EARLY MORNING HIKES . .

Every morning I get up an hour before I am expected in the kitchen to take a 3 mile walk on the River Trail.  I start out at the ranch.  This is my view looking down river - west of the ranch.


View from lodge looking down river . . . .'

Next I cross the Crooked Creek Bridge which flows into the Salmon River just west of the ranch.

 

 







View of Crooked Creek from the bridge . . .

Crooked creek is a fast flowing creek coming out of the mountains.  It powers our generator during the months when it is not frozen.  During the winter the ranch uses a gas powered generator for a few hours each day to keep the freezers cold and to laundry etc etc . ..

 

Still walking west on the trail I now cross the air strip.  We have an airstrip about a 1/4 mile long just for private small fixed wing aircraft and the mail plane which comes in once a week on Wednesdays our USPS mail and any groceries we order in.  I will fly up river on the mail plane next week to White Water Ranch (where I lived 35 years ago) to visit friends.  The only transportation in and out of the ranch is fixed wing small aircraft and/or jet boat or the river trail via horse or mule.

 

                                                        Looking up the air  strip/runway . . .

 

Now I walk about a mile on the river bluffs a few hundred feet above the river.  The view is always breathtaking and I say a word of thanks to the spirits of the River that I am here in this most beautiful place . . . .

 

 

                 Early morning sun on the mountains looking down River from the River trail  . . .

 

The Indian translation from which the name of Idaho came is "Sun coming over the mountains." 

 

The trail is narrow and pitches and rolls and is close to the edge of the bluffs . . . . One has to pay attention.  It is actually safer to ride a mule on these trails, as opposed to a horse, as the mules are more sure footed.

 

Looking up the River trail . . .





 

I walk about a mile and a half, or thirty minutes and then back to the ranch.  Going back, on the right side of the River is the Polly Bemis Place.  Polly was a young Chinese woman brought to the United States at the age of 19 in 1872.  Her feet were originally bound and thus she always had to wear boys shoes.  She came an indentured slave via San Francisco with Hong King and was taken to Warren Idaho to work in the mining saloons.   She was won by Charlie Bemis in a poker game in Warren and he brought her down to his place on the Salmon River and eventually married her.   Their original cabin burned and after Charlie died in 1919 a second cabin was built for Polly.  This cabin is still there with many of Polly's belongings.  The creek there has since been named Polly Creek. Charlie died first and Polly lived to age 80.  You can Google her at Polly Bemis to find out more of her fascinating story.

 

Looking up river to Shepp Ranch on left and Polly Bemis Place on the right . . . .



 

And then it is back to Shepp Ranch for 7:00 a.m. to start breakfast for whomever might wish to partake of eggs, bacon/sausage/ham and fresh muffins or biscuits.

 

Looking up River towards Shepp Ranch on the left . . .

 

And thus ends my early morning River hike.  I hope you have enjoyed this hike with me. It is my time of meditation and reflection.