| Posted | Aug-30-2006 11:28 AM |
| Latitude | 44.9299166666667 |
| Longitude | -113.55025 |
| Altitude | 5,662.72 ft. |
| Gallery | https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=4c1fc107a2cb4bea&resid=4C1FC107A2CB4BEA!552&parid=4C1FC107A2CB4BEA!111 |
| Headline | Idaho to Wyoming |
| Entry |
Make up time we do. Heading out the next morning we make great time cutting through Beaverhead National Forest and with just a few wrong turns later we're crossing the Idaho border.
Idaho is gorgous. Who knew? This place, those desolate and very wild west is absolutely nuts. On one offshoot of the trail we climb within a quarter mile of an abandon mine but the trail is closed off. Wow that's frustrating.
We make our way to Lemhi Pass as some weirdo creeping around in his station wagon seems a little too anxious to talk to us so we maintain a rolling pace. We make our first quazi water crossing and though I'm well aware Hanley assures me this is nothing. The splash was nice though. The view, the colors, I know we sounded like hippies but Idaho is crazy. Can't stress that enough.
Per the route we make a stop in Tendoy to find there isn't much to Tendoy save...the Tendoy Store and physically connected Post Office. Hanley walks in to see if they serve food and a few minutes later pops his head out saying I have to come in and see this place....and bring the camera. We meet Viola Anglin who must be in her 90's. This woman radiates warmth giving us the low down on Tendoy and the history of Tendoy as a historical Lewis and Clark landmark.
"According to the local Lemhi Shoshone Tribe, Sacagawea was born approximately 2½ miles from the present day Tendoy General Store. Sacagawea’s brother Chief Cameawait’s grave site, kept secret by the Lemhi Shoshone until only a few years ago, is located about 3 miles from the store. Lewis and Clark first crossed what is now the state line between Montana and Idaho at a point only 12 miles from the Tendoy Store. In 1855 Mormons established the first white settlement in Idaho, known as Fort Lemhi, but abandoned it 3 years later after Indian hostilities broke out. That settlement, as well as the headwaters where Lewis first drank from the mighty Columbia River, is only a few miles from here."
Viola tells us that she is lucky enough to have her son as the Postmaster and only then do we realize the man on the other side of the glass behind the counter is in his office is her son. We grab sausages and sandwich stuff and start up the Cruiser kitchen in the parking lot out front.
The wind picks up and we're having difficulty lighting the stove but prevail after making a small cooking tent from wind breakers. Not having any hot pads Han picks up the bowl using a stack of napkins and while gazing at our first hot meal I see the napkins in his hand going up in flames. Before I can explain, fire..., uhh right hand..., he knows. I'm sure you can imagine the rest. We disgrace the history of Tendoy running around like clowns making sure no embers risk catching fire. After driving through so many areas riddled by forest fires you take on a new respect for the problem. Don't feel like being responsible for that. The weather looks questionable but we head back into the mountains knowing we can't afford losing time through these states which should be more easily passed.
We branch off to Mill Lake, a small extremely secluded lake backed off from dirt roads by a small road of rocks and bumps for a few miles. Rounding a corner we (and we have no idea how) sneak up on a Moose who takes one look at the truck and thinking hes seen an alien bolts into the woods. Very cool and a first for us both.
We're climbing in elevation as the temprature continues to drop while attempting to reach the lake before the sun falls. The jarring of the truck leaves your lower back sore from muscles firing to keep you upright and we reach the lake with the moon in full view. It's cold and up the surrounding mountains you can see remaining snow that's refused to melt. This type of wheeling destroys our gas milage and we're at a quarter of a tank.
We grab some shots and turn back coming to the decision that we must make it to Wyoming tonight. We bring out the Monster and realize looking ahead on the map that we're in possible trouble not being able to cross through the Targhee National Forest, rounding around to find the next possible town with gas.
We reach Leadore with no luck, everything is closed down but the crowd in the local pub tells us Mud Lake is our best shot of finding gas this late unless we want to heavily back track. We size up the Scepter jerry cans and make a go of it with our eyes locked on the gas needle the whole time. Sure enough we're forced to use the reserves and pull down the Scepter's. To say we're glad to have had those on board is an understatement as Idaho is far from what us city rats would call a populated place.
We push on to Mud Lake and find a station thats still operating via credit card although the lights have all been turned out. It's time for a another dose of Monster and we jump back on the road arriving in Ashton (just on the border of Wyoming) pulling into a BP to find the attendant has Parkinsons and is more than willing to lend his local expertise of where a good spot to crash is. Heading just north and following his flawless directions we pull into a small pull off into what is actually a continuation of the Targhee where we're told we shouldn't be bothered. We setup camp and pass out.
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