Mini Road Trip

Here's yet another loose end all tied up, something I've been wanting to do since I discovered its existence shortly after moving back to Idaho, promised myself I'd get to this summer no matter what, feared my foot injury would keep me from doing: a trip to view Copper Falls!

My Goldilocks criteria for a hike came together perfectly on my chosen day. Rain over the weekend washed the forest fire smoke drifting over from Washington out of the air and brought the hot temps of the previous week down to comfortable 70's. The weatherman predicted a beautiful day with what he calls "poofy" clouds and that's exactly what I got.

I nearly backed out though when I pulled up maps to see exactly how to get to the trail head leading to the falls. I had it in my head that it was about 30 to 40 minutes north of me. Couldn't spot it around the Bonners Ferry area where I thought it was. I finally found it, as far north of Bonners Ferry as Bonners Ferry is from me, a scant mile from the Canadian border. And in the heart of grizzly bear territory. After the summer of angry bear activity not long ago, I'd decided to mark this part of the Panhandle off my list of explorations. But geez, I wanted to see that falls, and the bears have been behaving themselves this summer. And the hike to the falls is less than a mile. Just put on your big girl pants and GO! I packed up my directions and some lunch, hung some bells from my bag and crossed my fingers I'd not be the only one on the trail that day.

It took about an hour and 20 minutes to drive the 66 miles to the trail head on the good 2-lane highway with occasional slowdowns for small towns and road construction. Growing up, my family did not explore this part of the Panhandle much, so north of Bonners Ferry these were new vistas for me. But oh so familiar vistas that reminded my why I wanted to move back out here, vistas that touch my heart. Along the way was an overlook with this sign I've added to give you an idea of my route (click on it for a readable version). It is oriented to match the mountains one is viewing to the west, with south and north to the left and right. #1 was where I was headed.

All along the way I kept getting snatches of mountains. Yes, northern Idaho has got some mountains! The ones from this overlook are over 7000 ft in elevation, although from the photos it's difficult to grasp their grandeur. Of course, more impressive when there's still snow on them.

I'd had some misgivings about driving so far "just" to look at a waterfall, but this drive to them was filling a need I'd forgotten.

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” Rumi was so right. This land, these mountains, the falls I was headed to; these are the things I really love and that draw me and renew me.

The trailhead was a couple of miles off the main highway, up a well-maintained gravel road that wound up the mountain. You're at about 3400 ft now. Several cars were parked there, assuring me I'd not be the first or last up the trail which also wound its way gently up towards the falls (I believe it's 150 ft elevation in .5 miles). Benches to rest on along the way, signage to point out things of interest. I love forest service trails like these.

The trail forks to take you to the overlook, rounding the hillside where one first hears the sound of the falls.

And then the reward, Copper Falls itself, plunging 150 ft from high above you to the rocks below you.

But it's not just the sight of the water cascading down the rock face that moves me. It's the sound of the water filling my senses.

This sign tells a little more about the falls (click to view readable version), including that its frozen version in winter draws ice climbers.

Drawing my eyes from the water, I notice things that always fascinate me about the tenacity of nature. Trees pay no attention to the lack of soil but find ways to take root in the rock.

And there's so much cooling moisture from the spray of the falls that moss grows thickly on this rock face. This is a really huge patch.

And perhaps you can see the other thing that has always fascinated me about northern Idaho, the way the rock strata has been turned on end as the plates collided and the mountains were pushed skyward.

I always find it hard to pull myself away from views like these, but I knew the other fork of the trail wound downward to the little stream below the falls. Not a lot of water this time of year but so much cooler down here. You can just see the bottom of the falls in the background.

Couldn't quit clicking my camera away. These sorts of cool and quiet places with a bit of running water is where I spent my childhood and where I now go to renew.

Glimpses of the creek through the rocks and fallen trees.



And the all important sound of the crystal clear water as it makes its way downstream.

Rocks! There are huge rocks here and there, I believe left by the ice age glaciers. That huge one behind the tree.

And a large flat one by a bench.

And this one with 4 squished together trees at the back of it.

And huge tree roots, covered in bark. Makes me wonder what the circumstances were for the root to be exposed like this.

