A trip to the cranberry bog.

Somewhere in the north of Idaho there is a natural bog loaded with cranberries. It's location is a closely held secret, and even if you know where it is, it's not easy to get to. You may be able to get there by car and hip waders, but as far as I know, a boat of some sort is required. If you're partial to boats with engines, an airboat can get you right to the bog, but a normal boat with a hanging prop will only get you to the south side of the island abutting the bog, and then there is a not unpleasant hike. But with a kayak you can navigate the big lake, the 5"-deep stream and cross the small upper lake and paddle all the way to the bog. That is the method we chose. 

How did this bog come to be?  It's a natural bog, which is a mass of organic matter, moss mostly, about a foot thick, floating atop a shallow body of water. The story goes that an unnamed fellow from Massachusetts happened upon this natural bog in the 1930s and recognized it as an excellent habitat for cranberries. He sent back home for some cranberry starts and there have been innumerable cranberries growing happily on the bog ever since. 

This is an excellent trip because of the fall foliage. It's not New England, but there is a pleasing range of colors on the way up. Here's another location hint: it's a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house. Much like going to grandma's for Thanksgiving. You can see from the photo that the light and the colors are awesome in the late season with the low angle of the sun. 

Here are the boats on the dock ready to launch. Elaine's is in the water. Where's Elaine?

Here's Nan well into the canal that leads from the lower lake to the upper. We have already crossed the deep water of the lower lake. 

Another posed shot of Nan, suitable for a magazine cover. 

We waited at the corner of the canal for the kids (I know, us old timers like to continue to call adults "kids") to catch up with us. And here they are. 

After the end of the dug canal, the stream meanders through the field with a depth of 3" to 1ft, so shallow that we're hitting bottom with the paddles fairly often. We noticed that the lower lake was two or three feet lower than usual, and thought that might cause the stream to be impassable. We were prepared to walk the island to get there but that turned out to be unnecessary. It's a stream, it seems to always flow the same volume of water. 

The stream widens and shallows as we approach the upper lake. The upper lake is much smaller and it's edges are fringed with Lilly pads for a quarter mile. 

The bog is dead ahead but the low level of the lake caused a problem we hadn't anticipated. The last 20 yards near the bog were 5 ft deep in plant muck. Seriously, we had to drag/paddle our boats through that stuff with great effort. I tried to pole my boat with the end of the paddle on the lake floor. 5' deep!  I brought the paddle back up covered in muck. Don't fall in here!

Whew, made it the the muck. You can see the track of our boats through in the distance of this photo. Anyhow, we made it. The boats look great pulled out on the bog. We don't have to go far to find the berries. In fact they are all about underfoot and we start to gather all we can with 10 yards of the landing site. 

See?  Look, they're just lying about everywhere on the moss. We thought we'd try that. Nan laid out a towel on the moss (it's very wet, even if it hasn't been raining) and we tried laying down on the moss. Better than the best bed you can imagine. So soft!

About an hour of this was enough to get 3 gallons of berries, enough for all the Holliday needs of two families. The berries are very interesting. They are hard and dry, and when you bite into them they have a series of hollow cavities in the center, making them buoyant in water. And TART?!  WOW!  That is a lot of flavor! And absolutely no sugar. 

I'm afraid Nan's blog of this event is much more human than mine. She focuses on the humans at the event. I take pictures of the boats, the terrain, the bog, and all the mechanics of the trip. I'm afraid that's just the way I am. Sorry. Anyhow, here are the boats turned around and ready to go back into the lake. 

The kids were dawdling on the way back (their prerogative. I was in no hurry), so I got out on the old road adjacent to the dug canal and walked over to the island. Here are the kids coming along in the stream. 

Finally open water. I'm way ahead of everyone here so I think I'll head out into the deep water of the lower lake.

On the island in the lake there is a very small boarded up cabin. There isn't even a hint of a road on this place, so I wonder who built this and when. 

A zoom of the cabin. 

