Leadore And More - Part 2

Leadore is a town of 109 people that is located in the Lemhi Valley a little over two hours drive from Atomic City.

So OK...........a little over two hours if you drive straight through, but of course we did not do that.

About three hours after leaving the house we pulled into this small and silent town that is surrounded on all sides by mountains.

We had expected little in the way of business activity or homes, and were surprised as we pulled into Leadore to actually find..........stuff.

Buildings at least, and as we continued to slowly drive the two lane highway that cut through the center of town, we quickly realized that many buildings were empty.

It was Sunday, so of course some would be closed.

But I also suspected that (as with so many other very small towns in Idaho) many businesses were strictly seasonal.

I needed gum and a restroom, LC needed a restroom, and we both needed ice cream bars.

And so we pulled into the parking lot of a ramshackle and large structure that proudly announced OPEN and that it was called the Stage Stop.............

Inside, the Stage Stop was filled with the types of grocery items you would expect at a small Quickie Mart, as well as walls decorated with mountain and fish and bear and cowboy wood signs that were for sale.

The wall art-for-sale were the types that were cheap and decorative and whimsical, and I wandered briefly around the store waiting for LC, reading signs and enjoying the good-natured trashiness of it all.

After buying a Salmon newspaper, gum and two ice cream bars, my Mountain Boy and I wandered out of the store.

LC headed back to the Tahoe to retrieve our pup and let her walk, while I headed across the parking lot intent on taking pictures of the old building that was across the street................

With ice cream bar in hand and obviously not paying enough attention, I did not realize at the time that I was holding my camera lopsided.  

Nor did I realize at the time that there was a smudge or dust on my camera lens.

A lopsided picture of the empty building across the road...............

As I stood at the end of the parking lot scarfing down a Missisippi Mud and looking out over the snow-covered mountains, I absently wondered what the log structure was, and what the sign in front of it told of the history of this town.

I snapped a quick picture and moved on....................

 Still absently eating ice cream, I looked at the green and white road sign.

I knew that Salmon was only about 45 minutes from Leadore, and that Missoula was many hours drive beyond that.

But I was surprised to see the directional arrow pointing to way to Dillon Montana.

How far were we from Dillon??

I had no idea......................

Meandering my way back to the Tahoe I smiled as I approached my guy and my dog.

Kory was excited, energetic, eager to do something, go somewhere, see something.

I leaned down and rubbed her ears and kissed her on top of her head, and when I looked up I realized that I was being watched.

He was stunning.  Absolutely beautiful.  Curious about me (and us) in that way that horses are (which was something that I learned about horses only after I moved out west).

I headed in his direction thinking that his pen was located on the same property as the store.

LC called my name and when I turned in his direction he told me that he thought beautiful horse was on the neighboring property.

Looking more closely I was disappointed to realize that he was right.

I would have loved to greet him, talk to him, pet him, take closer pictures of such a beautiful animal.

Reluctantly I snapped a couple of distance pictures of him and then turned back to LC and Kory................

Kory is a big fan of ice cream as well.....................

Slowly we wandered in back of the store enjoying the day, eating ice cream and debating what to do next.

On the way to Leadore we had debated whether or not to continue to Salmon and take the Big Lost River Valley route home.

I loved Salmon but did not want to do that.

My feeling was that if we spent so much time driving, we would end up seeing nothing.

I wanted to do that entire loop but wanted to do it while camping - spend a couple of days at the campground we had found in this valley, spend another day somewhere else in the valley, spend a night or two in Salmon, maybe another night or two in Challis or Stanley.

Take our time - drive less and see more, as opposed to simply covering miles.

In the end, LC agreed with me.

So if not Salmon, then where?

How far was Dillon?  Should we take our time and just head back the way we had come?  Maybe stop at a couple of other places that had looked interesting, but which we had simply driven by on the way to Leadore?

LC headed back to the store to see what he could find out about Dillon, while I continued walking with my dog..................

A police vehicle that looks a little worse for wear..................

Looking down the main street of "Hustling and Bustling Leadore".............