I've tried to cut down on the number of pictures I take of bark textures but this kind still makes me try to capture what's going on, a kind of weaving that I can't quite figure out.

Ready to continue down the trail, I turned around and was faced with this behemoth. What was making it look so fuzzy, so soft?

Lichen! Half of the tree was covered in a green lichen.

But as I rounded the tree, the other half was this rusty orange.

So much character, and it's been pecked at, something making holes looking for bugs probably, or maybe even a place to hang out.

Just to give you a better idea of its size, I leaned my 60" walking stick against it.

And it was so tall, taller than I could get in my frame.

The trail continued to wander along the creek for a bit before heading back up to the trailhead. My final picture as I was nearly back at the road, this smooth loaf of a rock (about 2 ft long) covered in various lichens. This sparked some design ideas . . .

Driving home, still soaking up the views that catch my breath, I knew this drive was definitely worth my time. There's more to explore north of me but a little closer next time. I'm already planning my next foray. As Elaine Scarry writes in her essay On Beauty and Being Just:

"...the pleasure we take in beauty is inexhaustible. No matter how long beautiful things endure, they cannot out-endure our longing for them."

Idaho, its mountains, lakes, streams and woods, is my beautiful thing I'll always long for. It's why it was so important to move back out here. No place like home, as they say.   

Loose Ends

For a long time now my life has felt like so many loose ends needing to be tied up. I never seem to get on top of all the undone things and good intentions. I began to think of all this as one long and very frayed loose end and this image came to mind. So I sketched it out in pencil and added text and doodles. Somehow, putting down on paper like this made me feel a little better, like all those things that need doing or that I want to do were more contained. A little like how I feel about making lists - getting things out of my head so I don't brood on them so much.

"Sit and Rotate" sketching assignment - 5-1/2 x 7 in.

And because I have so many loose ends in my life, when one gets tied up, I get pretty excited! What a sense of accomplishment to finally finish my "sit and rotate" assignment from a Sketchbook Skool class from several years ago. I'm really pleased with the way this concertina version of my messy office came out, doing a bit of happy dance!

Here's the front and back of the book stretched out. I started my pencil sketching with my desk with the computer screen on it, there at the middle fold because the desk is a corner desk, then worked right and then left of it.

I did coloring and adding of details in no particular order, some of it even before finishing the sketching on the back, using Pigma Micron 01 pen, Pitt brush pens and Prismacolor colored pencils. I had to keep reminding myself I didn't need to add every single thing, but I often got caught up in capturing minutia and working hard to match colors accurately. But I have to admit, by the time I got to the home stretch on the back and those closet doors, I was pretty relieved that there was so little to draw!

I tied up another loose end this week, which I'll share in the next post. Yes, it's been a pretty good feel good week.

 

Always Something

Pend Oreille Lake from the Bay Trail

Last month I did something to my foot that made walking pretty painful. My efforts to "fix" it on my own weren't coming along too well so I asked my nurse practitioner what might be going on and how I could make it better. My worst fear was that I'd have to immobilize it right at the time of year when I wanted to be out on the trails. The good news is that much of what I was already doing was right, I got some additional suggestions that have helped, and he did NOT want me to be immobilized, but keep up my exercise. "You're just gonna have to dust off your bike and start riding it - that would be great for your foot," he said. Well, that would be a bit difficult as I left my bike at the Goodwill in Tacoma, WA when we moved out to Wisconsin. "Well then," he said, "you're just gonna have to get in your car and drive over to the Bay trail to get your walks in - no extended walking on hard surfaces." That's exactly what I'd been thinking to do, so this is one prescription that's not hard to swallow!

It takes less than ten minutes to drive to the trailhead and I coordinate with an errand or too to feel less guilty about the drive. (I used to give my mother-in-law a hard time about driving to a walking trail rather than walk her neighborhood.) It really is one of the best places to walk when the weather is hot, as it was for a bit last week. This view shows some foundations from the big lumber mill that stood for many years on this sight, before the water levels were controlled by a dam. I think I'd like to try painting this view in one of my sketchbooks, although I don't know if I'm brave enough to set up my stool along the trail to do it. There's always quite a few people using this trail and I'm still practicing my watercolor skills. I may just paint in the comfort of my home using the picture for reference.

