My hike was a success. I executed the plan that I had for the trip. I made each campsite at a reasonable time, allowing me to avoid scrambling to get camp chores complete before bed time. I saw some incredibly beautiful country, and encountered some nice folks.
The only sad part is that it wasn’t Ambrose dropping me off and picking me up. But I’m glad and lucky to have a friend in Bill who was willing to drive me out on Sunday and pick me up at the finish on Thursday. I know that Ambrose was with me while I hiked. I shed a few tears on that trail, though not on the day I had to hike over 10 miles on a waterless ridgeline – I had to conserve my moisture that day.
If he were still alive, I’d be telling him that we have to hike into Fish Lake together. It has several nice campsites and two pit toilets, which were quite a welcome site for me on day three of this hike. It’s also a huge lake, and I’d like to spend more time there than the afternoon and night that I did. I was told that one of the sites has a wonderful cold water spring, but I wasn’t able to find it.
On this section of the Idaho Centennial Trail, I avoided Hanson Ridge in favor of going to Kid Lake because of the trail maintenance reports. I’m glad that I did, because the hike up Kid Lake Creek was just gorgeous, and Kid Lake itself was a great place to camp. I decided a few years ago that I wouldn’t be doing the ICT strictly because it isn’t well maintained along its length, but I will be walking the length of Idaho. I even hope to add some miles onto the end of the trail to get myself to the Canadian border crossing, though that might add quite a few miles if I want to avoid the closed roads where the grizzlies live.
I got to Bill’s yesterday and had that all-important first shower. Oh, that felt good. I like being dirty in the backcountry, but I also like getting clean once I’m out. I’m glad I got a chance to take a bath in Fish Lake or I would have been even grungier and smellier than I was. I got a good amount of sleep last night and will stay over in Moscow one more night before I head home tomorrow afternoon. It’s been nice hanging out with Bill and Gabe and the border collies.
I’m thinking about next year’s ICT segment. I think I want to bring my nieces out for a full week next summer, with more camping in addition to one overnight backpack to Skillern. I want to do a long hike in the Queens River Wilderness, 6 or 7 days. And then the ICT. I had thought about doing a coast trip with my brother next summer, but I might have to bump that to the summer after because I don’t get infinite vacation time from work. Three long trips is about it. With the Selway still not being maintained all the way from the river to Wilderness Gateway, I’m looking at either going north from Hoodoo Pass or from Wilderness Gateway to Kelly Creek. Maybe I’ll look at another segment farther north as a backup in case of fires in the area.
I’m proud and happy with myself for completing this hike the way I wanted to complete it. Nearly 48 miles, and 9300 feet of ascent (according to my GPS trip computer), and I got it done. I ate almost all my snacks, so those were pretty well planned out. My feet hurt, badly at times, but I was able to push through and treat them with cold water soaks and blister threading. I’ll be writing more about the hike, but for now, I’m just quite pleased.
I plan to visit the Moscow Farmers Market tomorrow, and eat lunch with the daughter of my aunt’s boyfriend. My aunt thinks we’ll get along. Then I’ll drive home and start cleaning my gear for the next trip. I’m not sure if I’ll do a camping trip or a backpacking trip over Labor Day. Definitely one or the other. Then I’ll have an overnighter the week after Labor Day, and that should be the end of my season. I’ll keep up with day hiking Cuddy as long as the weather allows. Maybe toss in some other hikes as I continue to explore my area. I’m so very glad that Ambrose introduced me to camping and backpacking, and that I still love it when he’s not here to do it with me.