6/18/09 - White Bird, ID

When we got up the sky was very clear and we took a picture of McGowen Peak and Stanley Lake. This is a very beautiful place and we would like to come back sometime and stay in the Sawtooth Mountains area a few weeks to do some hiking. We drove the Wildlife Scenic Highway between Lowman and Banks and then continued north along Highway 55 beside the Salmon River on the Payette River Scenic Byway. We lost about 4,000 feet in altitude and the temperature went from 44 this morning to 85 this afternoon. Along the way we went through Donnelly, Idaho, where mother was during the Depression (I think it was in 1939 and 1940). We stopped in McCall and had a beer at McCall Brewing. Next door was a hardware store and Jim got us a percolator coffee pot we could use on the gas stove. He has been boiling the water and pouring it through the coffee. The generator won’t run the coffee maker because of the altitude. We set up camp at Hammer Creek Campground on the banks of the Salmon River near Hell’s Canyon.