Stories

  • Steptoe Butte and the Palouse

    When I moved to the Palouse, I didn’t realize just how photogenic the landscape was. Then I saw ads for the Palouse in Popular Photography. It turns out, people will pay good money to come and photograph the region, and here I am living there not taking advantage of my home turf. I’ve only been on Steptoe Butte once before, and it was in the winter with not much snow on the ground. So I was quite glad when Simon came back to visit and suggested we go out and shoot the Palouse. We hit Steptoe Butte at the right time…

  • White Pine Loop & Bomber Too

    Last week, Clara and I had a day to ourselves, so we had a little adventure on a nearby trail. The white pine loop is a 3-mile hike from the White Pine campground off of Idaho Rt. 6. A one-mile (one-way) out and back spur takes us to the site of a WWII bomber crash site with some pieces of the wreckage still littered throughout the woods. But rather than write a lengthy post with a few photos, I’ve decided to try a video series that I’m calling Adventures with Clara to highlight just how adventurous she is.   [map style=”width: auto;…

  • Canoeing on the Palouse River

    March is such a bipolar month in Idaho. One day it can be cold and snowy and the next can be sunny and 60. So while we had cold rain during the weekend of our canoe trip, this past weekend was really nice. I took Clara out for a hike on the Potlatch River Trail near our house and she hiked almost two miles on her own feet. And because this week was spring break at the university, we still had our canoes from last weekend and went out for a day trip on the Palouse River on Sunday. It was…

  • Canoeing the St. Joe

    Hello. I realize it’s been quite some time since my last post. That’s what happens when you get into dissertation writing mode. Life tends to cease and all you can think about is finishing this damn thesis. As a result, I haven’t really been on many adventures since December, nor has there been anything interesting to write about, nor have I had time to really write about anything, so I’m taking a short break to write about my most recent adventure. It’s Spring Break at the University of Idaho, and while some students are headed south for warmer weather, others…

  • Merry Holidays!

    I had a good Christmas this year. It began with a week of continuous snow fall. We’d have 3-6 inches here and there with warm days compacting the wet and heavy accumulation. But all of that still adds up so that by the time Christmas rolled around, the snow was over a foot deep in parts of our yard. Meanwhile the mountains have been getting hammered. Moscow Mountain has over 40 inches in the upper elevations, Brundage has over 90 inches at the summit, and I’m not sure of the current depths at Freezeout and Lolo Pass as the snotels…

  • 5000 feet

    It snowed in Moscow for the first time this season on Thursday. And although the accumulation didn’t amount to much in town, the mountains were turned white the next day. But two days of sunshine, and evidence of the snow is all but gone. The mountains around Moscow are back to their baren self. But at 5000 feet, winter has begun. Today I drove up to the Bald Mountain lookout tower on Palouse Divide, mostly to find a geocache, but also to enjoy the view, hike in the forest, and see just how much snow may have fallen at higher…

  • Elk Creek Falls

    I think I’ve mentioned Elk Creek Falls in passing, but haven’t actually written a featured post about it. Elk River is a small outdoor recreation town (read: hunting & fishing mostly) a little over an hour east of Moscow. This small community represents the “end of the road.” The paved road ends here and forest service roads pick up to take you into some remote places. While most people come back here to hunt, ride ATVs and snowmobile in the winter, there are some family-friendly hikes and other attractions that make Elk River worth a visit. There’s the giant cedar,…

  • Latah County Fair

    Clara loves animals. At home, she loves to pet the dogs and the cats. She tries to pet the chickens and gets all excited when we catch one and bring it over to her. She loves saying hi to the goats and touching the horses. So we brought her to the Latah County Fair where she could look at and touch a whole host of other animals that we don’t have on our property. But rather than write about this, I thought I’d change things up and record this account on video.

  • Seattle

    In the 5 years living out here, I haven’t been to Seattle other than to catch the ferry over to the Olympic Peninsula. So when four of my college buddies from Drew mentioned they were converging in the city for a race in September, I jumped at the opportunity to pay a visit. So for a weekend in September (11-13), we loaded up the car and headed westward for a few days. Although Seattle is “the big city” around here, it’s nowhere near as big and daunting as some of the truly big cities of the world. Downtown is only several…

  • Wallowas Weekend 2015

    After a long summer with not much exploring, the pace has changed and I’ve had a fairly busy two weeks. The series begins with the return of the Annual Wallowas Weekend. In the six Septembers that I have lived here, I’ve led a backpacking trip to the Eagle Cap Wilderness four of those years, with this year being the fourth. Each time I bring someone new, and each time we explore new trails. This is the first year that we didn’t spend a night at Mirror Lake and the first year that Tyler didn’t join us. Instead, Wesley returns for…