Richard Layne Photography
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Idaho
April 07 2007
Selway River near the downstream trailhead and western edge of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.
After another near week inside the Anaconda-Pintlar Wilderness where it came as no surprise that I was unable to complete my goal, my wife suggested a time of rest.
"Your spinning your wheels! Let's do something light and easy. We'll go up the Selway River and take in the flowers and green grass. We'll soak up some rays and if there is bad weather it will only be rain."
Yes, leave the snowshoes, ice axe and crampons behind. There is no need for all that extra fuel to melt snow with, or a concern for time-busting-hunker-down weather. Nor will there be a 95 pound pack to tote up a mountainside. It will be great! You bet, I'm ready!
Yeah rain, big deal. We've been there and done that a lot, but not lately. Have I mentioned recently that sometimes I have to go relearn a hard learned lesson?
We spent night one at Ryan's Wilderness Inn located in Lowell, population; 23 on the sign. We slept comfortably in one of their motel rooms. I did it on a full stomach of chicken fried steak with a side of hot wings that sizzled on my fingers. Things were right on target with my past experience of numerous trips into this area during spring.
Night four and the final night on the river: the rain didn't arrive until approximately 5:00 a.m. just short of dawn. I was into my first cup of coffee when it started. The temperature was 41°f. I was reflecting on the difference between this Monday morning and exactly one week earlier. Then I had woke up to one and one half feet of snow and single digit temperatures at 9800 feet of elevation. This morning though at 1800 feet of elevation I was on Renshaw creek. As I sat on the pine needles and unfrozen dirt with my chair I thought a little rain was not going to shut me down. Afterall, I had just come out of a real man's hunker-down weather experience. About fifteen minutes later I grabbed my poncho to cover my water repellent sleeping bag. I'm hard and this was easy. Over the next 45 minutes I made a few more adjustments. The final adjustment came when I put my water soaked butt and sleeping bag right into the tent where my wife made some comment about the water soaked condition of my sleeping bag and I.
My normally 3 pounds of down sleeping bag is presently lying over there on the cement floor next to the rest of the soaked gear. I think it weighs seven or eight pounds anyway.
You know, I'm thinking about taking a trip back up on top of the Anaconda-Pintlar Wilderness where winter is raging on. I think I'm spinning my wheels. I need a break . . . go do something easy and dry . . . rgl
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My camera in these photos is the Nikon D2X since 10-05. I use this guy for three reasons, megapixel size (12.4), strength and endurance. I am very hard on equipment. From the D40 to the D200, things sure aren't what they were in 2004 when I got my first slr digital (D70).
Copyright (c) 2007 Richard Layne Photography. All rights reserved.