Hell's Gate, Dworshak, and Winchester State Parks

Lewiston, Idaho is the home of the Hell's Gate State Park where we made camp while visiting Dworshak and Winchester State Parks.  Hell's Gate State Park is located on the Snake River just past where the Clearwater and Snake Rivers meet and a 3 hour boat ride from Hell's Gate Canyon.  These three State Parks are near where Lewis and Clark met with the Indians for one month.  It is now the Nez Perce Historic National Park area.  On one side of the Snake River is Lewiston and on the Washington side is Clarkston.

Lewiston, the first capital

Confluence of the Clearwater (E & W) and Snake (N & S) Rivers. Lewiston on the left side of the Snake and Clarkston on the right.

 While on our drive to Dworshak State Park, we saw over 30 deer.

On our way to the Dworshak State Park

Our trip to the Dworshak State Park was beautiful, but the State Park is a different story.  We decided that we aren't interested in that State Park.  We were told to take a little trip over to the Dworshak Dam.  It was a very unexpected thrill.

Dworshak Dam

Dworshak Dam

Ride along the Clearwater River on our way to Winchester Lake State Park

Ride along the Clearwater River on our way to Winchester Lake State Park

 Winchester Lake State Park was nice but 36 miles from Lewiston, the closest town.

Winchester Lake State Park

Winchester Lake

The next day we spent traveling to McCall, ID where we are spending several days at Ponderosa State Park.  Here are some of the pictures I took along the way.

On our way to Ponderosa State Park

Skokumchuck Recreation Site

A beautiful site on the way was the Salmon River Canyon.

Salmon River Canyon

Salmon River Canyon

Tomorrow, pictures from our visit to Lake Cascade State Park and our tour arround Payette Lake near Ponderosa State Park.

Bayview Idaho and Grand Coulee Dam

As a continuation of my previous blog post; we visited Bayview, a little town only 4 miles from Ferragut State Park on Lake Pend Oreille. The lake at its deepest point is 1150 feet deep with 111 miles of shoreline.  The US Navy uses the lake to test submarines, yes, you read correctly!

Information regarding Lake Pend Oreille

Floating Bar and Grill. They sell gas too!

Marina

Fisherman or is he towing the sailboat?

Floating homes

Floating homes and their boats

US Navy Submarine Detachment

Entrance to the Detachment

Hillside overview of Bayview and marina

Some of the bigger homes and their boat storage areas

A friend of ours suggested that we take a drive over to Washington state and visit Grand Coulee Dam.  We had planned to visit Spokane, since we were so close.  After we toured a little of downtown Spokane, Roger plugged in the dam and it was only another 100 miles or so from where we were.  So.... off we went.  We were very impressed, the pictures don't do it justice!

Map of area

Grand Coulee Dam information

Placard on the Visitors Center

Approaching the dam

Scenic Overlook

Lake Roosevelt above the dam and Huckleberry Moutain Range

More views of Lake Roosevelt above the dam

Power Generators 1 & 2 are on either side of the spillway.

The 3rd power generators (straight ahead) were added in 1969

There was very little water flowing over the spillway.

This bridge takes you over the Columbia River below the dam

Columbia River

A mule deer and her fawn at Lake Roosevelt State Park campground

Sunday is a day of rest for us.  Monday we are going to bring the coach to Hells Gate State Park in South Idaho.

Idaho State Parks

One of our main objectives of this trip was to see a few of the Idaho State Parks.  We'd like to talk to some of the Campground Hosts and State Park Rangers about possibly working as a Campground Host at one of the parks. We decided to make camp at Farragut State Park near Coeur D'Alene.  From there we could visit Priest Lake State Park and Round Lake State Park, all three of which are in the very Northern Panhandle of the state.

Our site at Farragut State Park

Our view of the Bitterroot Mountain range from our coach

Priest Lake State Park Beach

Priest Lake

Private Marina on Priest Lake

View of Priest Lake and the Bitterroot Mountain Range from the beach at Priest Lake State Park

Round Lake State Park Beach and Landing

Round Lake State Park view of the Bitterroot Mountain Range

Priest Lake State Park is absolutely gorgeous, but a little too far North and isolated for us.  Round Lake State Park is very small and Campground Hosts don't have full hook-ups (water, electric and sewer) which is something that we would want.

Yesterday we went to visit Heyburn State Park south of Coeur D'Alene.  This was a beautiful State Park nicely located and has full hook-ups for the Campground Hosts.  It was extremely smokey, as you'll see in the pictures.  Both Roger and I developed head aches and coughs, which we attributed to the smoke.

One end of Chatcolet Lake at Heyburn State Park

Chatcolet Lake at Heyburn State Park Boat Landing

A little smoke at Chatcolet Lake

This is the old railroad bridge that is now a bike/walking bridge at Chatcolet Lake

View of Chatcolet Lake from a Heyburn State Park road

Another view of the lake from a road at Heyburn State Park

A Civilian Conservation Corp building built at Heyburn State Park

One of many deer seen at Heyburn State Park

Another deer at Heyburn State Park

This years fawn at the state park

The smoke never lifted, but the Chatcolet Lake was sure calm.  I love the reflection of the mountain.

Today, we spent most of the day touring the campground we're staying at, Ferragut State Park.  It is the second largest state park in Idaho.  It's situated on Lake Pend Oreille. During WWII, Ferragut State Park was a land locked Naval Training Station.

Ferragut State Park swimming beach

View from the beach of Lake Pend Oreille at Ferragutt State Park

More views from the beach

The boat landing at Ferragutt State Park

Just a couple of the white tail deer in Ferragutt State Park

A close up of the deer with Lake Pend Orielle in the background

Note how long and how deep Lake Pend Orielle is.

Views toward Bayville from the scenic overlook at Ferragutt State Park

Views toward Bayville from the scenic overlook at Ferragutt State Park

The museum at Ferragutt State Park highlighting the old Naval Training Station

The old Naval Training Station memorial

The memorial to the Navy Trainees

Tomorrow, we are going 50 miles west to visit Spokane, Washington.