Author: Matt

  • Birding in Lewiston

    Given my current disabled condition, there’s not much I can do to get ouside and enjoy the sunshine, but there are a few places that I can go. There are paved walking and bike trails in every nearby town, and some of them offer spectacular scenery. The Trail of the Coeur D’Alenes, for example, starts in Plummer and meanders for over 70 miles to the town of Mullan near Lookout Pass. There are some sections of this trail that seem like they’d be good to explore, but this time of year, there might still be some snow blocking my way…

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    The Ski Trip to End All Ski Trips

    February 17th began as any other trip to McCall. I rolled out of bed around 5:00 am, packed the car with my gear, and 20 minutes later, I was leaving for Moscow to meet up with Tyler and Genevieve. We made it to Brundage around 10:30 local time and headed straight to the Centenial chair where we met up with Chloe, Ben, and some of Chloe’s family. We had a good day on the mountain, but stuck to the groomed runs and trails because there hadn’t been any fresh powder in over a week.The first thing we noticed was how…

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    Chickadees

    For Christmas, I bought Erin a new bird feeder to replace one that had been broken earlier in the summer. A few weeks ago, we finally got some seed and put it outside, but this was in the middle of a cold snap where daytime highs remained in the low 20’s, and the nighttime lows, well, we just won’t go there. For about a week, the feeder hung with no activity. Then, as the cold began to lift, there was a single chickadee in the lilac tree. It must have spread the news because a few days later, the feeder…

  • Winter Hike to Jerry Johnson Hot Springs

    Last weekend, I reported on a snowshoe hike along the Potlatch River and alluded to a second snowshoe adventure the same weekend. In fact, we had planned a little excursion out along Rt. 12 to Jerry Johnson hot springs. It turned out that the hot springs are still popular in winter, at least enough so that the one-mile trail was packed down such that we didn’t need snowshoes after all. So, for the second time this season, a snowshoe hike simply became a winter hike. While we were all looking forward to snowshoeing in, the real goal was to soak…

  • Snowshoeing: Potlatch River Loop

    This week’s snowshoeing adventure takes us on the Potlatch Canyon loop trail (Clearwater NF #765). If the view above looks familiar, it’s because I have hiked this loop many times in the summer, and first posted about it two years ago. This time, armed with snowshoes, we had a very successful winter hike through the woods. Despite the rising temperatures this past week, the Potlatch Canyon was still a veritable winter wonderland. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the temperatures down by the water never rose above freeziing all day. That’s because we have been having some inversions the…

  • Snowshoeing: Palouse Divide

    I must have forgotten to post about this trip. This was last week, January 5, 2013. This was Idaho Parks and Recreation’s free day in which no parking pass was required to use the Park n’ Ski areas or any of the state parks. There are two Park n’ Ski areas near Moscow: Elk River and Palouse Divide. The Park n’ Ski areas are generally groomed nordic ski trails, but some of them are good for snowshoeing as well. Since the hike to Elk River falls would have been more than 2 miles one-way, I suggested we head up to…

  • Snowshoeing: Spud Hill

    This snowshoeing thing is taking off, and if I keep this up, I’ll be in shape enough to not suck at hiking at the beginning of the hiking season. This week’s adventure brings us up Spud Hill, also known by some as Mount Deary. Spud Hill was my first Idaho summit, and it’s a great little local hike that I often overlook. But I’ve always wanted to hike it in the winter, and today, Spud Hill became my first winter Idaho summit. The one difference between snowshoeing and hiking, aside from the snow on the ground, is that distances seem…

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    A walk in the snow

    Well, now that Winter has finally arrived, we thought it might be fun to tromp through the snow and get some exercise. I dusted off the snowshoes (literally) and we set off for a little hike out of our back yard. As we began our trek, I noticed an awesome mist hovering over the snow, and since we hadn’t left the yard yet, we turned back to get my camera. We were walking in snow that had not been disturbed, so it was quite soft and difficult, even with snowshoes. In fact, in the hour that we were out, we…

  • Thanksgiving, Parts II & III

    Holy smokes, it’s almost Christmas and I never really finished posting about my Thanksgiving trip to Las Vegas. So, I’m going to give the abbreviated version of the rest of the trip and then move on to some more current events. When I visit Las Vegas, it’s not for the usual reasons that most people go for. This is the second time I’ve been in the city, and I still haven’t been down to the strip or inside a casino. But it’s the second time I’ve been down there to visit TJ and Clare. TJ is one of my best…