I DO like some variety though, and one day last week revisited a park in another part of town near where I was taking care of some business. Another hot day but this park has lots of trees, gravel paths and some cooling breezes off the water. It also abuts Memorial Field which is where the school plays its football games, but is used for a variety of non-school events as well. The biggest is perhaps The Festival at Sandpoint, 8 concerts held over two long weekends. (View a local newscast feature here.) This year's headliner was Jackson Brown, but there were other equally well-known groups as well as a few lesser known ones. I opted not to go this year, and was saddened to hear they had started using metal detectors at the gates. As a general rule, I feel pretty safe here in this small town, but I will admit there are plenty of people totin' guns, Idaho gun laws being pretty lax in my opinion. What a sorry sign of our times that performers would require something like this in their contracts, but on the other hand, you can hardly blame them. Too many gun owners honestly believe they might be the hero someday. And too many people with mental problems can get their hands on guns.

Ok, stepping off the soap box now to give you a peak over the fence where you can just see the stage with its distinctive tent. The back of grandstands is visible on the left and where I've sat in the past, but many people set up lawn chairs and blankets on the grass between the grandstands and the stage. Festival indeed! The truly "cheap seats" are in the park outside the fence, where people often come to listen to the music, even if they can't see the performers or have access to the food vendors.

Using a cheap camera phone here so you can't really see the details but on top of that pole is an osprey nest, a rather famous osprey nest. It has its own live webcam, and when the lights were upgraded back in 2011, they made sure the osprey nest here was moved to a nesting platform atop a new lighting standard. Yeah, the people in the area made sure no one messed with those ospreys!

This book has its own website http://aliensloveunderpants.com/

Some days I really don't want to take the time to drive to the trailhead or another park so make the quick trip to the little park on my walking route. I have to make a few more trips around it plus walk the whoops on the bike part to get my mile in, but I can vary the route enough to keep it interesting. I especially enjoy when the library puts up a new story on the story walk, a special trail in the park that winds among some tall trees. This particular story cracked me up and I am delighted to share a few pages of it with you. You can also watch this video. 

And so we carry on, putting a positive spin on a temporary hiccup, thankful it has given me an extra push to get back on some trails and into some different parks, doubly thankful it is something that already is getting better.

  

Summer In Full Swing

Brief heat wave (that would be the 90's for us), a few raucous thunderstorms, and now settling into a string of sunny breezy days in the 80's, and you have summer at last in the Panhandle of Idaho. I've been to city beach, which recently hosted a National Thistle Sailboat Regatta, and found the public marina full of boats, children splashing in the lake waters which are still quite cold, and adults strolling or soaking up the sun.

My little deck garden brings much joy, especially from the dahlia plant that kept calling to me when I was making my selections at the garden store. It's gone from one bloom at a time to several to enjoy.

I picked this one out because its blooms are not just a bright yellow, but have this reddish orange accent around each petal.

And with the warmer weather, I look for things I can do while sitting out on the deck. Perfect for enjoying an iced coffee and doing some Sketchbook Skool "homework", creating a swatch record of my many colored pencils.

Click on the picture for a closer look

This sort of exercise is right up my alley because, just like with my sewing and quilting supplies, I almost enjoy the organizing and testing of my pencils more than creating something with them. Less pressure I guess and surprisingly informative. For instance, as I sorted the pencils in my black zippered holder by number, I realized I had a mixture of the basic Prismacolor pencil and their Premier line - first I'd noticed that. So I swatched them separately, then pulled more from the tin of Premiers that weren't duplicates. Not only could I instantly feel the difference between them as I made the swatches (small test from the side, small test using light pressure, and a square using normal pressure and multiple layers in two directions plus circular), in cases where I had the same color in both plain and Premier, I could see a difference in color or saturation.

I moved on to my Verithin set and got more surprises. Not only is the numbering system much different (with not much rhyme or reason to my eye), but the way that harder thinner lead laid its color across the paper was also different. It worked into the troughs and valleys of the multi-media paper pretty much in a single pass and my impression was that it would be easier to use overall. We shall see as the class progresses. In the meantime, I have this terrific reference chart and a greater insight into the pencils I own.