Early Spring at Red Rock RV in Eastern Idaho
Well, we have reached our favorite place for the spring/summer time (2006). We are in Eastern Idaho, at a great RV Park, Red Rock, 5 miles off Highway 20, about 22 miles southwest of West Yellowstone MT. If you look at a map of Idaho, we are in a little curved section at the most Eastern, Northern section. In fact, from here you can see the mountains that describe the curved section, which enclose Idaho from Montana and Wyoming and trace the continental divide here. Technically we are in Island Park, Idaho, but we are quite a ways out of town (not really a town, but a 20 miles recreation strip).
We arrived here last week, just as the final snow was melting in the park and still quite evident on the surrounding mountains. They said that the lake was still frozen only about 8 days earlier, but now it's clear except around some of the shoreline.
Only the employees were here (3 couples). We've stayed here from one month to three months in the last 3 years. This year we plan the whole season here.
Anyway, the beauty of this area is almost beyond description, but I will attempt to describe it anyway. We are situated about a mile from Henry's Lake surrounded by a cattle ranch. (The cows aren't here yet.) It is a fairly large lake, surrounded by mountains (Henry's Lake Mountains on the West and North, and the Centennial Mountains on the South. It's in an area called Sawtelle Meadows. Known for its big trout, it also is home to a lot of ducks, geese, pelicans, swans, sand-hill cranes, red-wing black birds, Eagles, and Hawks (and more).
My Golden Retriever, Reggie, and I have established a daily ritual of walking down to the lake each morning, about 7 AM, and we photograph or just watch and listen to the fowl. It is quite relaxing. Yesterday, we suprised a pair of bald Eagles. They sit on the fence posts looking over the cliffs, peering into the lake, waiting for the right size fish to tempt them.
A few days ago, we walked to the southwest end of the lake, where little Hope creek enters the lake and saw two trumpter swans. A few minutes later, 36 white Pelicans flew in, gliding about 1 foot above the water, and settled in for a feeding session. The white Pelicans come here in mid-May and stay about a month for feeding and breeding. They are very large birds and are a sight to behold when they fly.
Meanwhile, large fish are jumping out of the water periodically, finding a few bugs to help them put on more weight that some fisherman will someday feel on the end of his line. I've seen fish as large as 12 pounds come out of this lake. Fishing season doesn't start until Memorial day, so it's real quiet out here. We rarely if ever run into another soul. My wife joins us for an afternoon walk to the lake. In all I usually walk about 5.5 miles each day to the lake and back. It's great to help keep off the additional pounds.
On our way back, as Reggie is running at full speed through the sagebrush poking his nose into every hole, I'll often see hawks circling above, trying to find just the right size critter to swope down and have for breakfast. Last year, I found a juvenile hawk on a fence post and he posed for me for almost 10 minutes while I was about 10 feet away.
There are other animals around the park, but we rarely see them. There is evidence of Moose here, and several have been seen about a mile down the road in the last couple days. Last year one came through the park in September. A few black bears were seen near the road a couple miles East of here in the last couple days. Elk occasionally come down here, but it is pretty rare. I suspect they know where the dogs, people (especially hunters) are and stay away. The one visitor I rarely see, but often smell is the skunk. Last night we think he stayed a while under our bed and made his presence well known for about 2 hours. A couple years ago, Reggie faced one off under our RV and we spent the rest of the evening (and for several months later) getting the smell out of his thick golden coat.
The weather this week has been phenomenal. The first couple days were cold, with night time temps getting to down to the mid-20s, but the last four days have hit almost 80F during the day and no colder than the low 40s at night. This is really rare for this time of year. Today a thunderstorm ambled through the meadows, dropped a little rain, lowered the temps and left some beautiful cumulus clouds hanging around.
