A Summer Road Trip

It’s getting close to one week when we returned from a beautiful summer road trip through Idaho and Oregon. In between working in corporate America, taking care of hubby and B, walking Oliver and the rest of the usual day to day activities I am doing my best to sort through all of the photographs I took during our Peak to Valley adventure. I call it Peak to Valley because our trip took us from the peaks of alpine life in McCall, Idaho to the valleys down below where Hells Canyon in Idaho and the Deschutes river in Oregon call home.

We felt very fortunate to score a campsite at the McCall RV resort before the week of the 4th of July. The last time we visited, it was in the middle of Winter — which we think, was equally as beautiful but definitely a very different experience. Both winter and summer here are seasons one musn’t pass up visiting.

We also got brave and thought we’d explore some forest service roads in seek of the perfect boondocking site. We heard that the sites here in Malheur National Forest and the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness are a dream come true.

At first we were very excited until the road started to get narrow — and even more narrow.

Pretty soon we were at a point where we either had to turn back, or keep going.

So turned back we did.

And then we found the perfect spot.

Phew.

We had a three day river rafting trip scheduled with Hells Canyon Raft. We had to pack carefully and put everything in dry bags and lock up the Airstream for two nights while we floated down the canyon. It was really an incredible experience.

We learned a lot about the history of the canyon from the homesteads that are still there.

We picked fresh fruit from the trees on the homesteads.

We got splashed by the rapids, which was very refreshing because it was kind of a hot three days.

We fished. A lot.

And we enjoyed fancy meals with good company by the river before retreating into our tents to sleep.

Under the most {INCREDIBLE} star lit sky I have ever seen.

That will be fun to write about — I can’t wait.

B and Oliver had a really great time. B captured some cool video footage with the GoPro and Oliver braved the Class 4 rapids quite well!

Our journey continued on down deeper into the Strawberry Mountain wilderness. We camped at Trout Farm Campground.

That was fun! Probably one of the prettiest dry camping spots we have visited. There was a creek running behind the Airstream so it was refreshing to walk down there every now and then to cool off.

We had fresh caught fish for dinner and some grilled oysters (that I picked up a market along our way not too far back).

The next morning was an early rise for us.

We were heading on a full day fishing trip down the Deschutes River putting in at Warm Springs, Oregon — and as we drove we were greeted with this beautiful sunrise view from Mt. Jefferson ♥

A 40 mile float down the Deschutes River was a dream come true for me. I’ve always wanted to experience this . Thank you Matt and Nate from the Deschutes River Outfitters guide service for taking us out.

The scenery here was unbelievable. The fishing was out of this world. World class White Rapids even (White Horse rapids – it’s worth a Google).

Did I mention the scenery?

Another great experience I look forward to writing about in more detail.

Beautiful wild horses . . . happy and healthy ♥

Our last night we spent at Kah-Nee-Ta Resort and Spa in Oregon’s high dessert. It was our second time back and will not be our last.

Thank you for following along on our journey. I hope we are able to inspire you to visit some of these most beautiful places we have been too.

XOXO
Monica