Last-Minute Hike to Caribou Lake

Just guessing, but I might possibly have surpassed Annie in steps taken yesterday.  My Fitbit last night showed slightly more than 31,000 steps for the day.  So, we'll see if that assumption turns true. 

Reaching that all-time high since receiving the Fitbit from Annie as a Mother's Day-birthday present was hardly on the day's list of things-to-do.  

Instead, the numbers went up because Bill and I took a drive up Caribou Creek Road yesterday afternoon and then decided to hike to the lake.

Neither of us had been there in years, and Bill wasn't carrying his GPS, so we just had to guess that it would be about a 1.5-mile hike. 

It seemed like much longer since the trail goes mostly UP with several stretches covered with all sorts of good-sized rocks for klutzes like me to stumble over. 

We walked a long way with no rewards, i.e., nice views---just lots of leaves slapping our faces cuz the trail could use a good trim along the sides. 

For a time, I even considered turning around since with all that up would come all those downs on old, sore knees.  Bill, however, was thinking the same thing I was; in fact, I'm sure both of us had Annie's big achievement on our minds as we trudged up the hillside.

We both agreed that if we saw a big church or a cross up the trail, that could spur us on, but, in reality, we just let the vision of such an anomaly way up Caribou Creek guide us.

Actually, we both knew that eventually we were gonna see something just as pretty as the Cathedrals of Spain, and that would be breath-taking views of the Selkirks and even the Cabinet Mountains surrounding Bonners Ferry. 

The rewards came eventually after we reached a junction where the steep climb leveled off with a series of switchbacks leading to the lake. 

Our view of Roman Nose in the Selkirks was unlike the usual, and Bill pointed out Black Mountain and Clifty near Bonners Ferry. 

Bear grass was abundant; huckleberries were not, so occasionally hitting that empty plastic bucket with my walking stick simply scared off the bears and Bigfoot and any other critters lurking in the woods. 

We did see a fairly friendly chipmunk and a frog that thought it wanted to be scared when I stepped its way near the lake's edge but decided it would come back and stare at me. 

Twas a slow walk down for me because I do not want to crash to the ground, so I selected steps carefully as Bill moved on down the mountain without a care in the world. 

We hadn't planned the hike and I felt some reluctance along the way and we saw no churches or crosses spurring us onward, but we both are glad to have made that last-minute decision to play "pilgrim" along a North Idaho trail for a couple of hours. 

Mighty pretty up there in Caribou Lake country. 

Happy Monday.