Lewiston, Idaho and Lake McMurray

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July 8

Lewiston, Idaho

After morning coffee in Stanley, Idaho we made our way toward Lake McMurray, in Mount Vernon, Washington where we were to be guests of some friends that we met on our hike across England two years prior.  They live close to Anacortes, which is where we were meeting up with our Backroads hiking group for our San Juan Islands and Olympic Peninsula hiking trip. Our plan today was to make it to the Lewiston, Idaho area, about 6 hours away, and spend the night there. Then get to Lake McMurray in Mount Vernon, Washington the next day.

We took the scenic route from Stanley to Lewiston.  This route took us along the Ponderosa Scenic Route, Banks Lowman Road, and Highway 95 all of which follow the Salmon and Payette rivers.  We were treated to some of the most beautiful landscape scenery along these various byways, and we entered and exited several national and state forests. We even went through Hells Canyon.

There were also lots of rapids in the Payette River. We stopped along the roadside to walk down an embankment to soak our feet in the rapidly flowing Payette River…ahhh! It was 90 degrees outside so this was very refreshing.

Amidst the amazing scenic ride to Lewiston, we stopped for lunch in the town of Cascade, Idaho, by Cascade Lake. We ate a remarkably terrible lunch at the Whistle Stop Cafe down town. This was perhaps the worst cheeseburger I ever paid for in my life…I’ve cooked worse, but I never paid for worse.

After endless miles through vast openness and beautiful landscape, we hit Lewiston, Idaho which is a very busy urban area.  We got to the Best Western Plus at Hells Canyon in Clarkston, Washington (just over the Snake River bridge from Lewiston) around 6:30 p.m. This was a very nice, and newer, hotel. It was also crowded as there were people here who were evacuating the nearby forest fires.

After check-in, and a much needed shave for Dean, we headed out to Lindsay Creek Vineyards about 20 minutes away in Lewiston. We learned on this trip that the Lewiston region has several wineries, so we had to check one out. Lindsay Creek was an excellent winery with friendly servers.

We got some small bites and wine and sat outside on their patio which had awesome panoramic views of the not-too-distant hills around Lewiston. There were wildfires not too far south of here that were causing a hazy sky and brilliantly amber sun. We saw a few firefighting planes and a helicopter heading toward the fire. As we were eating we noticed there were tiny black embers from the fires actually falling on us, and into our drinks.  When we asked our server if we were really seeing embers from the wildfires she very casually said “yes” as though this was business as usual, which apparently, in that part of the country it is.  The sky was actually really beautiful with the amber glow of the sun as we watched it set over the hills while sipping our ember-infused wine.

We got back to the hotel around 9:30 p.m., which was 10:30 to us since we started the day in the Mountain time zone, and we’re now in the Pacific time zone.

Off to bed.

 

July 9

Southeast Washington

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to downtown Lewiston to get excellent coffee at the very hipster cool Blue Lantern Coffee House.  As Emilie finished her coffee in the comfy funky coffee house, I went across the street to get a haircut at the un-funky oldest barbershop in Lewiston, dating back to 1893.  Then we walked around this historical district of downtown. There were some neat murals depicting the history of the town. Also, there was a cool sculpture of canoes piled on top of one another to form an ocean wave.  Lewiston, Idaho is an interesting blue-collar city with a cool, funky urban college town vibe.

On the road again.

We started out on the Louis and Clark trail highway through southeast Washington. Of course, we made a couple of stops at some unusual attractions we discovered via our Roadside America app.

We drove amongst thousands and thousands of acres of yellow wheat fields…as far as we could see in all directions…yellow. The only human life was on the harvesting tractors we saw.  We had no idea how much wheat was produced in Washington. Not long out of this great wheat belt, just past Lacrosse, WA the landscape turned “Badlandy” again. All around us were rolling brown hills, beautiful rock formations, and mesas. But then again, not long after…back to endless wheat fields!

The drive took us past the very impressive Rock Island Dam on the Columbia River.

We drove Rt. 2 in Washington through the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth. Even the McDonalds where we ate was decked out to look like we were in Bavaria. Everything was in Bavarian style, and it was a happening fun-looking little resort town. Next time, we will definitely stop there for a real lunch or something just to walk around the town.

Leavenworth turned out to be at the foot of a beautiful but white knuckle stretch of Rt.2 along the Wenatchee National Forest, and through Stevens Pass. There were some long, very steep grades up and down, deadly curves over intimidating drops, and few guard rails. The scenery was breathtaking, but 20 miles of this probably would have been enough, instead of the 70 miles that it was.

That was our last taste of scenic byway. We finally landed in Gold Bar, Washington and hit civilization. From here it was an hour and a half to the home of our friends Mark and Karen on serene and scenic Lake McMurray in Mount Vernon, WA.

We arrived around 7:30 p.m. Upon arrival we got situated in their camper, where we slept, and then joined Mark and Karen on their porch on the lake for the night’s wind down. A perfect unwind with great people.

Off to bed. The camper was very comfortable and cozy.

 

July 10

Lake McMurray and Anacortes

This was a relaxing, casual day. A leisurely breakfast with our hosts and then we did our laundry.  Another friend who we hiked with in England, David, came by with his wife Ty and we all went for a ride in Mark and Karen’s pontoon boat on Lake McMurray.  I jumped off the anchored pontoon boat and took a swim in the, um…refreshing lake.  We all had dinner on the patio and enjoyed great company until bed time.

July 11

We had a relaxing breakfast with our friends. We left our car here, where we would pick it up again after our Backroads hiking trip.  Mark and Karen drove us to Anacortes, about 45 minutes away, where we met up with our Backroads leaders. They detoured a bit to show us around this beautiful area around the Skagit River, and then they drove up to the summit of Mt. Erie, in the Anacortes Community Forest Lands.  At 1,300 feet, Mt. Erie is the highest point of the forest lands, which are managed by Anacortes.  The views from the summit are supposed to be amazing, unfortunately it was too cloudy to see much of anything this morning.  Next time!

Before leaving our friends, Mark and Karen took us to get truly awesome homemade donuts at the local favorite Donut House in Anacortes (I guess that would be “second breakfast”).

We met up with our Backroads leaders and our Backroads friends John, Ann, Charlie, and Luise at the Majestic Inn in Anacortes, and said, “see you next week” to Mark and Karen.

Next: San Juan Islands with Backroads