Idaho - "Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?" and "Where are you from?" are the two common questions we've received several times over the past 3 days here in Arco, ID.  Why?  Because there's really not much here besides Craters of the Moon, EBR-I and Borah Peak.  The reason we are here...to climb Borah Peak, the highest peak in Idaho at 12,662ft.

So let's get right to it and show you Borah Peak.  It doesn't look so bad...right?

The summit is only 4 miles (approx.) from the trailhead (8 miles round trip - piece of cake compared to the 16 miles we just did on South Sister).  Ha!  Not so much!  In that short 4 miles there is an elevation gain of 5,262ft. (I'll let you do the math.  It equals STEEP!)  I always read up about the mountain before we attempt our climb and let's just say I've been a little nervous about this one for the past 2 months ever since I heard about "Chicken Out Ridge" (COR).  Sometimes people tend to exaggerate a bit on things in these summit posts but let's just say they are right on about this one.  Many people turn around at COR and this was definitely in my mind from the minute we laid eyes on it.  I thought ''are we crazy?"  The climb up to COR was no piece of cake either.  It was steep (did I mention that before?!), lots of rocks and then some crazy climbing before even getting to the bad part.  At one point, on the start of COR, I sat down, stared at the mountain and thought, "is this really worth it?"  But then I gave myself a pep talk, looked at my encouraging husband and got up and crawled my way through the craziness!  Notice, my hands are firmly gripped on the rocks while Tom is able to pry his off the rocks to take a few pictures.

"Chicken Out Ridge"

After 5.25 hours of climbing, whimpering (me, not Tom) and wondering what the heck we were doing on this mountain...we summited!  This is our 9th highpoint of the US!

Becky, Tom Bennett, his dad Jack Bennett and Tom
Jack is turning 70 in a few months and has summited all 50 high points.  Borah was #46 on his 2nd round of summits!  Today they were beginning their climb on Granite Peak in Montana.  What an inspiration!  You are never too old!  Way to go!

it was a beautiful day on the summit so we had lots of time to spend with the others who made it to the top 

The one harsh reality of climbing mountains is the top is only half way and there was no option to chicken out on COR going this direction!  Thankfully, we made it safely (besides a few gray hairs I'm sure) and 10 hours after our start we were back at the Jeep (5.25 hours up, 40 minutes on top and 4 hours down).  Woo hoo!

Arco, Idaho - Although our main purpose was to climb Borah Peak, we did spend a little time checking out the few sights in the area.  Craters of the Moon, ERB-I (Experimental Breeder Reactor I) and the natural beauties of the area.

Since 1920 the graduating class of the Butte County High School as painted its graduation year on the hill behind town.  It's quite a sight to see driving into town but unfortunately we didn't get a good picture of it.

We are on our way to Yellowstone National Park for a week.  We are looking forward to our first visit to this park, lots of sights to see and I'm sure a few hikes as well.  :-)

Til next time...Happy Trails!

Final days of fun in Oregon

As expected, our time in Oregon whizzed by.  We played almost every day and loved every minute of it.  We got hooked on kayaking and decided to invest in 2 inflatable kayaks knowing we'd get lots of use out of them not only in Oregon but along the rest of our travels.  Tom swears he's not using it on the Peace River in FL (alligators!) but I have several months to talk him into it.  :-)

Laurie and Mark

"Cousin" Rita (Ed's cousin)

Rita Morgan

Gisela and Stephen - a great couple we met who live in this wonderful area - we had a fun time kayaking, wining and dining as we got to know them better .  Hope to see you out on the road some day!

Loving our new kayaks with Mt. Bachelor in the background

Ed and Sandy

We have found one downside (and scary thing) in this area...the summer forest fires.  In the 4 weeks we were in this area there were several fires not far from us.  This is high desert so the area becomes extremely dry in the summer and with dry lightening storms it is a set up for lots of fires.

Thankfully this beautiful bird wasn't bothered by the smoke in the distance

Crater Lake National Park - We were extremely excited for our trip to Crater Lake with Sandy and "Cousin" Rita.  We had never been there and had only heard great things about this national park.  Unfortunately the local fires put a bit of a damper on the visit.  The smoke was very present in the crater (both the sight and smell) and limited the views dramatically.  We had scheduled a boat ride as well but that was cancelled due to the threat of a thunderstorm.  We still enjoyed our day (especially with Sandy and Rita) and know that we will go back again.

Wizard Island

Phantom Ship

South Sister Summit - If you look back to the previous post there were pictures of South Sister in the distance from Sparks Lake.  We decided to tackle that mountain as training before attempting Borah Peak, the highest peak in Idaho (did we make it to the top of Borah?  stay tuned for the next post to find out!).  At 10,358ft. it was certainly no walk in the park.  Our first mistake was not finding the proper trailhead and bushwacking for 3.5 miles until we found the trail.  Ooops!  It turned into a 16 mile hike in 10 hours but was certainly well worth it for the incredible views along the way and especially on top.  We had a great view of 5 mountains from the top - Middle Sister, North Sister, Mount Jefferson, Mount Hood and Mount Adams.  Aaaahhhhh!

Beautiful start...just on the wrong trail!

a bit of scrambling over boulders in search of the trail

There it is...the trail and the mountain in the distance!

Moraine Lake - on the way to the summit

the summit still far far away

a beautiful lake around 9,500 ft.

still climbing...more like two steps forward and slide back one (lots of scree and steep)

Ahhhh...the summit!  Middle Sister and North Sister with the other mountains in the distance

Lakes of all colors below us - bright blue, dark blue and all with large snow chunks floating in them

a very brown (muddy?) lake with snow chunks floating in it

Leaving Oregon was very sad as we had to say goodbye to old and new friends knowing we may not see them again for several years until we come back to this area again (we'll be on the east coast for a few years).  Sandy always reminds us not to say goodbye but rather "until next time."  It's a good reminder and one I always use on my farewell of the post.  

We left Oregon for our two-day trek to Arco, Idaho.  We had plans to stay overnight in our favorite free "campground", Wal-Mart, in Ontario, OR which was approximately 250 miles from Bend.  Our RV had to have a few finishing touches on repairs and unfortunately (or actually fortunately) got us on the road about 4.5 hours later than expected.  With the late start, an hour lost crossing over the mountain time zone and the beautiful river on our drive, we couldn't say no to our first official wilderness boondock about an hour west of Ontario, OR on route 20.  It was pure heaven waking up to the river by our side, the mountains surrounding us and the coyote singing to us.

Til next time...Happy Trails!