In Late, Up Early in Clarkston

Northwest Return Travelog #2
Clarkston, WA - Fri, 30 Jul 2021. 9am.

Our story of planes, train, and automobiles did not end last night with success flying to Spokane after 3 canceled attempts. Once we landed in Spokane we still had more traveling to do. We landed just after 9pm as the last of the day's light faded from the sky. On final approach we could see red light over the horizon; after touchdown I looked again and the sky was all dark.

Once at the gate we alit quickly. Hawk went to baggage claim to wait for our one checked suitcase while I went to the rental counter to pick up our car. There was no line for me, and the agency had the car and paperwork all ready. I signed a card, received the keys, and was ready to go. It took another 10 minutes or so for the bag to appear.

We rolled from the airport a bit after 9:30pm and made a beeline for... dinner. We didn't get a chance to eat at OAK as half the eateries there were closed due to renovations and the other half were slammed, with 30+ minute wait times. On Yelp we spotted a Fat Burger near GEG and thought that would be an interesting blast from the past. We used to eat at Fat Burger at least a few times a month when we lived in L.A. I don't think we've eaten at one... I'm not even sure if or where we've seen one... in more than 15 years. Alas, it'll probably wait at least a few more years. En route to that restaurant we saw a Dairy Queen that serves hot food and decided, "Fuck it, this is closer, it's hamburgers anyway, and we can have dessert, too!"

We hit the road for real-real a bit after 10pm. It would be slightly over a 2 hour drive south to Clarkston. We took 20 minutes longer than that as we made a stop at a grocery store to stock up with sodas, tea, and breakfast foods for the next few days. By the time we checked in at our hotel it was nearly 1am. I didn't get down to sleep until almost 2.

After the late night morning came all too quickly. Hawk's alarm rang at 6:30am and mine at 6:45. We wanted to get up early to begin a full day of hiking and outdoors sightseeing. Well, we did get up early-ish. We silenced our alarms and slept in until 7:30/7:45. Even so, getting up did not mean being fully awake and productive. We kind of zombie-walked through making ourselves breakfast and packing our bags for the day.

Smoke and Fire

At 9am the temperature was already 82° (28 C). And the air was awful. We smelled the smoke in the air when we arrived late last night (er... early this morning) but couldn't see how bad it was. In the morning's light we could see that the sky was gray with smoke in almost every direction. There's a big wildfire burning not too far away. As of a few days ago the air quality was not registering so poor here. 😷



We walked around the outside of the hotel before beginning our drive. Out back is a nice little garden area next to the pool. I took this photo (shared above) to show how bad the smoke in the air is.... This pic does not do justice to how bad it is!

What you're looking at, BTW, are the mountains across the Snake River. Last night we drove down those mountains as we entered town. It probably would've been a great view if it weren't dark. And smoky.

Hiking Elk Creek Falls (part 1)

Northwest Return Travelog #3
Elk Creek, ID - Fri, 30 Jul 2021. 12pm.

After getting a slightly later start from the hotel than we wanted this morning (understandable because of our late night arrival last night... er, this morning) we had a mostly uneventful drive out to the trailhead for Elk Creek Falls about 2 hours northwest, in the Idaho Panhandle.

I say mostly uneventful because as we drove I was worried about the rental car's gas gauge. The problem was, after 115 miles of driving last night it was still showing "full". And as driving this morning extended our range past 150 miles it only barely dropped below the full line. Was the gauge stuck at 100%? How much gas was even in the tank when we started? A quick fill-up (and chance for snacks) revealed that the tank was, indeed, full when we started. The gas gauge is probably just partly broken. I'll report it to the rental depot when we return on Monday. For now, I'll just keep an eye on distance traveled since last fill-up.

Speaking of the car, here's it parked at the trailhead for Elk Creek Falls:



Two things about this picture: First, the sky's all gray because of wildfire smoke. We thought maaaybe as we drove well east of the fire puffing smoke all over Clarkston and Lewiston we'd get clearer skies. Alas, no. There are other fires out this way. 😟

Second, on the positive side, you'll notice that there's nobody else here. Well, that's inaccurate; there's one other car here. It's in the other direction. So that means we'll have the place mostly to ourselves. Yay, taking a weekday off to go hiking. And yay(?) hiking under smoke clouds.



Elk Creek Falls is actually three sets of falls. There's a nicely constructed loop trail with spurs that lead to spots to view all three. The pic above shows Lower Falls. I'm starting with this picture to show the context of how the creek plunges through a steep canyon with basalt outcroppings and to show the impact of smoke in the area.

Keep reading: more pictures to come in subsequent blogs!