Bonanza!

We are currently camped on the Ponderosa! No not the ranch, but the Ponderosa State Park in the Payette National Forest. The Ponderosa Pine tree is prevalent in this park so we are surrounded by these huge trees.

It was a long drive south along the Idaho and Washington state lines following either the Snake or the Salmon Rivers through beautiful lands. As we left Coeur d’Alene we traveled through mile after mile of wheat fields. The golden grains contrasted with the evergreens on the hillsides and eventually the mountain sides. As we moved into the canyons and mountains the gold gave way to brown, dry, high desert lands cut through by the blue waters of the rivers which did not seem to get into the rocky soil to transform the brown to green. The Hells Canyon region was grandiose even though we didn’t see the actual canyon. The region surrounding it was just as ‘hellish’ with steep canyon walls falling down into deep ravines creating magnificent vistas as we descended to the lakes and rivers and then ascended back into mountains.

We arrived in McCall rather late yesterday afternoon so the girl at the state park check-in desk marked the sites that would be open for the next 4 days. We picked the perfect spot and went back this morning to pay for it and found out that it was NOT open for 4 days! Because it was their mistake they did not charge us for our first night but we had to change sites anyway. Not happy! 

The Ponderosa State Park is located on the Payette Lake. The park is on a peninsula that we are looking forward to exploring. Unfortunately I have come down with a cold and am not feeling up to much exertion so while I napped this afternoon, John rode his bike the 1.5 miles into town. We did visit with the park rangers and got some information about hiking in the area and took a Jeep ride around the entire lake.