One of the attractions for me here are the wildflowers that spring up all spring and most of the summer. Coming early gives me the chance to see them pop up one by one. The first 3 or 4 this year have been the beautiful and bright yellow Glacier Lily, the little but attractive yellow Sagebrush Buttercup, the little purple penstemon, and the purple lipstick plant. By far the most impressive is the Glacier Lily. They are cropping up across the street from the park, about 40 feet from the edge of the forest and into the forest. There are hundreds of them. Each one is a little different than the next. They don't make a blanket, but there are a lot of them that add a wonderful accent to the forest floor. Two years ago, the area across from the RV park, right next to the forest,had a record bloom of wildflowers. I went crazy photographing them. I try to improve my skills each year. I'm anxious to try this year.
Yesterday, the aspens that line the forest suddenly all turned green. This was a real surprise. I was expecting them to take another couple weeks, but several miles of them all at once began to show their bright green leaves. What a sight that was tonight as the sun began to set.
Tommorrow, I plan my first trip to Yellowstone National Park. I finished a job I was working on and will reward myself with a day of photography. From others that have gone this week, there are a lot of wildlife out. It's pre-season at Yellowstone. The best time to avoid the crowds and see the animals.
Last Saturday I spent a few hours in a beautiful place not far from here called Red Rock Lakes Wildlife Refuge. It's only about 12 miles west of here on a dirt road, over the continental divide, into Montana. It is in the Centennial mountain range and valley. Two lakes (upper and lower Red Rock) host many fowl that are protected. It is a dramatic valley, with 11,500ft peaks rising up on the south, two lakes in the valley and several mountains ranges on the North, and west. I was in the large refuge for 5 hours and saw 3 other cars come through. When I go, I go about 20 mph and stop whenever I see something interesting.
I always have a camera in my lap. Saturday I saw Antelope grazing, hawks perching, a Moose munching, trumpter swans (I didn't hear them trumpeting), many ducks squaking, geese honking and birds tweeting (OK.. I'll stop). The Hell-roaring creek runs out of the Centennial Mountains and it was really roaring..as the snow is quickly melting. It is the farthest recorded drainage creek of the Missouri river (3840 miles to the Atlantic). Red Rock creek is beautiful winding through the valley, before it dumps into Upper Red Rock Lake.
Well, if you aren't asleep yet, thanks for listening. I'll add to my blog with more of the laid-back adventures of the RV Guys soon. I'll post some pics when I get time. Meanwhile, you can see past pics at http://www.rvinteractive.com/rvguys/photo2.html.
We arrived here last week, just as the final snow was melting in the park and still quite evident on the surrounding mountains. They said that the lake was still frozen only about 8 days earlier, but now it's clear except around some of the shoreline.
Only the employees were here (3 couples). We've stayed here from one month to three months in the last 3 years. This year we plan the whole season here.
Anyway, the beauty of this area is almost beyond description, but I will attempt to describe it anyway. We are situated about a mile from Henry's Lake surrounded by a cattle ranch. (The cows aren't here yet.) It is a fairly large lake, surrounded by mountains (Henry's Lake Mountains on the West and North, and the Centennial Mountains on the South. It's in an area called Sawtelle Meadows. Known for its big trout, it also is home to a lot of ducks, geese, pelicans, swans, sand-hill cranes, red-wing black birds, Eagles, and Hawks (and more).
My Golden Retriever, Reggie, and I have established a daily ritual of walking down to the lake each morning, about 7 AM, and we photograph or just watch and listen to the fowl. It is quite relaxing. Yesterday, we suprised a pair of bald Eagles. They sit on the fence posts looking over the cliffs, peering into the lake, waiting for the right size fish to tempt them.
A few days ago, we walked to the southwest end of the lake, where little Hope creek enters the lake and saw two trumpter swans. A few minutes later, 36 white Pelicans flew in, gliding about 1 foot above the water, and settled in for a feeding session. The white Pelicans come here in mid-May and stay about a month for feeding and breeding. They are very large birds and are a sight to behold when they fly.
Meanwhile, large fish are jumping out of the water periodically, finding a few bugs to help them put on more weight that some fisherman will someday feel on the end of his line. I've seen fish as large as 12 pounds come out of this lake. Fishing season doesn't start until Memorial day, so it's real quiet out here. We rarely if ever run into another soul. My wife joins us for an afternoon walk to the lake. In all I usually walk about 5.5 miles each day to the lake and back. It's great to help keep off the additional pounds.
