Heyburn State Park

Getting here was a long day of driving. We cancelled a midway stop so we could have more time in Oregon (some of my poor planning). Including a lunch break and a couple pit stops we were 9 hours on the road.

After passing through Spokane and Couer D’Arlene I followed the GPS down our first crappy road. It was paved and took us where we wanted to go but the road was lousy and terribly rough Only after we got here and were set up did I realize we could have come in through the park’s main entrance right off the highway!

Our camp site is full hookup which means we have electric, water, sewer AND its a pull through site. Those usually have the best access and space etc. This park’s full service sites are as close to primitive as I’ve experienced. Tight turns, big trees, small sites AND lots of downed trees.

Despite all that we did manage to have a good/short stay. We had a recommendation for Indian Cliffs trail so after a slow start to our day and lots of coffee we hiked the 3 mile loop trail. There was quite a bit of brush to wade through but once we started gaining elevation, the trail and our view really started to change. After crossing a bit of exposed rock we came to the first outlooks. The Chatcolet Lake was several hundred feet below and we could see the low mountains stacking up for miles in the distance!

We were treated to the passing of a long, slow train as he climbed the gentle grade near our campsite but clear across a vast valley. Trains are actually kinda neat out here. No longer a traffic frustration, they seem to me a sign of progress and efficiency that can’t be beat by pouring more asphalt and patching more potholes.

After our requesite selfies, we utilized our mountaintop view for something totally different. Cell phone signal! Jackie did her Duolingo, maintaining her thousand plus day streak. I looked at our travel plans for tomorrow and grabbed screen shots so I didn’t have to rememeber anything!

No pictures to support the subsequent laundry and oil change and truck washing but those got done today as well.

Lunch was documented as we really enjoyed Trail’s End Brewery. We shared a specialty pizza and Jackie approved of their hard berry cider (water for the driver).

OH! AND… our waiter was very excited to hear about our trip. He suggested a different stop and Google approved of it!

SO… just like that we’ll change our route and reschedule tomorrow night’s stop putting us super closer to Glacier Nat’l park!!! (more on that when we decide whether or not it was a good idea to take random advice).Read more