July 2020 - Week 1

SUNDAY - After church, Kanyon went back to Pocatello with Tiffany's family for a few days. He was so excited! Josh and I took the twins on a Jeep ride up 4th of July Creek to the Forest Service Lookout. We'd never been all the way to the end of the road before, because there was still some snow cover on sections of the road the previous summer when Josh and I had attempted it. I'm glad the twins came with us--they usually don't. The drive was pretty and relaxing. The views at the top were gorgeous! You could see Salmon in the distance, North Fork and the Salmon River in the canyon, and the highway to Gibbonsville, as well as Montana territory far in the east and several mountain ranges. It's my favorite lookout so far and was the first one I've been to that's been manned by an employee. We walked around for a bit and took some pictures before making our way back down the same way we'd gone up. We hit a rainstorm on the way back and Josh pulled over under the canopy of a tree for a few minutes so the twins wouldn't get so drenched in the back seat! 

MONDAY - I was sitting on the Triple S early in the afternoon, and a family of 5 deer showed up, paying no attention to me. I love this new little spot in the corner of our property! I always feel transported to a mountainside while I'm there--I'm at one with nature, and feel so peaceful!

    My favorite part of the day, though, was when Josh and I went floating down the Salmon River with the Judy family that evening. One of the items on my 40 Things to Do List was to float a different section of the Salmon River that I've never been on before. The Judy's go kayaking a lot, so I asked if they'd go with us since they know the river from town heading north and could help us navigate it. The twins opted to go to Summer Running instead. We met up with the Judy's at the Island Park ramp in town and we floated to the Ranch. I loved it! It was so quiet on the river and there's very few homes along that section of the river, so it was very peaceful. It was cool seeing where the Lemhi River flows into it and seeing the cliffs of Discovery Hill, too. The Judy kids all know how to navigate their kayaks, so it was relaxing not having our kids or other relatives to worry about. Usually when we go, we end up taking others and it's a process to blow up all the tubes/boats, and then keep an eye on everyone in the river the whole time. This was by far the most relaxing float Josh and I have ever had! We even stopped mid-float for the kids to swim, skip rocks, and walk around and it was so nice just hanging out with Dallin and Jen on the rocky shore, talking to them as their kids played. We've also never floated in the evening--there was way less people on the river and the sky was calm, which was awesome, too! 

TUESDAY - I worked on a  project for several hours to construct a footbridge across the ditch by the sitting area in the Triple S. The Cranney's have a giant scrap pile of wood in the gravel pit of leftover stuff to burn from their fencing materials. I took the 4-wheeler there, found logs that were at least 15 ft. long, cleared away brush, wrapped tie downs around each log, and attached it to the 4-wheeler, then dragged it back to the Triple S. Once I parked the 4-wheeler in the Triple S, I had to unload the logs by hand and haul them to the ditch, because it was too small of an area to turn the 4-wheeler around to get closer to the gate. Micah helped me carry the first 2 logs through the sitting area and across the ditch, but the 1st one wasn't quite long enough so I repeated the process all over again. This time, the log I found was even bigger around, and I dragged it back on the 4-wheeler, but by then Micah had gone to cut hay for Grandpa, so I unloaded it myself. It was super heavy! The widest end was a foot across, and it was 16' long. I wrapped a tie down around one end and dragged it a few feet at a time by myself to the edge of the ditch, then pivoted the smaller end around and across the ditch. Then I moved it to the opposite side of the other post that I'd previously placed and took away the smaller first post by wrapping the tie downs around it and dragging it off to the 4-wheeler, then I took it to our burn pile. I was so proud of what I'd been able to accomplish alone. It was a lot of heavy lifting, but with the creative use of simple machines, I got the first step of the job done! 

