Summer 2012 Vacation, Sawtooth Wilderness

Thank you for bearing with me, as these posts not only come few and far between, but also very late.

Our second stop on our summer road trip en route to Red Lodge, MT, was Stanley, ID and the Sawtooth Wilderness.  This area had very few year round residents and was very beautiful.  I always thought John Day was tiny, but we've got little to complain about in comparison to the 63 residents of Stanley.  We spent two nights in the area, and looking back on our trip should have spent at least another.  The Sawtooth Wilderness offers plenty of recreational opportunities.  We spent the evenings at a campground on Red Fish Lake, and spent our afternoons hiking.  

 Sawtooth Mountains, hiking up from Stanley Lake to Bridal Veil Falls.  Hannah's hitching a ride with Daddy.

Hannah was rock climbing, and struck a pose.  I think she was mocking me with her hands on her hips.

 A family photo in front of the falls, but I didn't position the camera correctly.  We got a nice family shot either way.

 Hannah stretching her legs, and hiking along with us on the trail.

 Beach combing at Red Fish Lake.

 Hannah and I saying "cheese." 

Robbie and Hannah hanging out and enjoying the view.

The next few shots are a bit messed-up, as the camera has a few issues occasionally.  None the less, I've chosen to include them and represent our travels anyway.  We did a day hike, to Bench Lake, about 8 miles round trip into the wilderness.  

 Break time, we were starving for lunch by the time we arrived to the lake.  Luckily we had the view to ourselves, just like wilderness is supposed to be.

 This photo reminds me of the quality of some photos I was in as a child.  

 Robbie having us pose for the camera.

Hannah hitching a ride on the way down.  She actually fell asleep in the pack, she was like a limp noodle bopping around in there.

I got the camera positioned right this time.  Much easier to stand behind a sign, then in front of the falls.

Grandpa's Birthday Visit

We had a wonderful visit with Ma and Pa Piehl. It was Brent's birthday and they came and spent a couple of days with us.


We enjoyed a great hike up into the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, both the upper and lower Strawberry Lakes. Hannah really enjoyed seeing her grandparents, and didn't want them to leave.


She gave her grandpa a big strong birthday hug before they left. I wish I had a picture. It was so precious.

John Day Fossil Beds

Here are a few pictures from a day trip we took to the John Day Fossil Beds. The Thomas Condon Paleontology Center (visitor center) is located about 45 minutes from our house, at the Sheep Rock Unit. We took the longest trail offered, The Blue Basin Trail, about a 3 mile loop. The trail overlooks the valley and only changes in elevation by about 600 ft.

When Ma Sanders Came to Town

After Brent, Cheryl, Ryan and Kristy came to visit, my mother, Renee stayed with us too. We had a wonderful time, and were even able to convince her to go out on the boat last Saturday. While heading out to North Pass, to silver (coho) salmon fish, we lucked out and witnessed porpoises, and whales around us and in the near distance. Unfortunately the pictures don't do it any justice. Our adventure was highlighted with mom bringing in the lone silver salmon into the boat. I think it may have been her first too! She did well, and had a grin from ear to ear. It is always awesome to hear the excitement of a none experienced fisher person when they bring in their catch of the day.

We also went up the Mt. Roberts Tram and ate dinner at the Timberline Bar and Grill on top for all of our birthdays. Moms was in July, and Robbie and I at the end of August. The ride up and down on the tram only lasts a few minutes, but to my mother, who isn't fond of small tight object floating up in the air, I think was a lifetime. At one point Robbie and I looked over on the way down, and wondered if she was hyperventilating. All in all we had a wonderful dinner and a spectacular view.


As with any of our summer time visitors, we headed out to the glacier to spot bears. We got lucky and saw a black bear fishing in the creek, and walking about the forest.

Peterson Lake

Happy Sunday Everyone,

This weekend we rented a Forest Service Cabin. We hiked out to it Saturday afternoon about noon and came out today about the same time. We didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but the one evening was a wonderful break from painting doors, trim and the house. Not to mention work for Robbie. Our friend Keith and his son Cole joined us as well. The hike in is, well depending on who you talk to, somewhere between 3.5 and 4.3 miles. The cabin is situated about 200 feet from the shore line. This time of year the trail is great, because it is covered with snow. In the summer it really can be a lot more work, stepping over tree branches and swampy conditions. The lake was frozen over, except one area where there was a beaver dam at the outflow to the creek. When we hiked in yesterday the weather was absolutely beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining. However this morning it was equally as beautiful, but snowing and the sky was back to what we are used to around here, cloudy. I've attached another photo album, Peterson Lake Cabin, down below of some photos, if you care to take a look.

Elephant Trek and Whitewater Rafting

So we missed telling you all about going to the Mesa elephant camp. It was a hoot. The elephants played soccer, painted pictures and put on a pretty good show. We got a tuk tuk for the day and the poor lady drove us everywhere and waited for us while we screwed around. It worked out pretty good for us and if you like the smell of two-stroke engines, you to would love a tuk tuk. One elephant was pregnant and it appeared that she had swallowed a mini-cooper. She was 20 months pregnant and apparently had two to go. Lets just say she was big.

We were able to check out an orchid garden and a butterfly farm as well. We also went to a silk factory, a furniture shop and a lacquer shop. The furniture shop was crazy and they had beautiful stuff. They say that shipping anywhere in the world and insurance was covered yet the prices seemed to cheap to believe them. Nonetheless we didn't buy anything but would have loved to.

The big thing in Chiang Mai is to go on an elephant trek. Typical treks last a few days and you stay overnight in a hill tribe village. We got an inside scoop from a kid that did a three day trek and said you could do it all in a day so that's what we did. We had a great day that started off at another orchid garden and butterfly farm. We thought we had signed up for the wrong venue especially after hiking to another waterfall but finally ended up at a river that had some pretty good whitewater sections. We were on the water for 1 hour then got on a bamboo raft for another half hour.

We then went on a 1 hr elephant ride. Our elephant was a 22 year old gal whose name was Metzke. I thought the guy called her whiskey at first and I liked that name better so that's what I called her. It was pretty cool as we crossed a river, went up hills and they let us sit on its head. Luckily we do a lot of bull riding on Friday nights at Henry's and we were able to stay on. It was neat and now Naomi wants an elephant of her own.

The elephant trek was then followed up by a trek to the Karen long neck hill tribe where we got to see the natives with the gold coils around their necks. It was neat but it really wasn't their village, more like a market in the jungle. There were a lot of farang staying there and they didn't have a lot to do but drink beer. So I think we made the right choice with the day trip as we had an excellent time.

Tomorrow we're sleeping in.

Doi Inthanon National Park

So Naomi really wanted to check out the National Park and go to Thailand's highest peak. I wish I could tell you the name of it or how high it was but I will have to fill you in on the details at a later time. Mainly it was a driving tour that lasted all day. We had a fairly knowledgeable guide who filled us in on some of the trees and history of the places. I would have to say the highlight was seeing the Royal Garden. The hillsides are covered with terraces from growing poppies for opium. The problem is that the soil is only good for three years then they have to go and decimate other hillsides. So the King and Queen made one of the areas into a garden that is huge. There are ornamentals, vegetables and all kinds of beautiful plants. It was an incredible site. I am sure the pictures won't do it justice. Otherwise we stopped at some waterfalls, and met some pretty interesting folks from others parts of the world.