Snake River, Idaho Paddle

		Lake Lowell near Caldwell ID VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Last week, Lauren and I paddled the little neighborhood lake of Lake Lowell… then a few days later, we headed out to visit Fred, a family friend, who lives on the banks of the Snake River. This is his yard below.  What a view.

Fred's driftwood fence. God, I love that thing.

Fred is quite the guy, and Mary is a lucky lady... she also kayaks and canoes and is real adventurous. And they even like rocks. Doesn't get any better than that.

Lauren Neher had agreed to help Fred repair his little camper trailer, with some fiberglass work... and after the project got started, Fred took us to breakfast at this quaint little place.  Thanks Fred… great breakfast.

While Laure worked, Fred supplied me with a lot of reading material.  Great book on the area in Alaska where I hope to kayak.  An area in Baja CA where I also dream of kayaking (how did he know)??  And then an area I had not considered, but may now... at least one section of these Idaho rivers is Class IV or V... because I don't do Class I, II, IIIs.

Fred has kayaked and canoed a lot... and does a lot of water volunteer work for BLM and Forest Service, etc. Very experienced guy.

Very handy fellow too, that Fred. I am assuming that he made this bench. I love it.

And this swing is to die for. Isn't it beautiful? The home has a lovely breezeway between the house and the shop. A SHOP... on the banks of the Snake River. How good can it get???

After breakfast Lauren Neher was back hard at work, patching the door of the Casita.  Lauren Neher is just about done with the patch job and we are getting ready to head down the river.

And off we go, in windy choppy water. That's Lizard Rock over there... it used to look even more like a lizard.

A little too choppy for comfort and I stop and put on my life vest (PFD).  Lauren borrowed a fast little kayak from Fred, and this was my view most of the 10 miles we paddled… as my fat old kayak could not keep up with this slick little fast kayak.

You devil you, running off down the river without me. By the way, that's Fred's place right above Lauren Neher's head, off to the left a bit.

There are lots of islands in the river... and the Islands are ALL National Wildlife Refuge. Really special.

Wood duck nesting boxes. Fred makes these and goes out and installs them on the islands. What an interesting guy. (I want a FRED!) (don't shoot me Mary). 

Beside Fred’s house are about are more new Wood Duck nesting boxes… which Fred (and Lauren) are going to take to the islands in the river and set up/mount.

The water is very clear... but I guess sometimes the O2 level can get pretty bad, even to the point where fish die. And the water is very low right now, at one point it was only 1 foot deep in the center of the River.

Good, the wind has calmed down... we aren't working so hard to "float" downriver now. Interesting island coming up ahead, to the right of Lauren Neher's hat.

Something I'd never seen before, a Cormorant rookery on Snake River, ID. There were hundreds of birds in those trees. You could see parents feeding babies. I wonder why most of the leaves are off the trees??? I was enthralled and amazed.

Most of the nests looked like they had three babies in them. Boy, that has got to be a lot of work.

A little past that rookery was this large nest... and I wondered who might live there. I saw something move out of the nest and onto that branch, but you can't make it out here.

There it is. There were a pair of adults, I think red-tailed hawks??? There flew over us, screaming at us. Really neat.

Must have gone about seven miles by now. I'm tired, and just can't keep up with Lauren and his fast little boat. I'm glad the winds have died down and the water is calmer.

Was watching this guy feed, then he took flight. So much wildlife here... makes me wish I had a good camera with a large telephoto lenses.

Waders??? Don't know which species.

Just chillin' on the Snake, we finally caught the current..

Finally, we come to the end of a great paddle... 10 miles on the Snake, in less that 4.5 hrs., and we took our time, only paddling hard when the wind was strong.

Fred meets us to shuttle us back to Lauren's truck.  What a guy.  Thanks for all your good help, Fred.

Best part of the visit was getting to know Lauren's wonderful mom, Dottie Neher. She is an absolute jewel, as is her son.  Lauren Neher and his crazy dog Lillie.  It’s been a really great visit.

Note to Fred and Mary (and Dottie and Lauren):  Find a “Fred” for Swankie!

Oh, and lastly, I never thought about where mint comes from before… of course someone grows it, I just never thought about it… until while driving around the area with Lauren, I smell mint… strong mint.  I realized we were surrounded by fields of mint being grown commercially.  Wow, what a good smell.

So, I learned something else new.  Doesn’t get any better than this, until tomorrow.