Crossing over the two lane highway Kory and I headed for the sign, curious to see what I could learn about this tiny town (although not as tiny as Atomic City - the speck in the desert with the grandiose name).

This entire region is filled with Native American and mining history...............

As I stood reading signs I heard a vehicle approaching behind me.

When I turned I realized that LC had picked up the Tahoe and driven across the road to meet up with us.

Climbing back into the Tahoe he told me what he had learned.

Dillon was about 65 miles up and over a major pass.

Hmmmm..............that wasn't going to work.

Continuing on, he told me that there was a huge dam where locals fished, on the Montana side about 45 miles.  Again over the pass.

I would have loved to see it, but not on this day.  Maybe when we camped.

One last option was to head for the top of the pass.

The place at the peak of the mountains, where the Continental Divide passed through, where Idaho turned into Montana.  It was an eight mile climb to reach the top.

That was it!

THAT was what we needed to do before turning back.

Turning right at the road sign, we drove on paved road for only a few minutes before it turned to gravel road and immediately began to climb...................

The road was very steep and very winding.

And the hills and mountains that surrounded us were very beautiful.

When we had left the house earlier that morning we had assumed that we would be driving only through valley, with mountains surrounding us.

Now unexpectedly here we were, driving into the mountains leading to the border between two states...............

After climbing non-stop, we reached the top.

Eagerly I climbed out of the Tahoe.  It was cool and windy, and I reached for my jacket.

Grabbing Korys' leash she jumped out of the truck and immediately began pulling on the leash, wanting to explore.

She was definitely our dog.

She loved doing these kinds of things as much as we did.  

This dog was meant to be with us.....................

Aside from being windy, this place was absolutely silent.

LC grabbed the dog while I reached for my camera.

It was a clear day and I could see forever.

I wanted to try and capture forever in pictures...............

What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing?  It's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies............Jack Kerouac
  
The Continental Divide:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Divide_of_the_Americas

Leadore And More - Part 1

I'm jumping the gun a bit with the picture above, but I wanted to post a beautiful picture to start this blog post, and it doesn't get any more beautiful than this............

.

A couple of days ago LC, Kory and I ventured into the mountains.

We hadn't planned on going into the mountains.  We had simply planned to head up a valley towards the very small town of Leadore, ID.

LC especially, had been curious about Leadore.

Why that is I don't know, but I was ready to escape Atomic City, drive through a valley surrounded by mountains, and see what we would see.

Eagerly throwing together a picnic lunch of sandwiches, fruit, cookies, cans of Diet Coke and bottles of water, we both grabbed a jacket each (even though the forecast promised sunshine and warmth) loaded the pup into the truck, and headed towards a valley known as the Lemhi Valley.

The Big Lost River Valley is closest to us, and it contains all the small towns and communities that I have mentioned before in previous blog posts, including Arco, Moore, Mackay, Challis and Salmon.

Driving a little further east there is access to the Little Lost River Valley that we have explored only a little to this point, both times in the winter.

The first time we ended up turning back after a couple of hours, after unexpectedly running into completely barren land, no cell service, and snow drifts that had begun to sweep across the two-lane road we had been traveling.  We had NO idea what was up ahead, and so out of caution we turned back.

The second time we traveled the Little Lost, we turned off before reaching "barren wasteland" and traveled a short way along a ridge line bordering the mountains, until we eventually ran into some young guys who told us that the road was closed up ahead.

Further east still is the base of the Lemhi Valley.

Three valleys that are all close to each other, and that are all beautiful.

This was our first time exploring the Lemhi Valley, and Leadore on a sunny and warm spring morning seemed like a fine way to spend the day.

A picture taken as we headed towards the tiny community of Howe, only about 20 minutes drive from the house................

An hour or so after we had left the house we came across water.

Water, mountains, trees, and a campground.  

I wanted to take pictures, I wanted to walk, Kory wanted to walk.

It was time to stop for a while, and we watched for an entrance to the campground, all of us suddenly eager to get out of the Tahoe and move around.

We had already passed one entrance, and was surprised at how far it was to the second.

