We had stopped briefly at this campground on our whirlwind out and back trip to Salmon last September.
At that time we fell in love with this unpretentious little camp ground.
It was right beside the river.
It was not one of those huge and popular and bustling campgrounds with scores of RV sites, scores of tent sites, and niceties such as showers and convenience stores and video games.
Shoup Bridge campground has eight camp sites, two restrooms and a faucet.
In addition to small it also had endless views of the mountains, easy proximity to town, and a river that was only steps away from our camper.
As LC settled us into our spot and separated camper from truck, I wandered down to the water with Kory.
The Salmon River was very fast and very deep, and although I loved standing beside it after spending too much time looking at sage brush and looking for rattlesnakes, I knew instantly that I wouldn't be kayaking the Salmon.
I had kayaked plenty on rivers this fast in the past but not in a long time.
And after talking with the campground caretaker and learning that rafting companies often put-in at this place I was comfortable with my decision.
I was out of practice. I didn't know the river. The river in this spot was only Class ll but I had to believe that if outfitters put-in here that the river got faster down river.
With that decision quickly made, I yanked gently on Korys' leash to encourage her out of the water, and we continued to wander around the small campground, casually wandering and trying to get the lay of the land...............
This picture was taken at the edge of the campground, next to the same Hwy 93 that we had driven all the way from Atomic City to this place located only four miles from the outskirts of Salmon.
Even though it was very warm there was still snow in the mountains.
At this point I have to believe that they are snow capped almost all year 'round...............
There are caretakers at this park through the summer - an elderly couple who have worked this campground continually for the last seven years.
They live at the campground all summer and spend the rest of the year down in Arizona.
At this time of year I was surprised to see that aside from us there was only one other camper at the campground.
I had expected it to be busy.
It was an unexpected and welcome surprise to be wrong...............
It was late afternoon by the time we arrived, and within 10 minutes of getting the camper squared away LC was eagerly digging out his fishing pole and digging through his tackle box.
The river was very fast, there are rules re: barbless hooks and what bait you can and cannot use in Idaho.
I stood back and watched LC for a few minutes, pleased to see him finally fishing after only TALKING about fishing for so many months.
He could take his time and figure out what worked and what didn't work when it came to fishing the Salmon River.
I was just happy to see him with a pole in his hands................
Kory standing on one of the camper benches beside a box I had agreed to sell to someone in Salmon.
Still unpredictable at listening to us and running away from us, we kept our pup tied up throughout the trip.
I wish we didn't have to do that but we still do.
Our dog actually slept with us at night during our camping trip.
Something that surprised us, but also something which pleased us.
She went back to her crate when we got back to the house, but we found out two things about our dog during this trip that we didn't know:
1. Kory is not only territorial when it comes to the house. She was also territorial when it came to our camp site. This is OUR place - stay back! She barked warnings to friendly interlopers to keep their distance from the site. It was good to know that.
It keeps the strangers at bay (human and otherwise).
2. She loves the water (which we already knew) and loves camping (which we didn't know and which was good to learn)...............
Late in the day we drove to downtown Salmon.
Tired, and slowly running out of daylight, we didn't have a lot of ambition to walk and wander around town, but we did stop briefly so that I could snap pictures of this iconic and wonderful bear-salmon statue located in a park at the far end of town...................
In typical cop fashion, LC turned off the main road and began cruising some of the less traveled side roads of town.
We saw some nice neighborhoods. We saw some pretty ratty looking neighborhoods.
And we saw one of the cutest play houses that I had ever seen..............
More pictures taken on the outskirts of town................
Our first day and night in Salmon was low key and quiet.
A little driving around seeing what we saw. Some fishing, some walking, some picture taking, some setting up the camp site.
It had been a long day of packing and traveling, and while Kory and LC shared a sandwich I walked up the steep embankment behind our camper, and headed towards the bridge that spanned the Salmon River.
The river was completely and utterly compelling to me, and I was drawn to the water (as I always seem to be).
Wanting to see it, to watch it, to hear it, to take pictures of it..................
By the time I was standing in the middle of the bridge I could see LC standing on the shore down below, throwing his line into the river time and again.
As I watched him I realized that the last time I had really seen him fish was back in Tennessee.
Back in Tennessee.
Back in Tennessee.
How long ago was that?
Very long ago.
Not so long ago.
Back in Tennessee.
It's always there. It never goes away...................
Beautiful scenes from the bridge................
After taking a few pictures from the bridge I finally looked to my right and realized that beyond the bridge was more of the same.
Suddenly all this beauty was overwhelming to me.
The green, the river, the trees - everywhere I looked was one astonishing scene after another.
After spending so much time in the desert where there is so much.........sameness..........I suddenly realized that I was absorbing everything around me at lightning speed and that I needed to slow down.
Take it all in slowly Karin.
Just before we had turned into the campground I noticed a sign pointing the way down this road.
There was a lake somewhere down this way. That's all I knew.
Maybe we would check out the lake tomorrow...................
It had been a long day but a very good day, and I was very glad that we had gone through all the work we went through to get a camper.
We needed to do this.
We needed to be away from the house, embedded in all the trees and water that we had been missing.
Very glad to be in this place.................
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