News from camp

We got out of town late this morning. All the campsites are first come, first served in this area. There are many open slots, but then we didn't wait for Friday night either.

I suppose the big news is this place has WiFi. It isn't a strong signal, but it exists.

This area is in the bottom of Hell's Canyon along the Snake River. The river is the border between Idaho and Oregon.

When we left the Cambridge area the elevation was 3700 feet above sea level. Our campsite is 1900. It's a steep grade to get down here.

Idaho Power built three hydro-electric dams in this canyon. This provides electricity for about half the western USA. It comes with a downside too.

Prior to these dams, two species of salmon, plus steelhead trout, ran all the way into Northern Nevada. They would run less than a quarter mile from by back door. Alas, this is no more.

The farthest the runs make it today is a large pool below Hell's Canyon Dam. There is some serious combat fishing that goes on there too. While that sounds fun, the combat aspect doesn't appeal to me.

We brought fishing poles and catfish bait. I love catfishing, and usually turn them all loose. If we go, we might keep one for dinner one night. They are outstanding table fare. I also brought the fixin's for our prickly pear lemonade.

The campgrounds here are all owned and operated by Idaho Power. This means one of the obvious features is power. We left the generators at home this trip. They also have running water, showers, picnic tables, etc.

We wanted to test out these systems on the new camper, and everything is working well.

Here is the view from my lounge chair. I'm sure to get a bit of beta reading done from this very chair.

Notice how deserty it is here. We dropped from forest to desert just to get here.

We are camped just above Brownlee Dam. This is the highest of the three reservoirs. Just around the corner is a small stretch of river before it becomes Oxbow. I'll probably have to be careful where I fish. I only have an Idaho fishing license.

The last time I came here, we saw bighorn sheep right in the road. I'll keep my camera handy, but sometimes my photos are unhelpful. I tend to get the kind where I tell people, “See that rock? That's a sheep.”

Now that I know I have WiFi, I'll check in with everyone later.