Day 4: Heyburn State Park to Harrison, Idaho

July 8, 2013

With straining brakes we descended the "secret" road that had led us to the campground. At the bottom we said a tearful farewell to Laurie, since it was her time to head back up to Plummer, and home. Some of the tears may have been Laurie grousing about having to cycle 10 km straight up. Ince she came with only a 5 speed commuter bike, she had a bit of a point. We set her up with snacks and water and sent her off. Checking the guestbook, we see she made it back without problem. Yeah!

as soon as Laurie was gone, our first move was to get off the bikes and go play. Hah! The play structure at Harrison is really great, and so not to be missed.

From there it was over the Chatcolet Bridge and along the most beautiful section of trail, following the lake shore. We soon passed the sceneof our 2011 emergency wild camp. Had camping there been permitted, it would have been great - with a shelter and washroom - but camping in a forbidden place is a bit nerve wracking.

Our target was just the modest hop to the town of Harrison - 15 kilometers - and we arrived by mid-morning. Harrison has a municipal campground, marina with restaurant, two ice cream parlors, a grocery store, playground, and kid friendly beach. In short, it's Mecca. We spent the day exploring the pleasures of each of these features. The photos and captions below tell the story!

Tomorrow will be a much tougher day, with longer distance ending at a primitive campsite. But right now we have the prospect of a peaceful sleep, the only tents in this campground, and with perfect weather. Swell!

A terrific play structure at Heyburn State Park

The only sign for the campground is small and faces backwards from our point of view. Sheesh!

The roller coaster design of the Chatcolet bridge makes for great fun

The climb up the bridge was steep, but we are not suicidal!

A beaver! Just like we learned about in trainiing in Missoula.

Lilly pads on the not lake side of the trail

The "girls" seem to be having a hard time, but actually they are experts

A great protected beach. Avi wisely declined to jump in with me at the deep end. actually he jumped in and scrambled out, declaring I'm in the wrong section!

The base of an old smokestack makes you taller than Grandpa!

Today's ride: 15 km (9 miles)
Total: 60 km (37 miles)

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