A Visit to Boulder City

It had been two years since Bill and I had visited Boulder City.  Last year we had to turn around on the Katka Road because of a flood washout. 

Bill thinks that section of the road probably remained closed until last fall. 

Yesterday we had smooth sailing right down to the bridge which crosses Boulder Creek.  

Beyond that, however, only motorcycles, 4-wheelers and foot traffic is likely to continue on due to another road washout alongside the creek. 

We have visited Boulder City, in the mountains above the Moyie River east of Bonners Ferry, off and on throughout our marriage. 

In fact, I may still even have, among the boxes, an Instagram photo taken of a daisy in a bottle sitting on open window sill of the almost totally collapsed structure up in Boulder City meadow.

At the time of my photo, the structure stood upright. 

The meadow serves as a popular camping spot, and it's obvious on any visit that some campers like to leave behind vestiges of their presence. 

Boulder City took on an increased prominence in our lives when we read one day that nearly 100 years ago, the place had served as one of many settings mentioned in the New York Times bestselling nonfiction book The Boys in the Boat.  

When, my friend Bill Gee had mentioned that fact on a Facebook post, within minutes of reading his comment, I jumped in the car and drove to Vanderford's Book Store to purchase a copy.  

Twas one of those page turners, which I pretty much hoarded until completing it maybe two days later.  I had allowed Bill to touch it only after I'd gone to bed at night, so he finished it maybe three days later. 

Both of us were blown away by the story and both of us could hardly wait to get back to Boulder Creek, stroll around the remnants of row houses and other visual hints of the remote town where the featured character in the book had lived for a time as a child.  

As years go, by less and less of the abandoned town remains visible to the casual eye.  

We did see a few rusty tin cans yesterday while walking through the area. 

I also made a mental note to be careful wherever I stepped cuz boards from some of the residences are strewn about with pointed ends of rusty nails facing upward. 

Twas a nice drive up Katka where a rather artsy fartsy yard filled with funky junk and "statements" almost always requires the driver to slow down to a crawl while the passenger, armed with a camera, clicks images of unique landscaping. 

On our way back to the pickup, we saw one of the four vehicles we encountered on the entire trip, came rolling up behind us.  I immediately noticed the Texas plate on the pickup and greeted the driver with "You're along way from home."  

Home these days for this fun gentleman with a rich Texas twang is Bull Lake in Montana, but he's lived in Clark Fork and he still does two weeks on and two weeks off working in the oil industry.

Our new friend Mark was out panning for gold.  He sez it's something he can do without spending a lot of money, and he showed us some bottles with gold particles mixed within the sediment and water.

While we were visiting with Mark,  a well-clad, colorful motorcyclist on a colorful motorcycle rolled past us.  

Twas almost Grand Central Boulder City at that moment!

As usual, we enjoyed the outing in country where the lupine is coming on strong along with a lot of other colorful wildflowers.  Occasional rain showers were keeping the entire landscape clean,fresh and vibrant with color. 

Twas good to go back to Boulder City, as always. 

Happy Monday.