The Road Trip Begins

Howdy. I'm writing this first post with the viewpoint see above. This is Chatcolet Lake at Heyburn State park. It's really a pretty place. The water is very calm and there are marshes along the water inlets. This is not where we had planned for our first stop. That was supposed to be Pearrygin State Park near Winthrop Washington. Unfortunately the infernos closed that park.  The lake I sit on now is south of Coeur d'Alene Lake. Oddly, to me it appears to be one contiguous lake when viewed on google Earth. Even in person what I see as one body of water can be divided in to Chalocet, Round, and Benewah lakes. The river St. Joe flows between the lakes as an underwater shadowy serpentine. 

We arrived late last night at the first come first served campground called Benewah, which of course is on Benewah lake. We had our pick of the sites as the only othe occupant is the camp host. They seemed happy to see other people; Benewah is 7 miles removed from the main campground in the state park. 

I don't think we are likely to have neighbors until Friday so this will be a peaceful few days. 

The drive was pretty long, palatable smoke from John Day, and endless hay fields from Kennewick to the park. The highlight for me was the realization that I get to pump my own gas for an entire month. Lunch at Pfriem Family Brewers was pretty great too, but much too slow. 

This morning we did a nice 3 mile hike with some views of the lake. We even dragged Stoli along. I think he's had enough for about 3 days now. Here's a pic of the view from Indian Cliffs. I guess political correctness hasn't made it to the panhandle yet. 

The native Americans the name refers to are the Coeur d'Alenes whose reservation borders the state park. 

This afternoon we will cruise on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, a 73 mile rail trail that runs through the park. This lake also calls for some paddle boarding, but that may have to wait until tomorrow. 

Until next time.