Beavers at Work, Strange Pinecones

This is the first time I had ever seen an actual beaver lodge and beaver dam. It's hard to see in the photo, but the water to the left is much deeper than the stream behind the dam - I think that is the whole idea!

This photo is just some pinecones that grow up on the branch instead of at the end.

Trumpet Vine and Old Firetruck

Black Lake

Black Lake
Just another of the
many mountain lakes in this area -
kind of remote but I
hear the
fishing is good!

Our Campsite Starvation Lake, WA

Here we are a a beautiful campsite overlooking Starvation Lake.
This DNR (Dept.of Natural Resources) campground is 12 miles east of Colville in the Colville Nat'l. Forest. No fee at all to stay here for anyone - adequate toilets and delicious drinking water provided.
This would be a wonderful place to fish and just relax. If you use a wheelchair, the dock and access are perfect and the small lake is beautiful. Right now this lake is catch and release, but on opening day it was the top rainbow-producing lake in the state. The limit was 5, average 4 1/2.

Scary Start to this Camping Trip!

We'd been in our campsite about ten minutes around 7:30 Friday evening when I heard a thunderous skidding and crash - dust rose so thick you couldn't see at first what happened. Right across from our campground a logging truck had gone off the road and rolled, losing a huge load of logs. The truck was on its side and jack-knifed nearly double. I was sure the driver must have been killed.
Cal walked over first as I didn't want to see someone killed in a wreck. He came back and told me the driver was okay - a miracle! I saw the driver go back in the over-turned cab for some reason - boy, what a scare!

CAMPGROUND CRITIQUE

A lovely site for a campground, although it was not as new or manicured as those we have visited by the Army Corp of Engineers. Right on the St. Joe River with fishing out your back door. Lots of fisherman float this swift little river I notice. We tried fishing a little but no luck. We saw an eagle up close and a mule deer - what a beautiful animal. We missed the moose in our camp by sleeping in Sunday AM.

Our camping neighbor (who I refer to as "the big talker") caught me heading to the bathroom and launched into a very long story about the moose - and I was

in kind of a hurry!

Sites all have power and water. There are no showers but vault toilets are nice and clean with lights.
Interesting things to do. I will definitely go back to Avery and get the history of the area. It was a huge logging area. Not much left anymore, but it once had a population of 3000-4000 people. It was on a train line (electric) between Chicago and Seattle, one of only two in the country. Men would stop to fish, hunt and gamble, and just wave a white handerchief when they wanted the train to stop for them!

We would definitely come back here. The heat pump in our trailer kept us comfortable and the power allowed us to watch movies.

Steam Donkey, Used in Logging 1910-1931 

From old Logging Road at Marble Creek 

View from Our Campsite 

Marble Creek Scenery 

On Way to Old Logging Camp, Marble Creek 

Huckleberry Camp near Calder, ID on St. Joe River 

Logging Truck Accident at our Campground, Minutes after we arrived - driver not hurt - scary!  

Old Bridge Near St. Maries, ID 

Off to the St. Joe River - Idaho

Well, tomorrow we set sail for uncharted waters on the beautiful St. Joe River in Calder, Idaho. The name of the campground is Huckleberry Campground, run by the Bureau of Land Management. You'ved probably heard of them - they conduct the wild horse and burro sales right here in our area. So we'll see how they do with a campground. Full report when we return. Rumor has it there are hookups. I'm getting quite addicted to electricity and showers. Also, Saturday is free fishing day. Look out trout!