Overland Camping Roadtrip Blog
Travel Day 2:
Total km driven to date: 893km
Total km walked to date: 15.7km
Spokane, WA – Graham Creek, ID
143km drive
11km on foot
After a loud night listening to traffic in the Spokane Walmart parking lot (including papertowel stuffed in my ears) and not a ton of sleep it was time to call ICBC and find out what my lack of shoulder checking was going to cost me. Great news! Looks like it will cost me a total of $23 AND I dont even lose my 43% discount, not sure how that works but I’m not complaining, I had visions of thousands dancing in my head all night long! Off to WalMart for a few things and then to figure out some WiFi. Bought myself a 10’x10′ Easy-Up for $49…… #Murica and a few other things (including some ear plugs for my next parking lot night). I headed down the road to McDonalds to have a go at the free WiFi. After an hour of messing around I got it all figured out and actually posted my first few blog posts, feel free to comment, constructive or non-constructive, I can take it considering my office is currently a lawnchair in a rushing river in the middle of _____ National Forest (more on that in a few). With a goal of heading to LoLo National Forest tonight I set out at about 11am for the 235km drive.
With a few stops along the interstate in Coeur d’Alene and Old Mission Landing for some pictures I continued heading East along I-90 towards LoLo. I headed off the interstate and into a canyon along Thompson River Road. I start seeing camper after camper all along the river in some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen. Of course most of the camping is on the far side of the river, thanks Garminder. The few campsites I see on my side of the river say “private campground” etc so I continue on my way. About 20km into the canyon I see a few spots and people camping but no signs or anything so I pull in to check it out. I speak with one of the campers and find out it is a free camping spot with outhouse and about 30 spots along about 2km of the river. Seeing how amazing it looked and with my open ended camping plans I decided to call it a short day and set up camp at 1pm. Axel and I went across the road and for a long hike in the woods until we heard wolves howling and Axel started whining, that was our cue to head back to the camper. Now as I mentioned before I am currently sitting in 6″ of water with the sounds of birds and surrounded by canyon walls on either side, its a big step up from a WalMart parking lot! Time to put this computer away and make some dinner and get better acquainted with my book. Looks like a great location for star photos and not a cloud in the sky!
Maybe tomorrow I will make it to LoLo….