Lovely Sunday Outing

Initially, as soon as he had returned from church yesterday, Bill asked if I'd like to go to Copper Falls.  Sounded good to me.  Then, he said that if I wanted to go for two-mile roundtrip walk, he had a place in mind that he'd like to show me. 

That sounded good too.  So, within minutes we were packed up and headed toward Bonners Ferry for an afternoon of outings. 

Later, I asked what this place was that he wanted to show me.  

"It's a grave," he said. "It's called 'Miller Girl.'"  

Sounded interesting. 

So as we proceeded down the highway headed to Eastport, he soon made a left turn.  The road looked familiar, so I asked him what road it was.

"Hall Mountain," he responded.

"Okay," I said, "this is the road Jim, Mother and I went up a few years back when Jim wanted to fly off the Hall Mountain ridge."

My brother, a hang gliding aficionado, had made arrangements with the Bonners Ferry doctor and his wife who owned the field below for a landing should he get to launch off from the mountain above.

Well, it turns out that field landing was not to be.  Hang gliders need the right wind conditions, and, in spite of our sitting up there on that mountainside for most of the afternoon, the right conditions never developed. 

On yesterday's trip up the Hall Mountain Road, we traveled only a mile or so and then parked.  The walk took us up an old logging road through Ponderosa and larch and some meadows.  

Deer kept flitting about as we walked.  

Our first stop took us through some brushy, uneven ground down into Miller Creek.  Bill said he'd like to check it out sometime and see if it has any fish.  

From there, we walked for less than five minutes across an open area where we could see several yellow property boundaries tacked to trees.  

Soon, we came upon the place Bill had first seen about six years ago---an old, rustic gravesite with a marker which has probably been updated.  

The grave sits at the boundary of U.S. Forest Service land and privately owned timberland. We both know there must be an interesting story, and we'll probably do some checking with the Boundary County Museum to see just what happened to the Miller Girl in 1908. 

We agreed that she probably doesn't receive too many visitors in her remote resting place, but someone must keep track of the site and update it from time to time.

After a pleasant walk out with more deer flitting about, we headed to Copper Falls, making one quick stop along the highway where two bald eagles were just sitting out in a field.  I managed to catch a couple of shots before they flew off.  Neat sight. 

Copper falls was a busy place yesterday with about half a dozen cars parked on the road below the trail. 

We didn't see people until we had stood and admired the falls, which, by the way, are hard to photograph because they are so steep and full.  Even the wide angle lens on my camera could capture only half of the full length of rushing water dropping from the mountain top, forming a beautiful stream below.

So, I was content to snap photos of the fun segments of the falls, including the rainbow effect against the wet rock backdrop. 

Once we headed down the trail, we ran into a group and their dog enjoying a session of selfies.  

Later, we met up with a nice family---a mom, dad and two adorable children from Bonners Ferry.  Turns out Dad works the swing shift at a production plant just a few miles away from us here in Selle. 

Several years ago, Bill planted a geocache along the trail, and yesterday he wanted to introduce the family to geocaching.  So, an impromptu mini-session on finding the cache, checking out its contents and signing the log occurred.  

When we finished our hike and got back in the pickup, I commented that maybe he had changed that family's life yesterday.  It often happens with geocaching, and it's often a very nice change.  

We topped off our day, enjoying a meal at Kootenai River Brewing Co. Restaurant where we enjoyed a visit with Danielle and Landon Otis who also had taken their small and adorable children on an outing to check out waterfalls, including Grouse Falls where the fish are putting on their spring show. 

Our Sunday outing was nothing short of satisfying, adventuresome and beautiful.  Can't get any better than that. 

And, again another beautiful morning, during which my farrier will be coming to trim and shoe.  

Lovin' these times.  Happy Monday.