On our way back, as Reggie is running at full speed through the sagebrush poking his nose into every hole, I'll often see hawks circling above, trying to find just the right size critter to swope down and have for breakfast. Last year, I found a juvenile hawk on a fence post and he posed for me for almost 10 minutes while I was about 10 feet away.
There are other animals around the park, but we rarely see them. There is evidence of Moose here, and several have been seen about a mile down the road in the last couple days. Last year one came through the park in September. A few black bears were seen near the road a couple miles East of here in the last couple days. Elk occasionally come down here, but it is pretty rare. I suspect they know where the dogs, people (especially hunters) are and stay away. The one visitor I rarely see, but often smell is the skunk. Last night we think he stayed a while under our bed and made his presence well known for about 2 hours. A couple years ago, Reggie faced one off under our RV and we spent the rest of the evening (and for several months later) getting the smell out of his thick golden coat.
The weather this week has been phenomenal. The first couple days were cold, with night time temps getting to down to the mid-20s, but the last four days have hit almost 80F during the day and no colder than the low 40s at night. This is really rare for this time of year. Today a thunderstorm ambled through the meadows, dropped a little rain, lowered the temps and left some beautiful cumulus clouds hanging around.
One of the attractions for me here are the wildflowers that spring up all spring and most of the summer. Coming early gives me the chance to see them pop up one by one. The first 3 or 4 this year have been the beautiful and bright yellow Glacier Lily, the little but attractive yellow Sagebrush Buttercup, the little purple penstemon, and the purple lipstick plant. By far the most impressive is the Glacier Lily. They are cropping up across the street from the park, about 40 feet from the edge of the forest and into the forest. There are hundreds of them. Each one is a little different than the next. They don't make a blanket, but there are a lot of them that add a wonderful accent to the forest floor. Two years ago, the area across from the RV park, right next to the forest,had a record bloom of wildflowers. I went crazy photographing them. I try to improve my skills each year. I'm anxious to try this year.
Yesterday, the aspens that line the forest suddenly all turned green. This was a real surprise. I was expecting them to take another couple weeks, but several miles of them all at once began to show their bright green leaves. What a sight that was tonight as the sun began to set.
Tommorrow, I plan my first trip to Yellowstone National Park. I finished a job I was working on and will reward myself with a day of photography. From others that have gone this week, there are a lot of wildlife out. It's pre-season at Yellowstone. The best time to avoid the crowds and see the animals.
Last Saturday I spent a few hours in a beautiful place not far from here called Red Rock Lakes Wildlife Refuge. It's only about 12 miles west of here on a dirt road, over the continental divide, into Montana. It is in the Centennial mountain range and valley. Two lakes (upper and lower Red Rock) host many fowl that are protected. It is a dramatic valley, with 11,500ft peaks rising up on the south, two lakes in the valley and several mountains ranges on the North, and west. I was in the large refuge for 5 hours and saw 3 other cars come through. When I go, I go about 20 mph and stop whenever I see something interesting.
I always have a camera in my lap. Saturday I saw Antelope grazing, hawks perching, a Moose munching, trumpter swans (I didn't hear them trumpeting), many ducks squaking, geese honking and birds tweeting (OK.. I'll stop). The Hell-roaring creek runs out of the Centennial Mountains and it was really roaring..as the snow is quickly melting. It is the farthest recorded drainage creek of the Missouri river (3840 miles to the Atlantic). Red Rock creek is beautiful winding through the valley, before it dumps into Upper Red Rock Lake.
Well, if you aren't asleep yet, thanks for listening. I'll add to my blog with more of the laid-back adventures of the RV Guys soon. I'll post some pics when I get time. Meanwhile, you can see past pics at http://www.rvinteractive.com/rvguys/photo2.html.
posted by RVGuys, Newt Perdue at 7:23 PM
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