WEDNESDAY - I loaded up the truck in the morning to get ready to go camping with Josh. When he got home from work, we packed in the food and left about noon to go to Horse Creek Hot Springs--my FAVORITE hot springs! It took about 3 hours to get there, and the place was pretty bare - just a few day trip soakers and one other camper were the only other ones there. We were able to set up in the same place as last year and were the only ones in the lower campground, which made me happy. Josh cooked us some steaks on the tabletop grill: they were absolutely delicious! After dinner, we soaked in the hot springs and had it all to ourselves for about 45 minutes before others came and we headed back to our campsite. I got the bed ready in the back of the truck while Josh made the fire (we slept under the stars to cross off another item on my 40 Things to Do list). We played 3 rousing rounds of SkipBo while we waited for it to get dark and for the day-soakers to leave. When the last day-soaker left, we walked back over to the Hot Springs and soaked in the deepest, hottest pool inside the building. It was refreshing and so relaxing. We had some great conversation, and soaked for over an hour. It was heavenly! We walked back to our campsite and got under the dew-laden covers in the bed of the truck. It was the perfect night to sleep under the stars! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the moon wasn't up yet. The view was spectacular. I never thought sleeping under the stars would be so fun! I'm so glad we experienced it at our favorite hot springs! It was a very memorable experience! 

THURSDAY - Sleeping in the back of the truck overnight was a cold, wet experience. There was even frost on our sleeping bag when we woke up! However, Josh said he wasn't cold at all during the night-he never was on the edge of the sleeping bag like I was because he said he snuggled into me all night! We slept in until the sun came up, then we walked to the hot springs for one more soak before people would be arriving for the day. We had it to ourselves every time we soaked, which was the perfect scenario! We packed up and drove home, driving a little out of the way for part of it to go on a mountain road we'd  never been on before. It was a good drive. We unpacked when we got home and I worked some more on my new footbridge by the Triple S when Josh went to work. I brought over shorter wood pieces we already had and a wood block to brace the shorter pole upon the ground. I dug down, leveled the ground, set the wood block, and laid the pole back over it. It was a pretty good match to the height of the larger pole, and just needed to be shaved down in  2 spots to be level between them. I laid out the wood pieces until they covered the poles, and figured out what the placement would be (sizes of the pieces and spaces between each piece). I only had to cut 2 longer pieces into half in order to get the right number of planks to cover the poles. Then I used the chainsaw to shave off 2 parts of the shorter pole that had spots sticking up so that the boards would lay flat and level across both poles. 

FRIDAY - I got to work in the morning of screwing in the boards into my new footbridge (I charged the drill all night since it was dead the previous day). I worked until I ran out of long screws. I took a shower, got dressed, and went to town to get more. While I was in town, I visited with Pam Mark at her house for an hour or so, and we got caught up on our families. It was nice to see her! When I got home, I finished screwing in the boards, and made 2 more cuts with the chainsaw to the poles in order to be more level for the boards to lay on them. I finished the bridge in the afternoon. It took me 3 days, but I was so proud of myself for doing this project from start to completion! 

SATURDAY - Josh and I took Phil and Darcy on a Jeep ride. It was a great day for a ride--it was the hottest day of the year to that point: over 90*! We headed down river, then up Sage Creek. We drove up to the Lookout on Ulysses Mountain. It was a 60' metal tower that you had to climb up ladders to reach the lookout platform. We'd never been to a lookout like it before! I started climbing up, but stopped at the first level because the next ladder wasn't attached and it spooked me. Josh and Darcy made it all the way to the top and said the views above the burnt tree level (where I stayed) were amazing! Phil chose to stay on the ground the whole time. When Darcy and Josh came back down, we drove to Indian Peak and saw even more views--it was so beautiful from the top! We drove down through Hughes Creek Middle Fork and came out Hughes Creek, marveling at all the pretty homes and cabins. We stopped for dinner at Water's Edge Pizza on the way home; Phil and Darcy had never been there before. We enjoyed our usual pizza and the company we were with. When we got to Salmon, we stayed at Darcy and Phil's for a bit, playing cards with them on their backyard patio. We played Spades, but sadly the ladies lost terribly and then we played 3 rounds of Cards Against Humanity with their friend Anthony, who joined us. We laughed so much! We finally left to go home when it got dark and cold. I loved everything about the day--being with friends, exploring the mountains, seeing the beauty in the world around us, having good conversation, sharing laughter, eating good food, feeling the sun's warmth, and playing games. It all made for a very memorable day!