Week two at North Fork was filled with a trip to Darby, Montana and a couple of float trips.
It's hard to find a better place to call home for a few weeks then the River's Fork Lodge. The owners, Ken and Elaine, go out of their way to make your stay a memorable and comfortable one.
The North Fork of the Salmon River borders the lodge property and provides some pretty good fishing right where it meets the Salmon River.
Bud and Cheryl from New Mexico are some of the first to pull in...Elaine has fun with the camera while the lab "doolee" and Donna look on.
Fran and Harold, our long time friends from Palm Springs, were the next to check in.
The park is starting to fill up this July but with only eight spaces facing the Salmon River it doesn't take much to put up the "no vacancy" sign.
Elaine and I snuck off for a float on the river before most of the guests checked in. Donna was kind enough to take over the office while we cooled in the water.
It's not that often that Elaine can get away and cool off in the river and we were glad to help out.
Trapper Peak in the Bitterroot Mountains on the way to Darby, Montana still has more snow that I saw last year in Glacier National Park.
Fran and Harold joined us for the trip to Darby during it's famous "Logger Days" which we did not participate in. We did have lunch and look over some property in the area.
After lunch apparently Donna was still hungry and giving the "evil eye' to a friendly but innocent turkey.
Other than the Logger Days, Darby's other claim to fame is the Double HH Custom Hat Company.
A quick peak into Jimmy's work area showed me his tools of the trade.
Jimmy lays back against the register molding a horse hair hat band. Harold and I thought about picking up a belt or hat until we saw the cheapest horse hair belt was $500 and beaver hats started at 700 dollars...but they are beaver!
Back at the lodge, Elaine pointed out a nest of American Robins who add just recently hatched on her porch...noisy little buggers!
Speaking of birds...right near us were a pair of trumpeter swans. Funny thing is that three days later the local Salmon paper had an article about how Idaho is trying to reintroduce the swans to the state. When they killed or broke up most of the beaver ponds years ago they also destroyed the swan habitat. There are only 15 pairs in Idaho and we have one pair right in front of us...awesome!!!!
This time it is time for the girls to get out of the heat and float the river. I dropped off Fran and Donna 4 miles up the road for Fran's first trip down the Salmon.
Off they go on the river that is named as the "river of no return"...hopefully this will not be the case because after all, Harold and I still need someone to cook dinner.☺
Two hours later the girls showed up in front of our lodge with memories of seeing deer, bald eagles, osprey and a golden eagle...go girls!
Bob, Elaine's dad who is visiting for a few days, comes over to give us a few tips on fishing here.
Fran is showing the rest of us how to fish...with bait.
While Fran was fishing Harold, Sofie and Donna are looking up the mountain across the river for bears...none seen.
Harold hooks 1/2 of breakfast with this nice cutthroat.
Sofie had other ideas about saving the fish for breakfast, she wanted it now...I mean now!
I can't think of a better way to end a busy day than a great dinner and a glass of wine while overlooking the river of no return.
Till next time...good night.
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