Glenn's Ferry | Three Island Crossing

Monday - 20 May 2002: Glenns Ferry, Idaho - A big driving day today (350 miles). We left Clarkston, Washington at 9 a.m. and drove over the Snake River to Lewiston, Idaho. The bridge was under repair, the lanes narrowed with orange cones. We literally crept over the bridge - too many memories of the mirror-eating Lion's Gate Bridge! We were taking Highway 95 to New Meadow, Idaho. We made a big climb and drove for an hour on a beautiful plateau and then made a nerve-racking 7-mile plunge down to the dumpy town of White Bird, where we began following the Salmon River south, through dense forests until we came into a lush, green valley-wide meadow. Along the river we saw several kayakers - the waters were wild and there were many 10'-12' waterfalls to thrill the daring! We also saw a sign telling us that litter removal was being sponsored by "The Dolly Llama". Neat little ranches and vacation homes were next door to some of the most gawd-awful trailer trash EVER. One particularly prize-winning single-wide had a gigantic pile of beer cans, numbering in the thousands, just outside the window. Now that is a dedicated recycler. At New Meadow, population 620, we turned onto Idaho 55 - The Payette River Scenic Byway - toward Boise.
 
DT SAYS: My only comment of the day is if you are looking to purchase a cheap home-on-wheels, make the trip to Riggins, Idaho. There are thousands of them lining the road. They appear to be abandoned, but apparently they belong to fishermen, who park them for the "season". I am sure one of them belongs to Muggins the Clown, as I think I saw a pair of size 29 shoes outside the door of a trailer as we drove by.
 
Along the way, we passed through the pretty town of McCall, Idaho, which hugs the shores of Payette Lake. McCall reminded us both of the shores of Lake Tahoe, edged with big beautiful new 10,000 square-foot "cabins". McCall is experiencing rapid growth - new roads, hotels and businesses. Skiing in the winter; the lake in the summer. Today we also watched helicopter logging and saw a real cowboy - lasso and all - riding his horse.
 
We really did enjoy the Payette Scenic Bypass. The road does have its share of hills (up AND down), so we drove through valleys and snow. If you ever need to get from Lewiston to Boise, I suggest this route. It was cold and cloudy and rained off-and-on all day. Considering the wildness of our surroundings, we saw little wildlife - one osprey, geese, red-winged black birds, a dead badger on the side of the road and, of course, a zillion ravens.
 
Just outside Boise, we read a flashing electronic road hazard sign warning: SLICK ROAD AHEAD - CRICKETS ON HIGHWAY. Luckily, none were spotted. As we were traveling through Boise, I thought to phone my parents, as they left today for Alaska to attend Sarah's high school graduation in Anchorage. Cell phone to cell phone - they were just at the Canadian border, all was well and they recommended a nice campground about one hour east of Boise. We hit Interstate 84 - and I mean - bang - this is one rough stretch of road! Every dish was rattling away in the cupboards. We stopped at a rest area outside of town - just for a moment of silence! The wind nearly took the door off the hinges when DT went outside. At this rest area, you can see ruts in the dirt left by wagons on the Oregon Trail... obviously Idaho roads have not improved much since... we continued bumping our way east, nothing but sagebrush for miles and miles.
 
This finds us now, just outside of Glenn’s Ferry, at the recommended Three Island Crossing State Park. The campground is just beautiful and very empty. We are camped on the bank of the Snake River (but we can't see the river). This was a popular river crossing point on the Oregon Trail and there is a nice Interpretive Center at the park, which is, OF COURSE, closed on Monday and Tuesday! (Oh, well, it’s not like we haven't been to an Oregon Trail Interpretive Center before.) We took a walk, turned our clocks to Mountain Time, dined on lovely soft-shell chicken tacos and are settling in for a quiet evening. Hopefully quiet - it is very windy!

Campground: Three Island Crossing State Park