The point isn't to make some grand trip -- the destination could be one town over -- but to have some sort of goal, or place that we want to check out. The kids get most of the say in where we go, the planning of meals etc. so they have control.
Our son, who's seven and just finished first grade is really into gold prospecting, mining and minerals and gems of all kinds. I think he's checked out every book on minerals from his school library and most of the ones from the city library. He really wanted this year's Father/Son trip to be to either the fire opal mines in Nevada or the star garnet area in northern Idaho that he'd read about.
Given that we were going to have some great weather throughout the Northwest and into Idaho over the weekend, the choice was pretty easy to make. We decided we'd fly to Moose Creek or Shearer and camp for two nights, and then fly over to Moscow/Pullman, rent a car and drive to the Emerald Creek star carnet digging area on the third day.
We got a little later start than I'd hoped on Thursday morning, partially because my daughter and mother-in-law left on a trip early in the morning and we wanted to see them off. I also didn't get that great of sleep, since I had to get up at 4am to see them off to the airport.
We had a great flight toward Grangeville, which was going to be our fuel stop before heading into the Selway. As we got closer though, it was clear that there were going to be some winds in that area soon after our arrival. This, coupled with my lack of sleep the night before made me decide to stop for the night in Hells Canyon instead. I considered camping at Memaloose, but remembered that I'd only brought a couple liters of water since we were planning on being able to filter from the river. Instead, we landed at Dug Bar down by the Snake River.
I'd camped at Dug Bar once before with Highroad in the winter time. It's a beautiful area rich in history and geological diversity. What it lacks though are trees and shade, which is especially noticable in the summer time. We decided pretty quickly to not camp under the wing, but instead sought out the only tree that provided much shade down by the river.
After setting up camp, we flew our little RC airplane, splashed our feet in the river, searched for antlers and settled in for some dinner. The canyon walls were gorgeous in the evening light. We sat by the river and watched a caddis fly emerge, drop into the water and get swallowed by a trout. I had brought my fly fishing gear but had more fun just watching the fish.
The next morning, we packed up and headed out for Grangeville to take on some fuel. My son really got the bug of flying on this trip, and wanted to take over as soon as we were over the canyon rim. It's funny -- he's been flying with us since before he was born, but suddenly now at age 7 he's become really interested in flying!
He was holding heading and altitude as well as any autopilot, and I was able to spend more time scanning for traffic and checking engine gauges. Great!
We filled up to about half tanks in Grangeville and then flew into Moose Creek. I've lost count but this was at least my seventh camping trip to Moose Creek. It's honestly one of my favorite places in the world. I was telling my son that when I get my blood pressure taken and I'm trying to relax, I think of being at Moose Creek. It's literally my happy place!
There were a few airplanes there, but plenty of beautiful camping spots available. We set up our tent and set about hiking around, visiting the mules at the ranger station, whittling and other fun camp chores.
Walking back from the Ranger Station I met a hiker who'd just hiked in. It's about a 20 mile hike from the nearest trail head. He'd just seen a large cougar just at the end of the airstrip. It had stood just 20 feet away from him. It's exceedingly rare to see a mountain lion just hanging out like that. He was pretty excited about it.
One of the things I love about Moose Creek is that it does have a sense of real wilderness to it. Bears, Wolves, Cougars -- you name it, this area is their home.
After a beautiful day luxuriating in our hammock, we stayed up late reading and then turned in.
The next morning, we packed up again and headed out to Moscow/Pullman. My son was excited to get to fly again once we were safely underway. I'd never been to this part of Idaho before. This time of year, the wheat fields are like endless sees of green. Beautiful!
We picked up our rental car from the FBO and headed to the star garnet area. It was a bit of a drive up to St Maries and then down on hwy 3 and the directions were a little sketchy but we found it fine.
The Forest Service runs this star garnet digging area. They used to allow folks to go digging in Emerald creek directly, but eventually decided to place dug-up dirt mounds up on a hill near the creek and let people dig there instead. Not quite as romantic, but better for the creek and its fish, I'm sure.
We got our two buckets, a shovel and got to work. You dig up material, trying to filter out clay and big rocks, and fill up your bucket. You then take that bucket and run that material through a screen to remove dirt. Finally, you take the screened material and run it through a sluice. Once washed, you can look for garnets by angling the screen up to the sun. Garnets are almost black, round and from pea-sized up to golfball-sized.
We worked at it for about 3 hours in the beating sun and accumulated 2 ounces of raw garnets. It was a lot of fun, and my son had a field day!
Dirty and tired we headed back to Moscow and checked into our hotel for a much-needed shower.
The next day was Father's Day. We went to Bloom in Moscow for Father's Day brunch before heading home. It's a pretty cool little cafe with nice outside seating.
Flying isn't without risk, and it's certainly not cheap. I think it's only human to reflect on whether it's all worth it sometimes, especially when we hear about accidents happening to our friends.
There are times though when it truly is all worth it, and you just have to say "Yes, this is why I own an airplane." This was one of those trips.
