Tag: snake-river

Hurry up and wait

Now that I have been in Canada for nearly a week I have decided to put all my posts from the United States, traveling from Durham to Seattle during July, on hold and post them at a later date. I took lots of photos in Ohio (Cleveland and Cincinnati), Indianapolis, a surprise destination in Kansas, Boise and Seattle, plus unexpected finds I stumbled upon along the way. It takes time to go through them all and select which ones I want to post (and I am now using both my smartphone and my digital camera). So they will wait until I get back to Durham, or if I get snowed in somewhere up here in the Great White North.

I do want to tell the amusing JohnBoy story I promised you before I switch countries. This took place the morning I drove west of Boise and then south past Kuna to get to the Snake River.

When I arrived at first overlook there was a small car already in the parking lot. I didn’t see anyone around and assumed they were down by the top of the cliff overlooking the river (which I couldn’t see from the gravel parking lot).

I was moving my car around trying to decide which way to angle it to make my sunshields in the windows most effective. I tried pulling in behind the silver car which was parked parallel to the edge of the parking area but with the front of my car facing the edge, thus perpendicular to the silver car. I was quite shocked when something popped up into the rear window and looked towards me.

In that split second I thought “there’s a frickin’ baby gorilla in that car!!”. I swear to God that’s what it looked like. Now keep in mind, I had my sunglasses on, and the back windows of the small car were tinted, making anything inside it look dark.

I pulled my car to the other end of the parking area, got my smartphone out and walked over to the car to take a picture. About that time, a man who had been sleeping in the back of the car opened the back door and got out. Boy did I have egg on my face…

He walked over to the lavatory to use it and I waited at a distance for him to come out. I started to explain why I was approaching his car the way I did (he might have thought I was going to break into it) but he muttered something that implied he wasn’t terribly interested so I left him alone, used the lavatory myself, and headed down towards the river.

Now I know what you’re thinking…. JohnBoy, why in the world did you think there would be a baby gorilla inside someone’s car near Kuna, Idaho??? I will direct your attention to a post I made in 2017. Enter “Boise” in the search box on the home page and then go down to the link that will take you to a post titled “Boy, I sure didn’t see this one coming”….

Maybe I’m not as crazy as you think.

Snake River – Swan Falls Dam

From Dedication Point (see previous post) I drove southeast along the top of the canyon to get to an overlook for a small dam which crosses the river. I should also mention that on the long, seemingly-straight road I showed you in the previous post, road planners threw in several 90 degree turns just to make sure I was paying attention. Now, as I drove southeast they threw in a 180 degree turn just to make sure I was REALLY paying attention.

Actually the 180 was to allow the road to descend through a series of switchbacks to get down to near river-level (where the camper was parked), for the dam workers and for recreational boaters to launch (above the dam). The 9o degree turns were to adjust for the river working its way northward as it flows west.

The view here was a little different from where I had just been but I will just cut to the chase and show you another panorama from this spot. You may be able to make out the dam in the right-hand side of the photo. Water levels along much of the river are controlled by a dam way back before the water gets to the Hells Canyon rapids, to try and maintain a constant water level after the snowmelt from the Seven Devil’s mountain range, and others, feed into it.

I didn’t stay at this location very long as my next viewing spot would open at 10 am and I still had a long drive to get there.

Going back to retrace my steps from Kuna this was driving northwest towards Dedication Point

When I started driving north towards Kuna and the dreaded interstate I noticed this just off the left side of the road:

“Look, honey, I found the only tree out here, so we can build our dream-nest in it!”

Once I got back to Kuna I headed west to get to another road which would take me south to return to the river. I was only a few miles west of where I had just been but the scenery was very different.

Lush farmer’s fields on both sides of the highway. What a difference some irrigation makes! More on that in a future post, but I’m not quite done with the Snake River just yet…

Snake River – Dedication Point

Monday when I went to the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho I learned that there were several viewing points “nearby” along my old friend the Snake River to possibly see some of the big birds in action. Those of you that have followed the blog for a while know of my posts from Oxbow Bend in Wyoming, near there the “Snake” starts its journey towards the Columbia River Gorge separating Washington State and Oregon; Hells Canyon, with its world-class rapids; and Twin Falls, Idaho and other towns with beautiful waterfalls.

I was told that early morning was the best time to try and catch sight of some birds go I left my Airbnb in Boise at first light and drove to the first stop on the map I was given, Dedication Point. From Boise I went several miles west on the dreaded interstate and took the exit for the town of Kuna. From there it would be 24 miles due south to get to the river, further than I expected.

Once I got south of Kuna it quickly became very open and desert-like. Here is a shot of the road heading south towards the river.

The river separates the land on this side of it from the higher terrain you see in the distance.

Once I arrived at the parking area it was a short walk down to the top of the canyon overlooking the river. There is an amusing JohnBoy story about an encounter I had in the parking lot but I will save it for another time. For now I want you to focus on the natural beauty I was about to experience.

This was the view looking to my left (east, where the river flows from)

Looking almost straight across to the other side

Looking down to where someone was camping next to the river

Towards the right, where there was a drop in water level (I later took a video of a small boat heading upstream and the captain know exactly which side to climb to get through without bottoming out).

And finally, looking right (west) as the river flows out of sight.

And here is a panorama of the entire scene

The sign near the parking lot showed the various big birds I might see at this location. In decreasing order by size – Golden Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks, Swanson’s Hawks, Northern Harriers, Prairie Falcons and American Kestrels. This is a National Conservation Area and claims to have the highest density of nesting raptors in North America, and possibly the world.

Because I was up so high I saw nothing. Well, I did see some movement but they could have been pigeons for all I knew. Look back at the photo of the camper (which I had zoomed in on to the maximum extent my iPhone could). Tell me you could identify what bird a person standing next to it was holding on their arm…

Nevertheless it was a beautiful morning in a beautiful place and after I took the pictures I put my cameras away and just stood and enjoyed the moment for quite a while.