My old bones were complaining about the thin foam pad, though.  It’s a good insulator but a poor cushion!

I woke up at about 0600 when it started to get light.  It took a few minutes to convince myself to bite the bullet and get up.  Getting up and dressed is the nearly exact reverse of going to bed - all my clothing layers were folded and stacked in the sleeping bag stuff sack (used as a pillow), in the order in which I had removed them the night before.  So out came my wool shirt, wind vest, lightweight down jacket (“down shirt”), down vest, and Gore-Tex parka.  The only difference was that whereas I had taken them off one-by-one and carefully folded them for stacking in the stuff sack, in the morning they all came out and got put on as fast as possible. Then I started buttoning and zipping from the inside out, all while still sitting in the sleeping bag up to my waist.  I stayed in the sleeping bag for breakfast, heating water for coffee and eating a couple of granola bars and a Clif bar.

Packing up was much quicker than setting up the night before.  I double-checked that the fire was completely out, packed the down vest and down shirt, put on my pack, and was back down at the car in less than an hour. My version of a “Spa visit” had the desired effect, and I can’t wait to do it again!

Always a welcome sight coming around the last bend in the trail.

We may not be moved into our house yet, but I am definitely home!

Mood: Relaxed and content

Music: Theme from Jeremiah Johnson”