Yesterday, we took a drive through the panhandle of Idaho, going through the towns of Newport, WA and Priest Lake, Sandpoint, and Bonner’s Ferry, ID. Along the way, we stopped at Albeni Falls Dam, a place where the dam on the Pend Oreille River outside of Sandpoint has replaced the original falls, still an interesting stop along the way. At Sandpoint, we learned that it is a popular place for train enthusiasts to visit, as there are up to 50 trains going through the town each day. It seems like a very nice small town of about 7,000, backed by the Pend Oreille Lake that made the drive interesting and beautiful.
On to Bonner’s Ferry, we stopped at the Kootenai River Brewing Company for a burger and some samplers of beer - yummy stuff. It just wouldn’t be right to not see some waterfalls in this part of the country, so Moyie Springs was our next stop, a short distance out of our way to the east.. We followed the directions we had and they led us to a barricaded street. I got out of the car to ask a lady who was tending her garden, if we were in the right place. She said yes, gave us permission to park next to the road and said we could walk down a fairly long hill to see the falls. As we got closer, we could hear them long before we could see them and what a spectacle it was. Moyie Falls is one of the highest volume waterfalls in Northern Idaho and the Moyie River blasts out of a slot in the canyon and explodes 70 feet into a gorge then cascading another 25 feet. The falls flow year round, but were quite impressive right now.
Today was a hanging around camp day, catching up on phone calls, and making plans for our next few stops as we continue to meander in an easterly direction. We did take a very nice walk through the woods and Tom pointed out a footprint that he had discovered earlier. After checking Google, we confirmed that it was a bear print (dried out since the last rain) and I was a little reluctant to continue on. I am really glad that we did not see one on this walk.
After a nice steak dinner, we sat around the campfire tonight and enjoyed our last night in this beautiful place.
