July 25, 2014

July 25, 2014

The only downside to our forest campground north of McCall, ID is the entrance road. It is a narrow one-laned gravel road with a sheer cliff on one side. It is barely wide enough for our motorhome. Since I don’t want to pass another RV on this road, we leave camp at the crack of dawn. This campground is named “Last Chance” for a reason.

From McCall, ID we switch to following the Little Salmon north. In this early hour, there is a layer of fog atop it, probably due to the hot spring that feeds it. We leisurely follow the river till it flows into the mighty Salmon River. Here the canyon turns from steep pine-forested to dry grassy hills with basalt cliffs showing in places.

In the town of White Bird, ID, we make a stop at the White Bird Battlefield, a unit of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Here was fought the opening battle of the 1877 Nez Perce War. We hike .75 miles uphill to learn that this battle was a bloodbath for the inexperienced 106 cavalrymen. This was despite the partying the Indians did the previous night downing stolen whiskey. The Nez Perce took the captured arms and went on to elude the US Army for another four months.

We spend the night at an RV park along the Salmon River.