UPPER PAYETTE LAKE

We spent several days in the McCall area. At the recommendation of John and Janet Smith we stayed in the Upper Payette Lake Campground about 10 miles north of McCall. Being on the lake, we were able to use our inflatable kayak. Very beautiful country surrounded by granite peaks. About 12 miles down the road is Burgdorf Hot Springs, which had been in operation since the middle of the 1800's. You can rent one of the original cabins and stay a while or just pay your 5 bucks and take a dip in the springs. There is a small pool which is 114 degrees if you desire to cook yourself, but the large pool is somewhat cooler and you only come out medium rare. We went a gave it a try but after about 30 minutes, due to rapid heart beats, we decided to get our butts out.

Later the same evening we were sitting in the trailer reading when some thunderstorms passed by. From my chair I could look out the window and watch the lightning. I saw lightning strike the mountain on the outer side of the lake and thought, wow, that looked neet and went back to reading my book. (If you want to know it was John Grisham's The Last Juror). After reading another page, I looked out the window and saw that the mountain side was on fire! We watched as is spread, sending flames high whenever it encountered a tall tree. We were soon notified by the campground host, that two fire crews were on the way and we were in no danger. In Southern California we would have been, but fires tend to move slower in this part of the country. We watched it burn for two days, but it never really got too big. They brought in bombers and water dropping helicopters, but by the time we left it was still going.

We are now in Island Park, Idaho, just outside of Yellowstone. We are in a nice little RV park out in the middle of nowhere and this will be our base for about a week while we explore the area. They have WiFi, so I am able to post to the blog. Check out their web site to see where we are. www.8004redrock.com Will post more as information becomes available.

Dana and Cathie