After a great night's sleep we were up-and-at-'em early. I had awakened to quite a few 2-stroke and 4-stroke cycles riding north up the road...as best I could figure there was some sort of poker run or other organized ride. It was lookin' to be a beautiful day and we were eager to get to Shoup...
As we turned onto dirt road the views became increasingly awesome...simple, but awesome. The great thing about taking 'great' photos is that anybody can take nice pictures. As long as you have something really cool to shoot it seems to always be a 'great' photo. Kinda makes me wanna go back to Alaska...
So this area had seen it's fair share of fires last year. The trees were well-charred but the new growth was pretty cool...great contrast
The valleys were really filling with smoke from the McGruder fires...
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| Miles and miles of mountain range... |
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| Me trusty steed |
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| Smokey landscapes can be purdy in a way... |
We popped out onto the Salmon River Road from the Indian Creek Road which is between Shoup and North Fork. We had been told there was gas to be had in Shoup so we opted to plunge deeper into the wilderness...
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| The Shoup Store...what else can I say? |
...yes, those are for reals gravity-fed gas pumps...and yes they work. We were hungry so we decided to see what they may have to offer for some lunch...
It's a for reals store...beer, condiments, canned goods, fishing equipment...hell I bet they had a rifle for sale if you asked the right questions! I have to say the pulled pork sandwich left something to be desired, but the cold beer was much-appreciated! We even scored some brats from the kitchen! It turns out the place was under 'new' ownership...this guy and his two teenage sons run it...
As we were filling up one of the juniors said 'dad, we should get some bikes...'...this really made me realize just how lucky I was to be able to do trips like this. I could tell the kid had a brain...when I was his age I was thinking with my...
We filled our tanks and bellies and were all getting anxious to get in the river. Personally, I was getting excited about fishing, so we were off...
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| The Salmon River |
Scotty said he saw a huge bird fly over and land in these rocks...I never saw it so I'm hoping he can point out something in this pic...otherwise...look at all dem big rocks!
The road was really good, and seemed to be really well traveled....
Scott was up front and found himself in a herd of sheep!
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| Sheeps! |
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| Bald Eagle on the river |
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| Confluence of Salmon River and Middle Fork of Salmon River |
Well, there it is...the end of the road - Corn Creek Campground. We got in around 2:00 and there wasn't anybody there! We really lucked out...got the best spot close to the water and no neighbors. Oh boy!
We set up camp and took a look around. We'd heard there was a diner or lounge around and asked the two forest service gals on post there where it was. They both kinda giggled and asked how good a swimmer I was. Turned out it was on the OTHER side of the river and nobody was running boats over there. How inconvenient! Even worse, we didn't have enough to drink for the night...
I was reading this plaque and wouldn't you know it...a gal walked right across this area, regardless of the many signs saying 'Do Not Walk On Grass'...people suck
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| Man the river felt good! |
As we were sitting in the river boat after boat was launched...it soon became clear that we weren't going to be alone here tonight at all. This was the launch site for the Salmon River float trips! I couldn't believe I didn't think of this. It's no wonder the grouse were so friendly...they probably get fed by people on a daily basis. I almost tried hand-baggin' one for dinner but brats and chili sounded better.
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| Grouse = dumb |
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| Trusty birdies... |
Turns out one of the first to show up was a group of lesbians...no kidding...for reals. I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't say 'hi' back until their van driver spilled the beans for us. About this time we ran out of whiskey and beer...and unfortunately the 'gals' down on the river were the last ones likely to give us booze. Not to worry though...there were VAN-loads of people filling the campground.
With nothing to drink I decided I'd rub elbows with our neighbors on the beach and try my hand at some fly-fishing. Turns out it was a pretty good spot! I caught a 14-inch and a 10-inch rainbow. Not bad! I got so excited over a nibble from another one that I yanked so hard the line came back in my face. Needless to say, I had a rats nest and fishing was over.
Upon my return I found out Mike and Scott were successful in bumming some beers from a chap that happened to ride a KLR as well and was eyein' my chop. You could say he was a fan of mine...turns out I was a fan too! Thanks for the beers!
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| ...and....even more boaters... |
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| Some cheeky bloke thought he'd be funny...mission accomplished...Scotty you rascal! |
Our neighbors had a particularly annoying cowboy that not only was loud but very obnoxious. They were yelling and hollerin' until like 2:00 in the morning. And worse yet, they didn't take pity on us and share a beer or two - even though they had two gigantimous coolers full. With idiot cowboy next door and campers constantly walking through our camp this experience really didn't turn out the way we expected. On a positive note, we had some great chili brats...and managed to not blow the top off the can! Who would have thought with nobody in the camp at 2:00 there would be over 100 people by midnight?! Boats continued to be launched through the night and into the morning...geesh...what a circus.
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| Day 5 GPS Track |
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| Day 5 Elevation Plot |
