Day 39, September 20

Day 39, September 20 — Travel day back into the US

Locations: Lk Louise; Kootenay; border crossing; Cour d’Alene; Hells Canyon

Miles driven: 677

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The alarm was set for 6:00 and I left Herbert Lake at 6:25. The moon came in and out of clouds before I left, so the day is off to a better start than yesterday, in terms of holes in the sky. I got into Lake Louise at 6:35 where it was foggy and another layer of clouds were above that, so I just continued south bypassing my chance at Moraine and prepared for the long day’s drive into Idaho.

At Castle Junction, the clouds were more broken and the fog had lifted and there were some patches of blue sky. The clouds were off the mountains to the south, which was welcome, as I figured there would be a better chance to see the mountains along the way. I was really hoping there wasn't a sunrise on Moraine as it looked like a decent opening off to the east, but it was too late to change my mind now. Did I mention that I was really hoping that there wasn’t a sunrise at Moraine? It pains me to this day to think I may have possibly missed a grand show there, but it’s always hard to say. The day hadn’t been lost of colorful pictures yet, though, so you’ll have to scroll on.

At 7:25, and just past Kootenay Crossing, black bear #12 was hanging out in the middle of the road as I was approaching. The skies were clear off to the west as I entered Kootenay, but the clouds in the park itself remained low, so I never did get to see the all mountains along this drive, which was rather disappointing.

I fueled up in Radium Hot Springs and left there at 8:00. It was rather foggy in town but clear above it. There was even some color from sunrise as of 7:55, which was well after the fact. Cranbrook lies 142k from here which would be the next major town I'd pass through.

I passed through the town of Fairmont which lies in a real pretty setting as it has a nice range to the east and low hills off to the west.

I arrived at the US border at 9:10 PT. The questioning session went a heck of a lot more smoothly this time around and was painless. The officer, or whatever their official titles are, just looked through the rear windows briefly, though I’m sure he couldn’t see in at all with the tint and the front lighting of the sun. He must not have been too concerned. We talked for a couple minutes after the routine questioning about home (Colorado) and had a casual conversation. It turns out that he used to live in Lafayette, Colorado and moved to Bonners Ferry, Idaho a number of years back for a little more quiet. I was back on my way.

I would take Highway 95 all the way south from here. I was originally thinking that I might be traveling all the way to the Owyhee Mountains in the southwestern corner, but I also really wanted to see Hells Canyon. I’d see how the day pans out and make up my mind later.

I arrived in Cour d’Alene around 11:15 and fueled up. I initially drove out of town thinking there would be more gas stations, but it transitioned to a rural zone quicker than expected on the southern end, so I had to circle around. I left town at 11:32. There was a lot of smoke from a fire not too far south of here and flowing to the west. I figured it shouldn't pose a problem as I would be quite a ways further south. Still, any smoke makes me real nervous as far as ruining picture opportunities real quick like it did early in my trip coming up through Montana. All the smoke was actually stemming from a number of prescribed stubble fires near the Highway 58 junction that leads to Spokane, so I was relieved to know that this is all that it was originating from, and not some forest fire in Washington.

At 12:45, I was only 60 miles past Cour d’Alene as there were a few construction zones and had to stop once. In addition, there are small farming towns seemingly every few miles where you have to slow down to 25-35 MPH, so all of this really made for a choppy drive to this point and I was hoping I could make some time soon. It was 60 miles to Lewiston where I would hope it would be smooth sailing.

I got all the way down to the town of Council on Highway 95 where I turned off onto Hornet Creek Road which heads over to Hells Canyon via a network of forest roads. There were a few ponderosa pines somewhat early on along this road and I bypassed the first colorful scene I came to. I was going to bypass the second one as well for the sake of pressing on to find a sunset spot of the canyon somewhere, but the forest was too colorful to pass up, so I stopped for a couple of shots. The spot I passed up earlier would’ve been better as it had a few more wonderfully red ponderosas, and I still regret not stopping there, but the spot I settled on would have to do for now.

I ended up taking a spur that went back to Forest Road 105 (Bear Creek Road) which started climbing a ways. I came to a sign that said not for trailers and it was rougher than I expected the main road should be for the canyon access and didn't figure this was the right one. I backed out a few miles to a previous intersection that heads to Cuprum. Once in Cuprum, I saw a sign indicating Hells Canyon overlook and I thought, yeah, overlooks are good! That's exactly what I want! I wasn’t prepared for that, so this was a welcome surprise to see that I had this as an option. So, from Cuprum, I went beyond town a bit and turned onto FR 106 for ~5 miles. I eventually crested a hill and came to the Horse Mountain Lookout on FR 108, and as I crested the hill, I could finally see Hells Canyon. There was some incredibly intense pink in the sky off to the east and I thought it was the pink band above the earth’s shadow that I was seeing, but it turns out that the immediate clouds were still being lit. I was trying to get to an open spot as quickly as possible to find something to shoot. I went up the short Horse Mountain spur at the top of which has an active fire lookout station, which is huge, and there was a guy at the top when I pullled up. The color in the sky was the most saturated and most intense pink and magenta I had ever seen, and the wonderfully rich cobalt blue topped it off. The color was in every direction and I got the tripod and camera out as quickly as I could and started firing away. The color had faded slightly in the past couple minutes while I was driving up, but it was still grand. I shot Hells Canyon and over to the Walla Walla Range in Oregon. The sunset wasn't spectacular in terms of dramatic and moody type of clouds, but the color was unreal and a pleasure to experience—especially from the top of a hill with an open 360-deree view.

After the rich colors faded, I went over to Kinney Point to see what it might offer for sunrise. It was as good as anything, so I would plan to be here in the morning. I camped just beyond the intersection of Kinney Point and Sheep Rock on the Sheep Mountain spur, only three minutes from Kinney Point. It was now 9:30 and I would certainly be in for another good night’s sleep after the long day of driving. I was kind of hoping for an overcast day tomorrow, oddly enough, so I could shoot a lot of reds that I was seeing along my way in with the ponderosas. There was really some striking stuff to be found in the forests.

The day sure ended with a bang tonight. So, even if Moraine Lake had received a nice light show of its own this morning, and if I had stopped there, I wouldn’t have been in time to see this, and I might not even have come up this way at all. It’s tough to say. It would’ve been nice to get here earlier to possibly find a better composition, but the road delays I faced earlier didn’t allow for this. I can't complain as it definitely all worked out in the end.

7:25 AM — The last black bear sighting of the trip comes when passing through Kootenay. Trust me, it is a bear and not an amoeba!