Hell's Canyon spring 2013

my annual first weekend of April pilgrimage to Hell's Canyon

to set the stage for my trip report, here is an actual text conversation between me and a friend, as I was driving north to Riggins.... Ron:   On our way to hells canyon Ken:   Bye-bye boys!  Have fun storming the canyon! Ron:   It may storm on us tonight  : )  Ken:   That's what it's all about, right?!! Ron:    It may rain all weekend   : )  Ken:    Ewww...  Turn back! Ron:    I would be disappointed with any thing else  : ) Talk about prophetic! I knew it was forecast to rain "off and on" all weekend.   the weather did not disappoint.   And it was more "on" than "off"  you received the SPOT messenger updates.   our camp Friday night was at Kirkwood Ranch.   We finished the last 2 miles in on headlamps, and set up camp by headlamps.   After our dinner, we turned in for the night.   It rained about half the night.   Tyler went back Saturday morning, he was there for 1 night only.   I wanted to see how far south from Kirkwood I could get.   Originally, I wanted to go as far as McGaffee Cabin or Granite Creek.  But I was hauling a 30 pound load.    I walked 9 miles to Sheep Creek Ranch, which was the second SPOT update position.   After 2-3 hours of resting, filtering water, eating, taking pictures, I decided to not push further south.   I retreated 2 miles to the north, to Pine Bar, where Tyler and I camped last year.  This would put me in position to hike 13 miles on Sunday back to the car.   The rain had been off and on all day Saturday.   Now as I approached Pine Bar in the waning daylight, I could see dark grey storm clouds building to the south.   I had just got my tent set up and the rain started coming.   I hurriedly got everything inside or under the vestibule and zipped it shut.    It rained all night.  At times it was pouring!   Occasionally, I could hear some big fish flopping around with a big splash out in the river.   Silly silly sturgeons.... on Sunday morning, my first thoughts of getting up were put on pause by another wave of heavy rain.   I slept a while longer and awoke with a little better light.   There was a lull in the rain and I went ahead and packed up.   Just as I was almost finished packing, here it came again.   I got my rain poncho on in the blustery winds, and wrestled it up and over my backpack and got the side snaps fixed.   Time to hike.... The rain came in waves all day, sometimes with strong cold winds from the north.   One wave brought ice and snow BB's.   The poncho not only helped with the rain, but also served as a wind breaker to keep me warm from the cold winds.   I carried on straight through to Kirkwood Ranch, where I made a lunch and water filtering stop.  The sun came out for a while, even as drops of rain were falling.   I then made the steep climb out of Kirkwood and hiked the last 6 miles back to the trailhead and the waiting Saturn escape vehicle....

Through the Inside Desert

For this week's videos, we go to the opposite end of Idaho, way down south....

This is the beginning of the Idaho Centennial Trail, at the Nevada border.   This 51 mile section hike is a part of my seven year hike across Idaho on the ICT.   in March of 2005 I hiked this section through the Inside Desert, with Jerry Finnegan and Scott Pressman who mountain biked in the opposite direction.   We camped at the trailhead on Friday night, and started early on Saturday morning with the 4 mile round trip walk to the NV border marker.   Then we hiked on Day 1 = (4) + 14 miles    Day 2 = 13.5 miles   Day 3 = 15 miles    Day 4 = 7 miles     Water was a very critical item on this hike.   We could have used another couple of water drops along the way.    

 Although this wasn't my first hike on the ICT, it was at the time the longest section I had ever attempted.    The successful completion of this hike became a foundation for everything else that was to come later on.   

"Through the Inside Desert"

part A

http://youtu.be/Y74ogSO6gvQ

part B

http://youtu.be/DTVTcgq2_14

With Bells on

more Movie Maker madness...

"With Bells On" 


a 40 mile segment of the Idaho Centennial Trail in northern Idaho.   This is another piece of my seven year hike across Idaho on the Idaho Centennial Trail.   Together with Jerry Finnegan, in July of 2006, we begin at Indian Creek on the east side of Priest Lake, climb to Hunt Lake, then cross the Selkirk mountain range.  After descending to Pack River Road, we begin another climb to Dodge Peak.   From there it is supposed to be a few more miles down to our endpoint at McArthur Lake.   that's when we discover that conditions on the ground are not always the same as lines on a map......

Part A
http://youtu.be/7oxqigf_ZfU

Part B 
http://youtu.be/0Glz9Nwn4oo

and the exciting conclusion in Part C
http://youtu.be/Odcci-fkt9U

thanks for watching
Ron

Walking a Stateline part 01

Walking a State Line  part 01

after finishing parts 2 and 3, I finally finished the first part!   there will probably be 6 or 7 parts total when I am done.

this was one of the hardest videos I've done.  it has been in the hopper for a long time, but finally came together with a contribution of pictures from Jerry.  

this was my first hike on the Stateline Trail, with Jerry Finnegan.  he did 70 miles total, I did 40 miles total.   I met him after he had already gone 30 miles.   

http://youtu.be/o-QRTCjz81g

musical soundtrack by Phil Keaggy, and Spock's Beard 

Illinois Peak ICT

section hike from my seven year project to hike the Idaho Centennial Trail

this section goes from Cascade Pass to Hoodoo Pass, both on the Idaho-Montana stateline.  

I wanted to make this all one video, but due to file size restrictions for my movie making software, had to break it up into 3 parts.

Part A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmzL9Q51tAc
part B

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQnmZ0Fcmok
part C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXuJ7bGzYMQ

Dotting the "I" videos

I finally got all 3 segments completed for the Priest Lake to Canada section of my Idaho Centennial Trail hike. 

Dotting the "I"


part 01
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBFW75fBz3w


part 02

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuABPWgEKWs


part 03

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKjh3lC1_B8

Dotting the I part 02

new video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuABPWgEKWs

another section of my seven year hike across Idaho on the Idaho Centennial Trail.  from July of 2011. 
this is part 02, part 01 is still a work-in-progress. part 03 is already on my YouTube channel. this was my next-to-last segment to finish the trail. up north of Priest Lake, only 1/4 mile from the U.S. Canadian border, Upper Priest Falls (or some call it American Falls) is the northern terminus of the ICT. the trail ends at the falls. it would take a very determined soul to scale the rocks to get all the way to the Canadian border. here a team of 3 makes an almost 11 mile hike. Basically we have to park a car at either end, hike up to the falls, then hike back down and continue on south to the trailhead out. John Kennedy, my friend from TEXAS, joins with Tyler Parrish and myself for this hike.

the pictures are a combination from my camera and John's (and his 2 videos of the falls).