Homeward Bound

August 6, 2008

Homeward Bound~

It was nice staying in the hotel in Coeur d’Alene. Ahhh civilization and the comforts that come with it! Thank you Kurt ; ) I even ate at a restaurant and had some wine to go with my dinner. Yum!

Sunday I drove to Missoula then south and west again back into Idaho to meet up with Dan Erwin. Dan, his 14-year old friend, Zac, and his dog, Kimber and I camped for the night in a forest service campground near Lolo Pass. First we had a great dinner at Lochsa Lodge. Sunday we got up early and went for a hike. It’s gorgeous there of course! It was good to see Dan and to meet Zac; the hike was a lot of fun. Then we saw a very large wolf as we were driving down the mountain road. Awesome! We parted Monday afternoon: they to the west and I to the east. I drove and I drove for hours. I ended up in some obscure town (not really a town) in Wyoming where I spent the night in my car. I’m getting good at that!

The next morning (Tuesday) I drove south to Utah where I went to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. What a beautiful place! I just drove through and took some pictures; I didn’t do any hiking there. I wanted to get to Steamboat Springs, CO. I did get to Steamboat and did a very short hike to Fish Creek Falls and got some information on hiking and camping in the area. I drove to a Stagecoach State Park, which was kind of disappointing. The rest of the Steamboat Springs area was wonderful though. I camped in the Routt National Forest and got up early this morning for a six-mile hike. It was an easy three miles up to something called “Rabbit Ears”. You’ll have to look at the pictures. The place is called Rabbit Ears Pass. The views got better with every step that I took and the wild flowers were absolutely amazing! There are lots of dead trees in the area though~ a blight or aphid maybe?

A week ago I felt like I wanted to do this forever. I even said in my last blog that I couldn’t imagine living back in the real world. Sunday night I suddenly felt like I wanted to be home. And I still feel that way. So, I am officially on my way home : ) Tonight I am visiting my aunts, Gerda and Kristina in Denver, spending the night with Gerda and then heading east in the morning. Tomorrow’s plan is to spend the night in Kansas City with a wonderful couple that I met in Taos NM.