Just a brief update now because the library closes at 5 not at 6 as I
had thought.
Left Missoula after a bit of a delay over a "parking ticket" that
wasn't, (just completely manual mode payment system if stay after 6pm)
which did force me back into town but I'll just drop that whole story
for now, except to say that had I known that the town of Superior on
hwy 90 was a "full service" town with library, groceries, post office,
ranger station, I could have avoided getting quite as riled up as I
was.
I did stop at the ranger station in Superior briefly just for
directions to Hoodoo pass (it wasn't clear from my Idaho map book
whether there was even a bridge across the river there.) Indeed there
was, with a truck stop on the other side no less.
Made it on a "high speed gravel" road to the pass (skipping an ICT
trailhead Ill get to next) then a paved road down the Idaho side to
the North Fork Clearwater where it branched into gravel roads. I took
the branch to Kelly creek (skipping another ICT crossing I sampled a
bit of later, and on up to Scurvy Mt which was the first ICT trailhead
I wanted to hike. It coincided with an ATV trail to a lookout on
Scurvy Mt. Overnighted there then hiked to the lookout and then on the
way back a bit more of the actual ICT trail, not jeep road, which
headed back towards Liz Butte that and the cabin that I had visited
last time I wrote. In the afternoon I backtracked to Kelly Creek,
hiking along the trail there for a short time during hottest time of
day at low elevation, then moved on to the trailhead for Fish Lake,
which I was going to do at a loop with Goose Lake being the north end
of the section of ICT along the state line. I stashed my backpack at
the Fish Lake trailhead and overnighted with my car at the Goose Lake
TH.
Next morning I bicycled down the 2mile stretch of road from the Goose
Lake Trailhead to the junction with the road to the Fish Lake
trailhead (also a short 2 miles) hiding my bike shortly up the Fish
Lake road. Retrieved my backpack and continued to Fish lake,
congested with a lot of ATVers, and up the ridge to the State Line. I
had planned to drop my pack at a trail junction at the lake and just
waist-pack up to the ridge east of the lake, planning to hike south to
a prominent point before the trail heads down to Kelly Creek, but I
missed that junction and ended up hiking my pack up the ridge,
overnighted there and did a short excursion to a more nearby prominent
point with a faint trail, which had worthy views. Next morning hiked
back down to Fish Lake and found the trail junction, back up the ridge
headed north toward Goose Lake.
Up and down the jagged ridgeline with my pack, and, let's not forget,
spectacular views in both directions with full blooms of flowers as
foreground, got me a bit less far than I had expected, so spent a
second overnight on the ridge, what luck in the warm weather, would
have been much warmer down at the lake.
Sunday morning finished the last two humps on the ridge before getting
down to Moose Lake, resting in some shade by the shallow lake, passing
on the option of stirring up a bunch of sediment to take a swim,
instead, watching a goose gom and her calf wading into the lake on the
opposite side and goseying over to take a closer look at ge, until I
decided to gove gyself to met a better view of them, at which point
they goseyed on back. Darn, something wrong with my g's and m's when
at the beginning of words. mot to troubleshoot that.
Long trek back to the car from the lake. Triedto find anotehr lookout
on Osier Ridge but took a wrong turn and then got late in the day,
lookedaround the Cedars Campground at the N Fk Clearwater, thinking
I'd get a swim in the next morning, but it was occupied and so I
decided to overnight back at Hoodoo pass. Scoyuted that area for my
next hike, will be back there tonight, do either 2 hikes en both
directions, or anoterh two day backpack loop with some lakes - Heart
lake and all.
out of time.
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