Where, Oh Where, Have You Been?

Well here I am again. And yes, it has been over a month since my last post when I was booted out of Rising Sun campground on the 21st of July due to a wildfire and spent that night at the visitors center parking lot with some new friends. The night of the 22nd was spent at a rugged campground in a state park south of Kalispell.

The next morning I continued my journey west on U.S. highway 2. That afternoon I passed by several Forest Service campgounds and finally decided to stay at the small Yaak River Campground in the Kootenai National Forest. It lies a few miles west of the small town of Troy, Montana and a few miles east of the Idaho state line. Route 2 goes in a northwesterly direction in that area and the campground is situated between U.S. 2 and the Kootenai River, sort of on the south side, and the Yaak river toward the west.

It turned out to be the perfect place to relax and "recover" from the excitement at Glacier. I would spend 3 nights at Yaak River, much of the time sitting in my camp chair on the banks of the Kootenai River. Just watching the river flow by, soaking up some sunshine or cooling off in the shade. It was soothing to the soul. Peaceful and quiet.

My site at Yaak River Campground.

Just a few miles east of the campground was the major attraction in the area, Kootenai Falls, the largest undammed falls in the state of Montana. Here the Kootenai River loses 300 feet in elevation traveling a few hundred yards down river.

The path to the falls leads through the woods to a metal bridge across the railroad tracks. At the far end of the bridge is a 3-story tall staircase down to the ground. Once on the ground you can go left to a swinging bridge or right to go to the falls. I went right. I never did make it down to the swinging bridge. My excuse was the weather. It was extremely cloudy and looked like it could start raining at any minute. But I had also seen pictures of it and decided I really didn't need to experience it at this time. (Just Google "kootenai falls swinging bridge" and see for yourself!)

Kootenai Falls really consists of three separate falls. You can walk alongside the river and even get rather close to the falls nearest the river bank. And, these photos really don't do it justice!

A panoramic view from below the falls...

...and from the top of the falls.

From here I would go through the panhandle of Idaho into Washington where I would roam up and down, over and around the state. Then into Oregon, doing the same thing... I am currently staying at one of our nation's beautiful National Monuments not far from a small town in Oregon with a nice library, so I hope to have more blog posts done soon.

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "Where, Oh Where, Have You Been?," Kinexxions, posted September 3, 2015 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2015/09/where-oh-where-have-you-been.html : accessed [access date])