A Skip Over To The Snake River Area

On to Lewiston, Idaho at the western edge of Idaho where the Snake River divides it from Washington state. Here the Clearwater River meets with the Snake River. We’d planned only two nights here and when we saw the beautiful Hells Gate State Park we wished we’d planned a few days more. Our trip over was uneventful until just before reaching Lewiston. We had ignored the route the GPS gave us as it routed us through Washington and added over an hour to the trip. When we reached the mountain pass north of Lewiston we understood. Having no choice we started down the seven mile 6% grade using our lowest gear. A tense period but we landed unharmed. Little did we know that more challenging hills awaited!

The Clearwater River Valley

Rolling Hills Of Northwest Idaho

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing Of Nez Pearce Trail And Lewis And Clark Trail

Action At Big Hole NB

Flight Path Of The Nez Pearce

 

 

Our primary reason for coming here was to visit the Nez Pearce National Historic Site. We’d been to Big Hole National Battlefield while in Montana. This area of Washington and Idaho had been the traditional homeland of the Nez Pearce but after gold was discovered miners and settlers flooded the area following the philosophy of Manifest Destiny. Previous treaties were revoked and gradually land granted to them shrunk and shrunk. In 1877 some renegades sought revenge and killed settlers. The Army responded and “the war no one wanted” was on. Chief Joseph led his people on a long, long march through Idaho and Montana trying to avoid further conflict. The Battle of Big Hole on August 9-10, 1877 where both soldiers (31) and Nez Pearce (90) were killed is a sad reminder of the clash of cultures. The Nez Pearce continued their flight hoping to reach Canada but were stopped just shy of the border. After capture the leaders were incarcerated in Oklahoma. They finally returned to the homeland after five years. The entire Nez Pearce Trail has 38 historic stops spread over four states. One we found earlier near Lemhi Pass shows where the Nez Pearce Trail crosses the Lewis and Clark Trail. Lewis and Clark met and traded with the Nez Pearce. The museum at Nez Pearce NHP has many interesting exhibits. One that caught our eye was the only remaining silk ribbon from one of the Peace medal carried by the Corps of Discovery given by Lewis to Chief Cut Nose. Also in the museum were several photographs, paintings and drawings of Nez Pearce life and tribal members. One of the rangers, a current member of the Nez Pearce, showed us two photos of her family members. (To see detail in pictures or maps just click on picture to bring to full screen.)

Philosophy Of Manifest Destiny

Quote From General Howard, Army General At Battle Of Big Hole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote From Chief Joseph

Painting In Nez Pearce NHP Showing Lewis And Clark With Nez Pearce

Silk Ribbon From Lewis and Clark Peace Medal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relative Of Ranger At Nez Pearce NHP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t You Just Love This Face?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Serious And So Young

Following our visit to Nez Pearce NHP we did what we do so often just driving backroads to see what we can find. Besides the beautiful scenery shown above we found this “dead bug” with a tree growing through it. Then we found wild plum trees just loaded with ripe fruit. There were yellow ones, red ones and purple ones. After sampling a few we picked a quart bag full of yellow plums. They were soooo sweet! We had them in our salads for four nights and wished we’d had gallon bags with us.

Bugs Live On Forever

We made one more stop at Dworshak Dam on the Clearwater River. I’d seen announcements for volunteer positions for this site and wanted to check it out. We spoke with current volunteers and the head ranger about volunteering here in the future. Before leaving we viewed one of several movies they have about the area. This film was about the last log run on the Clearwater River before the dam was built in the mid 70s. Talk about cold, wet and hard work! The volunteer position looks very interesting combining Visitor Center work and leading tours of the Dam. Right now Steve doesn’t want to commit to more than three months and this requires four and a half months service. So we’ll put it in the to be consider pile. Whether as volunteers or just on our own we will definitely be back.

Spartanburg, SC Area

After a week of recovery time it was off to Croft State Park on the outskirts of Spartanburg. It had been 17 years since Chari had worked in the area and oh boy had it grown. Using the GPS we had no trouble finding the park.  Croft SP was an army training base in World War II. When it was closed in 1948 the area was littered with unexploded armaments. The area needed extensive clearing and was allowed to return to a natural state eventually becoming a state park.

Croft SP is a small park with two campgrounds, a small lake, horse barns and trails, hiking trails and a lovely creek with small falls and refreshing splash holes. Once a month the park sponsors a local saddle club show in their show rings. Unfortunately the two weeks we were there was not one of them. Not knowing the layout of the park we’d chosen a site in the Lake campground. When we arrived we realized this area was quite unlevel as compared to the other camping area. Our site was not too bad but the back area seemed muddy and there was a significant hill sloping toward the trailer along one side. Our site offered us privacy as it was at the end of a circle.

Steve was making a four- day trip up to New York with some cabinets and tools for his nephew while Chari stayed here continuing to tie up loose ends, have dinner with friends and get a long overdue haircut. Coming back one night after dark she realized there had been a heavy rain and found that mud had come down the hill and covered the patio carpet. Using her best Scarlett O’Hara approach to life she scooted across to the door and thought “I’ll worry about that tomorrow. ”It looked even worse in the daylight. So all 16’ of rug was dragged out in the sun and once dry the mud came off fairly easily. That’s if you call lifting, shaking and sweeping easy.

When Steve returned we did have time to do some sightseeing. I had to show Steve the famous Gaffney Peach Water Tower. For those of you not familiar with this, it is a peach from the northbound side of I85 but from the southbound side it looks for all the world like a sunburned buttock with a hemorrhoid We bought some local peaches which needed to ripen a few days but then the juice flowed down your arm as you bit them. We tried some local peach ice cream too. Then we went over to Hatcher Gardens. I’d picked up a brochure when we stopped at a Visitors Center last year coming home from Florida. It was the private home of the Hatcher family who took ten acres of barren and trash filled land and converted it into a garden oasis. Upon their death the land was donated to the county to be used as a park. There is no admission charge. Groups can arrange to have a tour guide with prior arrangement. www.hatchergarden.org .

We also made a trip to Cowpens National Battlefield. Both Steve and Chari went to school in New york State and other than Yorktown neither of them remembered learning about the very significant role the southern revolutionaries made. We watched a film about the battle. Although the battle was only ten minutes long it was a turning point in stopping Cornwallis. The untrained Militia men being victorious against a larger force of trained British regulars hung on an unexpected about face when it looked as if the Americans were retreating. Then we got on our bikes and rode the three mile circuit around the battle site stopping to read signs and go into a log home.

Another day we drove over to Musgrove Mill, which is a SC State Historical site. There no longer is a mill, just a Visitors Center with some educational displays. The one I liked the best was talking about the role of some local women in serving as spies and couriers during the Revolution.

Other days were spent at Camping World buying equipment for setting up our satellite TV, kayak the lake at Croft and getting Steve his own Interagency Senior Pass. For the latter we had to drive to Flat Rock as only sites that charge admission will carry the passes.

Several evenings we walked the half a mile to the creek where Opal could run and play in the water. Other times we just sat in the creek to cool off while she supervised from the bank. For the first time in many weeks we began to feel relaxed.