My phone camera fails to capture the amazing bright colors set of by the declining afternoon sun. 

Back at the van, we broke out lunch. Why we didn't take it to the island I will never know. The kids ate light vultures on a rock. 

Here's elaine being all gargoyley. 

We were supposed to be back in Moscow by 5, but you can see by the low sun in the west that it's already 4 pm and we have hours of driving to get home. Oh well, it was time well-spent. 

Cave Lake

This paddle happened sometime in July of 2014, so I'm a little bit late in posting it. A friend invited us up to stay at his folks' place on Cave Lake in the Coeur d'alene river system for a weekend. It was short notice but we decided to go because we could be pretty self-contained and not be too much of a bother. The house would be pretty full that weekend so it seemed like a good idea to bring our own bed. 

Here are two pictures showing our caravan completely loaded with kayaks, bikes (in the van) and bed and kitchen towed behind. It's a lot of junk for just two people. But not too large a footprint. I will say that the trailer is a helluva lot better than a tent. And much easier. And the kitchen, all set up and ready to cook. Way better than a tent. 

Here's a map of our route of paddle starting about noon and done around 4. Good sunburn territory in July. I'd say it was a 4 mile paddle, but that's just a guess. I was hoping to find an outlet from the lake on the SW end but no luck. We had to portage across the CDA bike trail, which at that point is a clamber up 12 feet of a 45 deg incline, through bushes, and then down the other side and through 50 yards of reeds. It was quite a chore, but the funniest part was popping out of the bushes in full paddling regalia with kayaks while stunned bikers were passing. Funny. 

I have no pictures of kayaking because we did want to risk cameras on this trip. This picture is from a previous paddling trip on Lake Chatcolet. Too bad. The cave of Cave Lake is awesome -- family sized. Plus we had an awesome swim in the middle of the lake out in deep water. Lots of wet entry and exit practice. 

That night there were huge lightning storms over Spokane. Nan caught a flash here.

Next morning dawned bright and clear so Nan and I headed out on the CDA trail for a 14 mile ride toward Cataldo and back. Lots to do in the beautiful area. 

A view of one of the lakes from the trail. 

Nan thought the scenery reminded her of SE Asia. 

Sorry I have no pictures of our camp setup in their side yard under the apple tree. Very pleasant and cooking in the kitchen was only 2 steps away. Excellent company and lots of family fun playing a 12-hand card game with 12 decks around a wonderful swayback farm table. 

Kayaking Payette Lake at McCall

 Last spring I was invited to play music with a group for a fundraiser/auction for the engineering department of the U of I. Of course I bid on and won a three-day weekend at a the Dean of Engineering's condo in McCall. We finally worked the kinks out of the scheduling in the third week of September.  Here are some kayak pics.

I like going to McCall specifically for paddling on Payette Lake.

MOSS (McCall Outdoor Science Center), from the water.  Ok, some background is necessary. We got down there in the middle afternoon and after checking into the condo, we headed for the lake.  It was 70 degrees with a 10kt SSW wind blowing 1 to 2 ft waves that were rolling at a 30 degree angle to the shore. I have no pictures of that because it was too wet and bumpy to risk breaking out the camera. Also, I have a newish iPhone, on which these pictures were taken, well later in the afternoon, by which time the wind and waves had subsided. Prior to that I was using the old camera. It's not so easy to get the pics off that and onto this blog, but I will try for that later. On those pics you can expect to see Nan and Elaine in their boats and a deer laying calmly on the shore less than 10ft from Elaine in her boat. 

Another view of the cabins at MOSS. 

Here's me in my McCall hat doing a squinty selfie over water with my new iPhone. 

I will try to get a map on here to show the route I paddled, but I must have been on the water 3 to 4 hours because my butt was cramping up and the sun went down before I finished. Not near enough distance traveled. I have yet to get around to Pilgrim's Cove or North Beach or the calm, meandering river that flows through beautiful forested meadows on the way into the north end of the lake. Next time.