Saturday night at Walmart

We are at the Walmart in Yakima, WA. Tomorrow we are going to try and find a campsite around Mt. Rainer. Since we have not had internet for the last four nights, I thought I would catch up. Here is the message I wrote on Thursday in Idaho.

August 27, 2009

Here we are again without internet or phone service. We are at Wilderness Gateway Campground in the Clearwater National Forest, outside of Lowell, Idaho. We have a beautiful spot in Loop B of the campground and paying $4 per night (with the Golden Age Pass). On the way over from staying in Butte we stopped at Lolo Hot Springs for a soak and at the Lolo Pass Visitors center. We found this campground and decided to stay for a few days.

Yesterday we got out the bikes and did a 45 ride around the CG. The weather is absolutely wonderful. Not many campers here at all. Today we hiked up Trail 221 into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area. We only hiked about 40 minutes in because it was mainly up switchbacks and Chica was with us. Tomorrow we are going to hike along the Lochsa River to an old Forest Service building. We are spending our time reading, working on projects and sitting by the campfire. Life is good!

On Friday I hiked along Hwy 12 to the historic Forest Service Station about 2 miles from camp. There are about five historic buildings that survived the 1934 fire. The "combination building" was very interesting - combination of cooking facilities, office, and supply room.

The rest of the day we spent in camp doing laundry and reading.

Dean has turned in to a good laundryman. He washed clothes and kept them in the sun all day. What a guy!