Places Visited:
Idaho: Boise area
June 14, 2007.
We are staying at Garrity RV-Park in Nampa 10-miles west of Boise. It was $21 per-night for FHU & Cable while every place else in the area seemed to start at $26 and rapidly go up. Garrity was just fine. It was clean, well managed, the sites were close but we were not there and didn't go outside except when heading to and from the automobile. There was a good number of permanent or long term in the campground but they were being managed properly thus were no problem. We would stay at Garrity again but those that like to spend the day and evening under the awning sipping cool ones might rather be in one of the other area parks. N43° 35.245' W116° 31.592'
Near Nampa we stopped to watch this crop duster flying low over a field of beans.
From Nampa we headed south through Boise on I-84 to exit 57 where we got on SR-21 also known as the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. The Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway starts at exit 57 on I-84 near Boise. From exit 57 Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway proceeds to Idaho City, Lowman and finally Stanley.
This dam was one of several dams located on the Boise River along our route.
Basalt cliffs like these rim the Boise River and reservoir.
You should be recognizing columnar jointed basalt by now. Check out this basalt flow and you can clearly see the columnar joints.
This basalt had an odd look to it. That is columnar jointed basalt on the bottom but what is that odd looking basalt on top of the columnar joints?
This is a close up of particular section of basalt. I do not know what caused that, do you? Has it got a name? Surely this type of basalt is discussed in geology text books.
This is Arrowrock Dam complete with a sand beach for public use.
In 1862 Idaho City was the largest city in the Pacific northwest after gold was discovered. More gold was mined in Idaho City that in all of Alaska.
With that many people and that much activity a lot of supplies had to be brought here in wagons. Remember that 1864 is before the Transcontinental Rail Road was completed in 1869.
This pretty flower is syringa the state flower of Idaho. We see it at elevations around 4,000 feet.
The individual that discovered the gold that made Idaho City never got to spend it.
This area was the scene of one of Idaho's largest gold rushes. The population of Idaho City exploded to nearly 5,300 in 1863 and by 1865 the boomtown surpassed Portland as the Pacific Northwest's largest city. However, by 1870, many miners had moved on to other fields in Idaho, Montana, and Nevada.
Today, Idaho City is a magnet for eclectic individuals such as the one that owns this home. I am guessing that it is a home, for all I know it might be a shop.
We stopped for lunch at Calamity Jane's, a rustic place, catering to tourist and locals alike. The food was nothing special. I did like this wooden boot and the unique bar stools. We even liked the massive tables. Note that they are made out of 2 huge boards at least 4" thick and 18" wide glued together in the middle.
This stamp mill was on display at the local museum. Stamp mills were used to crush ore bearing rock containing gold. This was the method of releasing gold from the quartz rock. For those mechanically inclined individuals ----- a steam engine would provide power that would turn that large wheel by a large leather belt. The wheel turned those large cams on the horizontal shaft. The cams lifted the two vertical rods that have 1,000 pound stamps on the bottom. The cam lifted those stamps about 18-inches then rotated out of the way and the stamp fell on the gold bearing rock crushing it to almost dust.
One can only imagine the noise and dust created in this operation. Many stamp mills had 20 to 30 stamps thus the noise and dust would be multiplied accordingly.
Mores Creek Summit is on SR-21 the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway north of Iowa City. I included this sign to let RV'ers know what kind of elevations are on SR-21.
This roadcut was somewhere on the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. It looks like ash to me but I am not sure. If it was ash there was a LOT of it as this roadcut is over 30' deep and there is no indication we are at the bottom of the ash.
Until next time remember how good life is.
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Mike & Joyce Hendrix
mikehendrix@isp.com