Huckleberry Time

The huckleberries are ripe.  Everyone is crazy about them.  Its a big deal around here to go berry picking.  People come to the area to spend several days picking as many berries as they can.  One group of ladies who stayed with us picked 3 gallons.  You just find a forest or logging road up in the mountains and you are bound to find them.  We picked our first batch but weren't certain they were huckleberries.  We brought them back to the park and yes we had found them.  I have enough in the freezer to add to muffins, coffee cakes and waffles (or ice cream).

Even though the locals all deny it I think they do taste like a blueberry (almost but not quite.)  They grow on taller bushes than blueberries and don't get as big-- at least not the ones we found.  The bushes aren't scratchy and there aren't thirsty mosquitoes trying to get a drink from you so it is much easier than picking berries in Minnesota.

Hunting for Food

Sandhill Cranes are huge birds with pretty red feathers on the top of their heads.  They seem to like to hang out by the lake here.  They make a very distinctive noise and once you've heard it you will remember it.  This coyote was just standing there on top of a stump looking like he was posing for us to take a picture of him.  We thought he was being very cooperative for us so we could take pictures until we saw the ground squirrel he was eyeing for dinner take off running.  The coyote looked at us like we ruined his dinner plans and also took off.

The campground is full pretty much every day now.  The woodcarvers had an auction to raise money for more wood carving equipment.  They had a raffle for the grand prize -- a Christmas tree filled with hand carved wooden ornaments.  Each ornament was beautiful.  They also raised money by auctioning off plates of homemade goodies and other hand crafted items.  We had a potluck dinner to go along with the festivities.  Lots of good food with a smoked turkey as the centerpiece. 

River of No Return

We took a drive up to Riggins,  Idaho.  This is a small town that lies along the Salmon River.  This river is famous for salmon fishing -of course- but also for river rafting trips.   It also is called the River of No Return.  It flows through the Frank Church River of No Return wilderness.  This area was made famous by the movie of the same name.  There is a raft like the one used in the movie on display at a riverside park in town.  I'm not sure if its a replica or the one from the movie but it looked kind of puny to navigate this river.

The Salmon River is one of the longest rivers in the country without any form of dam on it.  It dumps into the Snake River and then these rivers go through Hells Canyon and on into the Columbia River.  Riggins is at only 1800 feet elevation while Cascade is at 4800 feet.  As we dropped down to Riggins we noticed how much drier the area looked.  Its still fairly green around Cascade but around Riggins it was bone dry.  It was kind of scary because you are down in a canyon surrounded by very dry mountains.  If there were a fire in this area it would be hard to get out of the area in a hurry.   A raft might be the best way!

Arrowhead Totem Poles

Arrowhead RV Park (where we are living this summer) has dozens of totem poles throughout the park.  There are a group of wood carvers that stay here all summer and they have created these works of art.  I love the bear stuck in the stump.  You can see his foot sticking out.  Old Saint Nick got a fresh paint job this summer.  Several of the carvers adopt old totems to renew them.  The totem poles are attacked by woodpeckers and carpenter ants so its a constant battle to keep them looking nice.  If a totem pole is beyond saving they are taken to our totem graveyard.  Native Americans believe they have spirit power so they can't just be thrown away or burned without a ceremony.
We survived the 4th of July weekend here at the park.  The town was packed for the 4th because they have a very cute parade and very nice fireworks.  I was lucky enough to see both but didn't have my camera.  The best part of the parade was the excavating company's dump truck full of snow.   They must have gone up to the top of a mountain and filled the truck with snow.  Kids were on top of the snow in the truck throwing it down at the bystanders.  Of course the kids on the street grabbed handfuls that came down and threw them back.  A snowball fight in July!  It was great.