The weekend on Aug 18th we had to flee town yet again because the smoke was so bad! We were getting right sick of it! So we decided to go to Coure de' Alane, ID for the night. We had a beautiful drive there, it's about 2 hours by I90 but we got off the highway prior to towna nd took some backroads that went around the lake for a more scenic drive. It's a great area and nice to be by a lake again. We got out of the car in the afternoon and did a hike that had some views of the lake here's a picture of us with the lake in the background:
We had a little trouble finding a campsite that night but we finally did and it ended up being really nice and quiet. We even slept with the rain fly off. On Sunday we checked out the town a little bit before we headed back to Missoula. It rained most of the morning but as we drove back home the skies went from cloudy to smoky! Ughh! However, that night the rain came ti Missoula and the smoke went away! It rained off and on for a couple days (you have to realise it only totally about 1/2 and inch that whole time!) but it felt great and with the little bit of water and the cooler temps it brought some of the fires in the area were able to be brought under a little bit more control.
Then this past weekend for the holiday weekend we went back to Idaho, Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille. It was GREAT! We did do a dumb thing that actually ended up being to our benefit. We forgot to bring our checkbook and neither of us carry much cash if any at all. WE also haven't memorized our pin numbers of our cards yet so we had NO way of paying for a campsite! DOH! We stopped at the Ranger Station in town to try to figure something out and we got lucky. They had two free campsite areas, they closer one was more of a party place (not for us) and the farther one was pretty far considering it was going on 4:30pm. But she told us we could do low impact camping on any National Forest Service Land! She showed us some good areas to try and we foudn a great spot only 10 min off the highway in the deep woods! It turned out perfect, if you can live without an bathroom for a couple days and we can! Since we brought all our food with us and the hiking was free we only had to pay for gas! Yippee! We also decided that it was a great area to live in if we ever see the need to move again. So Saturday we hiked a new trail that overlooked town and the lake. Here's some shots from the top:
Here's a cool tree/rock on the trail:
Then we went down to the city beach to swim off the grim and hangout since there wasn't much to do at our campsite! Here's some pictures of the sailboats that were practicing racing that day. They are headed around that orange ball you can see in one of the pics. (EJ, we thought of you the whole time and how much you'd like this lake!)
On Sunday I had to work (the holiday) So we got up early and did part of a hike on Scotchman's Peak. It was the steepest hike I've done since New Zealand where they don't believe in switchbacks! We both said we had to go back and do it again so we can make it to the top. Here's picture from our turn around spot. We met a really nice couple who invited us to call them when we're in the area. 
Another great weekend hiking and enjoying nature!
Coming up: pics of the dear in our neighborhood from fawns to 6 point bucks! Also a smoky sun and our lovely Rio.
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