While staying at Mormon Bend campground I got up briefly overnight.
It was pitch black outside of course, but as I stood in the dampness and cold of the night I looked around me.
We were now not only alone but also completely enveloped in very thick, dense fog.
I could barely even see the trees that surrounded our little camp site, let alone the endless trees of the mountains around us..
In truth, it was beautiful, and still half asleep I realized that I loved the fog.
We really WERE now truly alone, and I liked it.
I climbed back into the truck, lay beside LC and pushed Kory around so that I had a place for my feet, and immediately fell back to sleep.
The next morning the fog was still dense but also rapidly clearing, and as LC putzed around the camp ground working on making coffee, I wandered again with my dog...............
The Salmon River (that bordered the camp ground) was black and cold.
The world around this campground was mostly green, filled with knee high grass and pine trees, and surrounded by mountains that were also entirely covered with tall pines.
But partially hidden in the tall grass were endless clumps of wild flowers in bright blues and yellows.
Stanley had been very beautiful (and would be beautiful again when we hit it in late fall), but I really liked this silent and ruggedly beautiful place very much....................
After drinking a steaming cup of coffee LC announced that he was going to fish from the boat ramp.
Good deal. Catch me some dinner.
Kory and I are going to walk some more.....................
The sun was struggling mightily to burn the fog away and dominate the sky, and as I monitored what was happening overhead I believed that the sun would win the battle on this day................
We stood silently watching the geese for a few minutes.
Kory was enthralled with them and stood completely still, trying to process what these honking things might be.
We were only about 10 minutes walk from the camp site but were having a great time watching the sky, watching the fog burning off, seeing the wild flowers, enjoying the mountains.
We stood for a few more minutes and watched as the geese (one by one), noisily honked from the shore one last time before spreading their wings and venturing into the fast moving river.
I smiled as I saw each of them attempt to swim in a straight line for a moment, before the water quickly caught them and sent them down river..................
Walking along the embankment close to the river, I looked down and saw this print.
It was the only print I could find and I stopped to inspect it more closely.
We were in straight up bear country, and as I continued to study it I wondered if I was looking at a bear print.
I am still not certain even now, but I think it might be...............
By the time Kory and I headed back towards the camp site, blue was beginning (just beginning) to dominate the sky.
An hour before, the fog had only just begun to burn off and as I looked around me I could see pine trees that looked at though they were floating in the air.
It really was going to be a beautiful day..............
I smiled when I saw LC standing down at the boat ramp easily tossing his line into the river.
I didn't care if he caught fish or not, and I don't think he did either.
We weren't planning on staying too much longer.
There was a mountain lake that we wanted to check out (and camp overnight at) not too far from Challis.................
A couple of hours after waking from a solid and comfortable sleep in the back of the Tahoe, we packed up the little gear that we had pulled out during our stay at Mormon Bend and again headed out onto the winding two lane highway between Stanley and Challis.
The Salmon River boiled wildly alongside us.
As we were headed to Stanley the day before - and as we headed back in the direction of Challis the next day - we had seen continual white water rafting vans (both empty and loaded with rafts), ferrying backwards and forwards along the highway.
But we had surprisingly not seen any rafts actually on the water.
On our trip towards the mountain lake, LC pulled the Tahoe over a couple of times so that I could step out and take quick pictures of the Salmon River.
During this particular stop I glanced down and realized that I was looking at a rafting ramp.
Looking to my left I saw a trail leading down to the water, and at the bottom of the trail were a group of rafters obviously receiving last minute instructions from their guide.................
We were headed towards a small campground located next to Bayhorse Lake.
Elevation 8600 feet.................
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