As we pulled down towards the water and then climbed out, I looked around me, and was hit (yet again) with the realization that there are so many places that we have not seen yet.

So much that is within easy driving distance.

Within easy day trip distance.

So much that was still hidden away from us, yet to be explored.

We had not even thought about searching out places to camp, but as I looked around me I realized that we could happily stay in this place for a few days.................

We spent a good 30 minutes wandering along the........creek?  river?

I don't even know what they officially classify this as, but it was fast flowing and deep enough that LC could spend a good deal of his time wandering along the bank and tossing his line into the water if we camped here.

I could walk with my dog.

We could explore all of the trails that headed up into the mountains on both sides of the road.

It was beautiful here.

We hadn't planned on scoping out campgrounds, but since we had unexpectedly found this one (and it was free to stay there)........yes..........I could see us spending a couple of days in this place................

Eventually we had walked far enough (how big WAS this place??) that LC headed back to retrieve the Tahoe while I continued wandering with Kory.

The place was silent aside from the sound of moving water.

I watched as Kory occasionally drank from the river, paddled in the river, pulled on the leash eager to go further and see more...................

Eventually my Mountain Boy caught up with us, and I loaded my now-hydrated pup back into the truck.

We had been following the river, and there was a gravel road that also paralleled the river.

After getting back into the Tahoe we continued in the same direction, staying on the gravel road and beginning to wonder exactly how big of a campground this really was.

Originally we had bypassed a lower campground entrance.

We came in at the middle campground entrance, so figured that somewhere there was an upper campground entrance, and assumed that we would find it eventually.

I always smile when I see these low ladders, that are used to climb up and over a fence.............

A large cave that was located on a steep (very steep) jeep trail, directly across the road from us...................

The gravel road that ran the length of the campground was over a mile long.

There was one family camping in a huge fifth wheel (the kind that is so big you wonder why people want to take their house with them when they go camping), and a couple of guys that were fishing.

But aside from those few, this campground was a beautiful place that was surrounded by more beautiful place.

Yes..........I wanted to camp here.  

Mountain bike.  Fish.  Camp.  Hike.  Explore................

An information kiosk located close to the upper entrance of the campground...............

15 minutes are picking up the two lane highway again I realized that I was out of gum.

Thinking that I would have to wait and hope that there was a gas station open in Leadore, we were surprised to see a sign on the highway indicating a convenience store and small campground.

LC pulled in and waited in the Tahoe with Kory while I headed towards the entrance of the run down plywood building..

There was a handful of 5th wheels parked in back of the store and as I headed towards the front door I absently wondered why people would camp here when there was such a beautiful and empty campground located only a few miles down the road ...............

I opened the front door and was immediately greeted by two dogs who ran right up to me.

Momentarily startled, I also immediately realized that these dogs were friendly.

Maybe a little overly-friendly considering that this was a business, but friendly was better than not friendly, and so I recovered from my surprise quickly.

As big friendly fur balls were jumping around the store owner walked up to me, apologized for the enthusiasm of his dogs, told me that they were new and had not yet learned their manners, and then shooed them out the front door.

Surprised again, I realized that the man was heading out the front door as well.

Turning away from the door I finally took a look around me.

Even though the sign above the building had indicated as such, I could see no evidence of goods that would normally be sold in a store.

There were tables and chairs, a long counter with bar stools, and what looked like a kitchen visible through an opening in the wall behind the counter.

Surprised again, I turned my attention to the lone occupant of the store.

An elderly woman was sitting at one of the tables busily focused on a half completed jig saw puzzle.

For a few moments I waited for her to look up.

It must have been one hell of an interesting puzzle because she did not, and finally I said "Excuse me!".

Looking up from her puzzle I asked the lady if the store sold gum.

I already knew the answer but I had come this far and thought it was worth at least asking.

They did not have gum.  They were out of everything right now.  She was sorry.

Turning a polite smile on, I thanked her and walked out the door.

Man and big rambunctious dogs were nowhere in sight..................

Life is for deep kisses, strange adventures, midnight swims and rambling conversations...............Author Unknown